Horizon 2020
Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions
(MCSA)
Mandy Heard
European Funding Advisor
Associate to Global to Local Ltd
email: keele@globaltolocal.com
EPSAM: 26th February
Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions (MCSA)
‘......Ensure excellent and innovative
research training as well as attractive
career and knowledge-exchange
opportunities through cross-border and
cross-sector mobility of researchers to
best prepare them to face current and
future societal challenges’
Total budget: €6.2bn (compared with €4.7bn in FP7)
30% of the total H2020 Budget
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MCSA Objectives
Overall objective: “to strengthen the excellence of
European research”
 Attract and retain research talent
 Develop state-of-the-art, innovative training schemes,
consistent with the highly competitive and increasingly interdisciplinary requirements of research and innovation
 Promote sustainable career development in research and
innovation
 Strengthen international & Inter-sector Cooperation and
intersector mobility
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MCSA Key Features
• For researchers at every stage of their career
• Bottom-up approach
•From basic research to market take-up
•Mobility of researchers from all over the world
• Focus on training and career development of
researchers
• Participation of non-academic sector strongly
encouraged, especially industry and SMEs
• promotion of attractive working and employment
conditions (financing rate of 100% )
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MCSA – 4 main schemes
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Researcher Definitions
Early Stage Researcher (ESR)
At the time of recruitment (ITN) or secondment (RISE) by the
host organisation, must be in the first 4 years (full-time research
experience) of their research careers and have not been
awarded a doctoral degree
Experienced Researcher (ER)
At the time of the call deadline (IF) or secondment (RISE) by the
host organisation, must be in possession of a doctoral degree or
have at least 4 years of full-time equivalent research experience
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Innovative Training Networks (ITN)
Key Features
‘Aims to train a new generation of creative,
entrepreneurial and innovative early-stage
researchers, able to face current and future
challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas
into products and services for economic and
social benefit’
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Innovative Training Networks (ITN)
Key Features

Doctoral and initial training of researchers proposed by international
networks of organisations from academic and non-academic sectors

Dedicated to early-stage researchers (no ER recruitment)

Focus on scientific/ technological knowledge through research on
individual/personalised projects

Meaningful exposure to non-academic sector

Developing entrepreneurship and skills matching research labour
market needs. Transferable skills training e.g. communication,
research management, IP, ethics, societal outreach,
entrepreneurship

1) Beneficiaries – full partner, supervise, host ESRs, secondment
opportunities and 2) Partner: provide training and host ESRs during
secondments
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MCSA: The triple ‘i’ dimension within the
knowledge triangle
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Innovative Training Networks (ITN)
European Training
Networks
European Joint
Doctorates
European Industrial
Doctorates
•At least three
beneficiaries
from different MS/AC
•Doctoral programme
enrolment optional
•Maximum 540
researcher months
•At least three
beneficiaries
from different MS/AC
•Doctoral programme
enrolment mandatory
•Joint governance,
admission, selection,
supervision, monitoring
and assessment
mandatory
•Award of joint, double or
multiple doctoral degree
mandatory
•Maximum 540
researcher months
•At least one academic
and one non-academic
partner from different
MS/AC
•Doctoral programme
enrolment mandatory
•Joint governance,
admission, selection,
supervision, monitoring
and assessment
mandatory
•Maximum 180
researcher months
Researchers funded from 3-36 months
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Innovative Training Networks (ITN)
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Innovative Training Networks (ITN)
Activities over 4 years project max:
Average size of consortium = 6-10
Max support 36 months for ESRs
Research and
Innovation
Supervision
Networking
Collaboration
& Exchange of
Knowledge
Secondments ,
placements
Training: Seminars,
Workshops, summer
schools modules
Public
Engagement
Conferences
Career development of early
stage researchers
Communication
& Dissemination
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Individual Fellowships
“Aims to enhance the creative and innovative
potential of experienced researchers wishing to
diversify their individual competence in terms of
skill acquisition at multi- or interdisciplinary
level through advanced training, international
and intersectoral mobility”
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Individual Fellowships
 Individual fellowships for most promising experienced
researchers
 Enhance competences and creative potential of best
researchers of any nationality
 to develop their skills through international or inter-sector
mobility
 Acquire and transfer new knowledge (in and outside EU)
 Specific support for reintegration and career restart
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Individual Fellowships
European Fellowships
Global Fellowships
• 12-24 months
• From any country to MS/AC
• Separate multi-disciplinary
panels for career restart * and
reintegration**
• 12-24 months plus 12 month
return phase
• Secondment from MS/AC to
third country
• Mandatory 12 month return
phase in Europe (not subject to
mobility rule
(merges IF, CIG, IEF)
(was IOF)
Mobility rule applies
Mobility rule for CAR and RIG: “researcher has not resided or carried out
their main activity in the country of their host organisation for more than 3
years in the 5 years immediately prior to the relevant deadline”
* AND “researcher has not been active in research for at least 12 months”
** AND “researcher has previously been active in Europe for at least five
15
consecutive years”
Individual Fellowships
 Optional intersectoral secondment that should
significantly add to the impact of the research project
 Must take place in a MS/AC and during the fellowship
 Secondment phase can be a single period or divided into
shorter
mobility periods


