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Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) fellowships offer researchers the opportunity to enhance their careers through advanced training, and cross-border and cross-sector mobility.

MSCA fellowships are open to all research and innovation areas, from basic research to market take-up and innovation services, with topics chosen by applicants in a fully bottom-upmanner.There are 2 main types of MSCA contracts:

2023 MSCA Doctoral Networks and Postdoctoral Fellowshipprogrammes arefunded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Horizon Europe guarantee funding. See ourFunding for current projects section below for further information.

MSCA Doctoral Networks


MSCA Doctoral Networks (previously known as Innovative Training Networks)fund doctoral programmes forearly-stage researchers to respond tocurrent and future challenges.

Theyenableresearchers toconvert their knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit and providetransferable skills training to enhance their careers.

The programme is set up by partnerships of organisationsfrom across Europe and beyond.

Eligibility criteria

Early-stage researchers (Fellows) are typically enrolled on a PhD programme. Recruited researchers should be enrolled on a doctoral programme during the project but should not have a doctoral degree at the date of their recruitment.

Researchers funded by Doctoral Networks can be of any nationality. Candidates should not have lived or carried out their main activity in the UK for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before their recruitment.

Candidates can apply for PhD vacancies funded by MSCA Doctoral Networks projects through theǰٲ.

What does the funding cover?

The duration of each fellowship is between 3 and 36 months. Researchers are providedwith a living allowance, a mobility allowance, and if applicable, a family allowance (if married and/or with responsibility for dependent children).Allowances include the cost of employment for UCL, employer National Insurance (NI) and pension contributions.

Fellowsare paid a fixed salary duringthe fellowship with no annual increments andthe current London Allowance, which qualifiesfor adjustments.There are 4possible levels of basic salary, as shown in the table below, depending on whether the Fellow hasdependents and if they opt out of the SAUL pension scheme. You can find out more about Pensionson the UCLHR website.

Salariesarebased on MSCA-awarded rates from the Work Programme 2023-24. If the appointment is for a Doctoral Network project awarded for a different Work Programmeyou should contact ourAward Services Post-Award team atecpostaward@ucl.ac.uk for costing advice.

Annual MSCA Doctoral Networks Allowances
Fellow typeBasic (no increment)London Allowance (LA)Top-up (annual)Total
Fellow - dependents, no pension£28,759£5,000£13,000£46,759
Fellow - dependents, pension£28,759£5,000£5,700£39,459
Fellow - no dependents, no pension£28,759£5,000£7,900£41,659
Fellow - no dependents, pension£28,759£5,000£1,400£35,159

MSCA PostdoctoralFellowships


MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowshipssupportresearchercareers and foster excellence in research. The fellowships areaimed at researchers witha PhD who wish to carry out their research activities abroad, acquire new skills and develop their careers. They help researchers to gain experience in other countries, disciplines and non-academic sectors.

There are 2 types ofMSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships:

  1. European Postdoctoral Fellowships, where the Fellow is based here ʷ¼.
  2. Global Postdoctoral Fellowships, where the fellow is seconded to a third country for 1-2 years and has a mandatory third-yearreintegration ʷ¼.

Eligibility criteria

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships will be open to excellent researchers of any nationality. Projects are solely awarded to the individual and UCL.

Candidates will need to identify a UCL Principal Investigator (PI) to act as their Supervisorand contact them to find out whether they would support you carryingout yourfellowship in their group. If accepted, the researcher andPIshould work together to developand submit the proposal on the European Commission'sby the call deadline.

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship opportunities are also advertised ontheǰٲ.

What does the funding cover?

The fellowships will be open to excellent researchers of any nationality.The projects are solely awarded to the individual and UCL. The 2 mailsub-awards are European Fellowships (EF), where the fellow is based here ʷ¼, and Global Fellowships (GF), where the fellow is seconded to a third country for 1-2 years and has a mandatory third-yearreintegration ʷ¼.

For EF, each fellow’s contract comprises living, mobility and family allowances (dependents at the time of recruitment or during the project) as awarded by the scheme.Due to the nature of GF projects, the salary and top-up allowances will need to be pre-costed. Contact the Award Services Post-Awardteam at ecpostaward@ucl.ac.uk in advance for advice.

All allowances awarded include the cost of employment for UCL, employer NI and pension contributions, as per EC regulations highlighted in section 1.1 “Applicable unit contributions” of the MSCA WP.Annual allowances are shown in the table below:

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship allowances
Fellow typeBasic (no increment)London Allowance (LA)Top-up (annual)Total
Fellow - dependents, no pension£37,099£5,000£24,500£66,599
Fellow - dependents, pension£37,099£5,000£16,500£58,599
Fellow - no dependents, no pension£37,099£5,000£19,000£61,099
Fellow - no dependents, pension£37,099£5,000£12,000£54,099

These rates relate to the MSCA awarded rates from the WP 2023-24. If the appointment is for a PF project awarded for a different WPthese rates should not be used.Contact ecpostaward@ucl.ac.uk for a bespoke costing.

Important: if the Fellow is already a UCL employeea bespoke costing will need to be done. Contact the Award Services Post-Award (Europe) team ecpostaward@ucl.ac.ukfor advice.

Fellows will be paid the current London Allowance which will qualify for adjustments. There are 4 possible levels of basic salary depending on whether they have dependents and whether they opt out of USS pension membership. All employees are auto-enrolled in the pension scheme, the Fellows will need tocontact HR to opt out. You can find out more aboutPensionson the UCLHR website.Costings include the living, mobility and family (if applicable) allowances.

Funding for current projects


MSCA projects are currentlyfunded by .For more information about the UKRI Horizon Europe guarantee, visit ourHorizon Europe webpage.

Information on allowances can be found in section 1.1, ‘Applicable unit contributions’, of the (pdf), via the website

The 2024 conversion rate is£1 = €1.148787 (or €1=£0.87048). The rate is revised by UKRIeveryyear. UCL applies a conservative rate of92% and a one-off salary payment will be organised at the end of the fellowship if a salary balance is due.

European Commission allowances

The EU contribution under MSCA is based on unit costs expressed in person-months. Costsare indicated in EUR (€) in the tables below:

Researcher costs per month

EU contributions: researcher costs per month
MSCA contractLiving allowance*Mobility allowanceFamily allowance
Doctoral Networks€3,400€600€660
Postdoctoral Fellowships€5,080€600€660

* A country correction coefficient applies to living allowance. This coefficient is the 1 applicable to the researcher's host organisation as listed in the MSCA Work Program. For 2023-2024, the UK’s country correction coefficient is 136.9%.

Institutional costs per month

EU contributions: institutional costs per month
MSCA contractResearch, training and networking costsManagement and indirect costs
Doctoral Networks€3,400€600
Postdoctoral Fellowships€5,080€600