R&I Organisations’ Joint Statement:
We need much more MSCA!
03 October 2024
The Coimbra Group has joined forces with other Research & Innovation organisations to advocate for the recognition of the outstanding success of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and for an increased budget to unlock its full potential.
Since Horizon Europe started, Coimbra Group member universities have been granted 12,7 % of the total EU contribution towards MSCA. As Europe navigates unprecedented challenges and exciting opportunities, the need to invest in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions is clearer than ever. MSCA nurtures talent, fosters groundbreaking research, strengthens global collaborations, and therefore has a key role in driving economic growth and securing Europe’s competitive edge in a rapidly evolving global landscape.
However, the current funding is insufficient to maintain the programme’s momentum and expand its reach. We therefore urge the European Commission, Parliament and Council to recognise the MSCA’s invaluable contributions by increasing its budget, while maintaining its purely bottom-up research character. This investment will improve application success rates (which currently stand at just 14%), expand access for a broader range of high-quality projects and, ultimately, empower even more researchers to excel.
“One of the fundamental values of MSCA is their major contribution to bottom-up research, both to individual researchers and to doctoral/postdoctoral programmes. Furthermore, MSCA is proven to be a highly effective programme in making changes in the institutional and national policies and strategies (such as researchers’ employability and career prospects, recruitment and supervisory rules and guidelines, skills development etc.) in the EU. Efforts should thus be made to increase MSCA funding“, stresses Ludovic Thilly, Coimbra Group Executive Board Chair.
Organisations endorsing this statement: