Marie Curie Alumni Association conference “Research careers beyond borders: 30 years of the MSCA” 22-25 April 2026
27 April 2026
From 22 to 25 April 2026, the Université libre de Bruxelles hosted the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) Annual Conference, with the central theme “Research careers beyond borders: 30 years of the MSCA”. The event brought together the MSCA community to celebrate three decades of success, exchange experiences, and reflect on the future evolution of MSCA in the next Framework Programme and on the future of research careers more broadly.
Opening the conference, Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva praised the central role of MSCA in shaping the European research landscape, describing it as “the flagship of the European way of doing research”. She stressed that MSCA has set standards and serves as an example of openness, excellence, and international collaboration. She highlighted the programme’s proven impact on researchers’ careers, including strong employability among beneficiaries. Over the past 30 years, MSCA has supported a remarkable number of research champions, including 23 Nobel Prize winners.
Looking ahead, she acknowledged that more needs to be done. In this context, she presented the Commission’s plan to propose a European Research Area (ERA) Act as a highly ambitious legislative initiative aimed at establishing the “Fifth Freedom”. The ERA Act would be structured around four main pillars: research careers (including the possible development of a voluntary European research contract model); investment in research and innovation; improved coordination; and core values. While acknowledging that the ERA Act will not solve all expectations, the Commissioner insisted on the importance of setting voluntary “gold standards” to provide researchers with greater security, predictability, career prospects, and a values-based working environment. Throughout the discussions, the MSCA programme was repeatedly recognised for its unique, researcher-centred and bottom-up approach.
Emmanuelle Gardan, Director of the Coimbra Group Brussels Office and co-sponsor of the ERA structural policy on research careers, participated as a panellist in the session “Research careers within and beyond the ERA Act: delivering the Fifth Freedom” chaired by MCAA Executive Director Mostafa Moonir Shawrav. She expressed the Coimbra Group’s support for the renewed momentum around research careers and for the ambition demonstrated by the Commission with the ERA Act, while stressing, alongside other panellists, the need to move from ambition to tangible implementation, notably by addressing key issues such as the much-criticised ‘permadoc’ phenomenon.
The Coimbra Group was also represented by Policy and Advocacy Officer Stefania Parnici who networked with participants and attended several sessions. Additional themes addressed throughout the conference included freedom of scientific research, science diplomacy, doctoral training, mental health in academia, responsible artificial intelligence, and global talent circulation, making for forward-looking discussions on the future of European research and innovation.
You can consult the full conference agenda here, and watch the sessions recordings on the MCAA Annual Conference 2026 Youtube channel