For a fellowship > 18 months, secondment phase may
be up to 6 months
For a fellowship ≤ 18 months, secondment phase may
be up to 3 Month
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Individual Fellowships – impact
 Significant development of researchers
 to meet their full potential and....
 Catalyse careers in both academic and nonacademic sectors
 Strengthen networks of both researcher and host
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Research and Innovation Staff Exchange
‘“Aims to promote international and inter-
sector collaboration through research and
innovation staff exchanges, and sharing of
knowledge and ideas from research to
market (and vice-versa) for the advancement
of science and development of innovation”
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Research and Innovation Staff Exchange

Development of joint research and innovation project
partnerships.

Projects up to 4 years and max. 540 researcher months

Typically can be 4-6 organisations

Knowledge sharing via international and/or inter-sector mobility
through two way secondments of (ESRs /ERs/support staff) with
built-in return mechanism – no recruitment of new staff
• Exchanges between MS/AC only: secondments must be intersectoral
• Exchanges between MS/AC and third countries: secondments can
be same sector and/or intersectoral
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Research and Innovation Staff Exchange
A RISE partnership shall be composed by at least three independent
participants established in three different countries and must respect
one of the following two conditions:

two organisations are located in two different MS/AC and one
organisation is located in a TC (can be either sector)
or

If from MS/AC, at least one organisation should be from the academic
sector and one from the non-academic sector.
Above these minimum requirements additional organisations established in
MS/AC and/or in other third countries can participate
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Research and Innovation Staff Exchange
Participants must be from at least three different countries, at least two of
which are MS/AC:

If all participants in same sector one participant country must be a third
Country

