Marie Sklodowska Curie actions

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) aim to stimulate excellence in the training of researchers through the international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary openness essential for their career development while guaranteeing them good working conditions. They fund training projects in and through research, including a significant amount of mobility between countries and sectors, on an individual or collective basis.
Responsables scientifiques et lauréats MSCA -Copyright UR1/Frédéric Obé

Who is the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) for?

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) aim to stimulate excellence in the training of researchers through the international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary openness essential for their career development while guaranteeing them good working conditions. They fund the implementation of training projects in and through research, including a significant part of mobility between countries and sectors, on an individual or collective basis.

These actions are open to all researchers, regardless of nationality, and to all scientific disciplines.

The University of Rennes regularly obtains funding for such projects, and more particularly two of them: individual mobility grants (MSCA - IF) and innovative doctoral training networks (MSCA - ITN).

MSCA-Individual Fellowships (IF)

These scholarships are aimed at early career researchers (with a PhD degree or at least 4 years of research experience) who wish to develop new knowledge and/or skills. Eligibility for these fellowships is also conditional on the MSCA mobility criterion of having spent less than one year in the last three years in the host country. Successful researchers benefit from a 12 to 24 month mobility to Europe or abroad to implement a freely defined personal research project.

Mobility can take place in two ways:

  • towards a European institution (Member States and associated countries) as part of a European Fellowship (EF)
  • towards a third country, with a compulsory return phase of 12 months in a Member State or associated country, under a Global Fellowship (GF)

These grants cover the researcher's full salary (including all charges) as well as a mobility allowance and a fixed amount for research and training activities.

Since 2014, the University of Rennes has signed the hosting of 10 MSCA EF fellowships and 1 MSCA GF.

MSCA – Innovative Training Networks (ITN)

They aim at the emergence of a new generation of creative and enterprising researchers in cutting-edge fields. The doctoral students recruited in the framework of these projects contribute to the realisation of a collaborative research and innovation project, receive training and carry out intersectoral and international mobility which allows them to acquire high-level scientific skills.

These 4-year projects allow the recruitment of 2 to 15 PhD students and can be carried out in 3 ways, depending on the degree of structuring of the partnership and the involvement of the private sector:

  • European Training Networks (ETN): multi-partner doctoral training networks
  • European Industrial Doctorates (EID): industrial doctorate (European "CIFRE")
  • European Joint Doctorates (EJD): European integrated doctoral programme

The funding of doctoral students covers their entire salaries (including all charges) as well as a mobility allowance and a flat rate for research and training activities.

Since 2014, the University of Rennes has been coordinating 2 ITN projects and participating in 3 other projects. As part of it, it hosts 7 PhD students.

The Plateforme projets européens (2PE) – Bretagne raises awareness and provides support to all potential UR1 applicants in submitting their applications.