ERA Fellowships

Forthcoming

This is the status published by the official source.

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Expected Outcome:
This action builds on the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2027 action (HORIZON-MSCA-PF-2027). The target group are host organisations located in Widening countries.
Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
For supported ERA Fellows:

• Increased set of research and transferable skills and competences, leading to improved employability and career prospects of fellows within academia and beyond;
• New mind-sets and approaches to R&I work forged through international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary experience;
• Enhanced networking and communication capacities with scientific peers, as well as with the general public, that will increase and broaden the research and innovation impact; For participating organisations in the Widening countries:

• Increased alignment of working conditions for researchers in accordance with the principles set out in the European Charter for Researchers[1];
• Enhanced quality and sustainability of research training and supervision;
• Increased global attractiveness, visibility and reputation;
• Stronger R&I capacity and output; better transfer of knowledge. For Widening Countries:

• More postdoctoral researchers attracted to Widening countries with competitive grants and attractive working and employment conditions. Scope:
Fellowships should be provided to excellent researchers, undertaking cross-border mobility. Applications must be made jointly by the researcher together with a legal entity in the academic or non-academic sector located in a Widening country.
ERA Fellowships should take place in a Widening Country. Fellowships are open to researchers of any nationality who wish to engage in R&I projects by either coming to the EU from any country in the world or moving within the EU to a Widening country.
Secondments
Researchers receiving an ERA Fellowship may opt to include a secondment phase, within the overall duration of their fellowship in any country worldwide. The secondment phase can be a single period or be divided into shorter mobility periods. Secondments cannot exceed one third of the standard fellowship duration and should be in line with the project objectives, adding significant value and impact to the fellowship.
Placements in the non-academic sector
ERA Fellowships can provide an additional period of up to six months to support researchers opting for a placement at the end of the project to work on R&I projects in an organisation from the non-academic sector established in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. While this possibility is also available to fellows recruited in the non-academic sector, such a placement should be implemented at a different non-academic host organisation established in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. The request for such a non-academic placement should be an integral part of the proposal, explaining the added value for the project and for the career development of the researcher, and will be subject to evaluation. This incentive aims at promoting career moves between sectors and organisations and thereby stimulate innovation and knowledge transfer while expanding career opportunities for researchers.
Training activities
The training activities implemented under the ERA Fellowships should include training for key transferable skills[2], foster innovation and entrepreneurship, (e.g., commercialisation of results, Intellectual Property Rights, communication, public engagement and citizen science), foster good scientific conduct such as research integrity and promote Open Science practices (open access to publications and to other research outputs, including data, FAIR data management, societal engagement and citizen science, etc.).
Career Development Plan
In order to equip ERA Fellows with skills that enhance and expand their career opportunities inside and outside academia, a Career Development Plan should be established jointly by the supervisor(s) and the researcher. In addition to research objectives, this plan should comprise the researcher's training and career needs, including training on transferable skills, teaching, planning for publications and participation in conferences and events aiming at opening science and research to citizens. The Plan has to be submitted as a project deliverable at the beginning of the action and can be updated when needed.
[1] Charter for Researchers, annexed to the Council recommendation C/2023/1640 of 18 December 2023 on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe (OJ C, C/2023/1640, 29.12.2023), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C_202301640.
[2] As an illustration, Eurodoc published a list of such transferable skills at: http://eurodoc.net/skills-report-2018.pdf

Status

Forthcoming

Deadline

8 September 2027 (time not stated)

Opens

7 April 2027

Published

12 December 2025

Total budget

€8,000,000

Grant range

€100,000 – €500,000

Country

European Union (EU-wide)

Programme

Horizon Europe (HORIZON)

Funder

European Commission

Official page

Open at the source portal

What applying involves

12 steps, all of them taken from this call's own documents.

Understand the call

• Read the call on the source portal and download its documents
• Write the proposal against the award criteria and thresholds

  Seals of Excellence will be awarded to applications exceeding all of the evaluation thresholds set out in this work programme but which cannot be funded due to lack of budget available to the call. are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §5a

• Check the grant's legal and financial set-up standard for this programme

  described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the MSCA part of the Work Programme Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA): Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System Standard application form (HE MSCA PF) Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations Standard evaluation form (HE MSCA) Guidance HE Programme Guide … — conditions §6

• Note the opening date — a proposal cannot be submitted before it
• Check the amount you plan to request against the call's range

Check you are eligible

• Check your country of establishment is eligible

  The source scopes this to one country only. — ai_results.eligibility

• Check every partner is established in an eligible country standard for this programme

  described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide — conditions §2

• Meet the call's other eligibility conditions

  See these exceptions and specific conditions for the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships at the end of the MSCA Work Programme part. To be eligible to this call the host organisation must be located in a Widening country. described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §3

• Be able to show financial and operational capacity standard for this programme

  described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §4

Prepare the documents

• Prepare Part B of the Application Form standard for this programme

  Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. — conditions

Submit

• Check the submission and evaluation process standard for this programme

  are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual — conditions §5b

• Submit before the closing date shown above

  The source states the closing day but no closing time — check the portal before the last day. — calls.deadline

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