Secondment period - 1 to 12 months- does not need to be continuous
Activities of the programme:
Networking
New
skills
Joint research
and
innovation
Knowledge
Sharing
Career
Development
Training /
Workshops /
conferences /
summer schools
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Research and Innovation Staff Exchange
EXPECTED IMPACT
build or enhance new and
existing networks of
international and intersectoral cooperation
strengthen the interaction
between organisations in the
academic and non-academic
sectors, and between Europe
and third countries.
better align different cultures
and expectations, with a view
to a more effective
contribution of research and
innovation to Europe's
knowledge economy and
society
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COFUND
Doctoral programmes
Fellowship programmes
• Supports ESRs
• Doctoral enrolment
mandatory
•Training and secondment
opportunities with partners,
particularly the non-academic
sector will be advantageous
• Supports ERS
• Not open to permanent
employees of the host
organisation
• Regular selection rounds
allowing fair competition
•Cross-sectoral mobility
encouraged
Supports new or existing programmes for international,
intersectoral and interdisciplinary research training and
transnational and cross-sector mobility of researchers
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AWARD CRITERIA
Excellence 50%
Impact 30%
Implementation 20%
Evaluation scores awarded for each criteria from 0 to 5
Each award criterion has a weighting
Total score is subject to a threshold of 70%
Proposals ranked
Proposals funded in ranking order
Evaluation summary reports provided
No restrictions on re-application
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Standard Mobility Rule
At the time of the relevant deadline for submission
of proposals, or recruitment/secondment by the host
organisation, depending on the action, researchers
shall not have resided or carried out their main
activity (work, studies, etc) in the country of
their host organisation for more than 12 months
in the 3 years immediately prior to the reference
date.”
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Funding
ITN
IF
RISE
COFUND
•ESR living allowance
€3,110/month +
co-efficient
• ESR mobility
allowance
€600/month
• ESR family
allowance
€500/month
• Host research,
training and
networking
€1,800/person/
month
• Host management
and overheads
€1,200 /person/
month
•ER living allowance
€4,650 / month +
co-efficient
• ER mobility
allowance
€600/month
• ER family allowance
€500/month
• Research, training
and networking
€800/person/
month
• Management and
overheads
€650/person/
month
•Secondment travel
& subsistence
€2,000/person/
month
• Research, training
and networking
€1,800/person/
month
• Management and
overheads
€700/person/
ESR living allowance:
• Salaried €2,450 €3,500/month or
• Stipend: €1,225 €1,750/month
ER living allowance:
• Salaried: €3,675 €5,250/month or
• Stipend: €1,225 €1,750/month
• Management
€650/person/
Month
Host needs to cover
all other costs and EC
will pay up to 50%
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Deadlines
Call
Opens
Closes
Budget
ITN 2014
11 December 2013
9 April 2014
405 M
IF 2014
12 March 2014
11 September 2014
240 M
RISE 2014
11 December 2013
24 April 2014
70 M
COFUND 2014 10 April 2014
2 October 2014
80 M
ITN 2015
2 September 2014
13 January 2015
870 M
RISE 2015
6 January 2015
28 April 2015
80 M
IF 2015
12 March 2015
10 September 2015
218 M
COFUND 2015
14 April 2015
1 October 2015
80 M
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Initial Training Networks results 2013
• UK co-ordinators
submitted 255 apps
• 38 successful (14.9%
success rate)
• General success rate:
12.5%
• UK participated in 1325
applications
• 182 successful (13.7%
success rate)
Marie Curie Actions in FP7
Intra-European Fellowships (IEF) – Aug 2012
• 3,708 proposals received
• Success rate: 16.6%
• UK success rate: 23.0%
• UK host for 237 fellowships (out of 614 funded)
• Approx. value to the UK € 46M
International Incoming Fellowships (IIF) – Aug 2012
• 1,447 proposals received
• Success rate: 13.3%
• UK success rate: 18.6%
• UK host for 78 fellowships (out of 193 funded)
• Approx. value to the UK € 16M
International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF) – Aug 2012
• 955 proposals received
• Success rate: 16.4%
• UK success rate: 29.5%
• UK return host for 36 fellowships (out of 157 funded)
• Approx. value to the UK € 9M
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Horizon 2020
European Research Council (ERC)
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European Research Council (ERC)
“The ERC shall provide attractive and flexible
funding to enable talented and creative individual
researchers and their teams to pursue the most
promising avenues at the frontier of science…..
scientific excellence shall be the sole criterion on
which ERC grants are awarded. The ERC shall
operate on a ‘bottom-up’ basis without
predetermined priorities”.
Total budget: €12.7 billion for Horizon 2020 (compares to the
allocation of €7.5 billion for FP7).
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European Research Council (ERC)
 The ERC seeks to fund the best ‘frontier research’ proposals submitted
by excellent researchers, with excellence as the single peer review
criterion
 Independent researchers of any age and career stage can apply for
attractive long-term funding
 Provides attractive, long-term funding of up to 5 years to pursue groundbreaking, ambitious, high-gain/ high-risk research
 Encourages proposals of an interdisciplinary nature which cross the
boundaries between different fields of research, pioneering proposals
addressing new and emerging fields of research or proposals introducing
unconventional, innovative approaches and scientific inventions
 Flexible and portable
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European Research Council (ERC)

keen to encourage excellent proposals from Principal Investigators
based outside Europe

Will fund projects led by a PI, supported by a team (no need for
pan-European collaboration) if necessary

do not have to be based full-time in Europe, may involve team
members outside Europe

25 panels in 3 domains which proposals can be submitted to:
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Life Sciences
Social Sciences and Humanities
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European Research Council (ERC) – five schemes
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ERC Starting Grant

at the career stage at which researchers are starting their own
independent research team or programme

produced at least one important publication without the participation of
their PhD supervisor

promising early achievement track record including significant publications
(as main author) in major international peer-reviewed multidisciplinary
scientific journals / leading international peer-reviewed journals of their
respective field , highlight citations

May demonstrate invited presentations @ established international
conferences, awards, prizes etc



awarded his/her first PhD ≥ 2 and ≤ 7 years
Grants of up to €1.5 million over max. 5 yrs (pro-rata) but additional
€500,000 (“start-up" costs moving to the MS/AC / major equipment /
access to facilities)
spend a minimum 50% of their total working time on the ERC project
and a minimum of 50% of their total working time in an EU Member
State or Associated Country
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ERC Consolidator Grant

Excellent Pis at the career stage at which they may still be consolidating
their own independent research team or programme

will have produced several important publications without the
participation of their PhD supervisor

significant publications (as main author) in major international peerreviewed multidisciplinary scientific journals, or in the leading international
peer-reviewed journals of their respective field



awarded their first PhD over 7 and up to 12 years prior to the
publication date of the call for proposals
Grants of up to €2 million over max. 5 yrs (pro-rata) but additional
€750,000 (“start-up" costs moving to the MS/AC / major equipment /
access to facilities)
50% of their total working time on the ERC project and a minimum of
50% of their total working time in an MS/AC
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ERC Advanced Grant

exceptional established research leaders with a recognised track record
of original and significant research contributions.

Active in research with significant research achievements in the last 10
years

one or more of the following benchmarks:

10 publications as senior author in major international peer-reviewed
multidisciplinary scientific journals, and/or in the leading international
peer-reviewed journals and peer-reviewed conferences



3 major research monographs, of which at least one is translated into
another language.
Grants of up to €2.5 million over max. 5 yrs (pro-rata) but additional
€1 million (“start-up" costs moving to the MS/AC / major equipment /
access to facilities)
30% of their total working time on the ERC project and a minimum of
50% of their total working time in an in an MS/AC
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ERC Synergy Grants – No call in
2014

promote substantial advances in the frontier of knowledge

Funds ambitious proposals submitted by a group of 2 to 4 Pis

Ran as two pilot calls under FP7 with very low success rates.

synergies, complementarities and added value that could lead to
breakthroughs that would not be possible by the individual Principal
Investigators working alone
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Funding & Deadlines:
Direct Costs:
• 100% of eligible and approved direct costs funded
Indirect Costs:
• 25% flat rate (of the total direct costs excluding subcontracting and third
party resources not used on premises)
• Is allocated and charged (for all institutions no proof needed of how
spent)
Starting
Consolidator
Advanced
Call
Opens
11 December
2013
11 December 2013
17th June 2015
Deadline
2014
25 March
20 May
21 October
Deadline
2015
3 February
12 March
2 June
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A few Statistics since 2007
The UK was the most successful country in applying to the ERC in
FP7:
See here for examples of funded projects:
http://erc.europa.eu/ercfunded-projects
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Peer Review process
Starting, Consolidator and Advanced Grants

ERC operates a single-stage submission and two-stage evaluation
process:

Step 1: panel evaluates 5-page Extended Synopsis, CV and track record
sections

Step 2: panel evaluates 15-page full proposal description (in conjunction
with the sections above)

An interview with the PI forms part of the step 2 evaluation for Starting
and Consolidator Grants (not for Advanced Grants)

PI must choose the panel, based on the keywords and panel descriptors
in the Guide for Applicants. Panel consists of up to 15 leading researchers

For interdisciplinary proposals: can choose primary and secondary panel
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Support and Links:
Marie Curie Actions (MCSA) (website being updated for H2020):
http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/
MSCA UK National Contact Point:
http://www.ukro.ac.uk/mariecurie/Pages/index.aspx
Participant Portal (calls and submission):
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal
Work Programmes for MSCA and ERC :
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/main/h2020-wp1415msca_en.pdf
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/erc/h2020-wp1415erc_en.pdf
ERC:
http://erc.europa.eu/
ERC UK National Contact Point:
http://www.ukro.ac.uk/erc/Pages/index.aspx
Horizon 2020 UK website:
https://www.h2020uk.org/
European Commission H2020 website:
http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/
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THANK YOU!
Contact: Mandy Heard
keele@globaltolocal.com
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