1. Spreading excellence and widening participation from a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) perspective
Peter Whitten
DG Education and Culture
Mobility workshop by the NCP_WIDE.NET project
Brussels, 12 October 2016

2. Features of the MSCA Excellent research
Innovative training/skills enhancement
Open to all career stages and nationalities
Bottom-up approach (all domains of R&I)
Attractive career and knowledge-exchange opportunities through mobility
International, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary
Promotion of attractive working and employment conditions

3. MSCA Calls IF ITN RISE COFUND Innovative Training Networks
What does it offer?
High-quality research training delivered through interdisciplinary networks, industrial doctorates or joint doctorates.
Who applies?
International networks of research organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors
Who is funded?
Researchers at doctoral level (less than 4 years of full-time research experience and no doctoral degree)
Call details:
Opens: 15 September 2016
Closes: 10 January 2017
at 17:00:00 Brussels time
Budget: 430M€ IF
Individual Fellowships
What does it offer?
Opportunities to work on personal research projects by moving between countries and possible sectors to acquire new skills.
Who applies?
Individual researchers together with the host organisations
Who is funded?
Postdoctoral researchers
Call details:
Opens: 11 April 2017
Closes: 14 September 2017
at 17:00:00 Brussels time Budget: 248M€
RISE
Research & Innovation Staff Exchange
What does it offer?
The exchanges of staff members involved in research and innovation to develop sustainable collaborative projects and the transfer of knowledge.
Who applies?
International networks of research organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors
Who is funded?
Researchers, technical administrative and managerial staff of any nationality and at all career levels
Call details:
Opens: 1 December 2016
Closes: 5 April 2017
at 17:00:00 Brussels time
Budget: 80M€
COFUND
Co-Funding of Regional, National & International Programmes
What does it offer?
Regional national or international programmes to foster excellence in training mobility and career development of researchers
Who applies?
Organisations funding or managing doctoral or fellowships programmes
Who is funded?
Researchers at doctoral and postdoctoral level
Call details:
Opens: 5 April 2017
Closes: 28 September 2017
at 17:00:00 Brussels time Budget: 80M€

4. Reasons for HEIs to get involved in MSCA
Build Links with Research Groups and Industry Worldwide
Increase number of research students & staff
Attracting Leading & Up-and-Coming Researchers
Fund a Sabbatical Abroad (up-skill for ERC)
Significant co-financing opportunity through COFUND

5. Widening in MSCA – State of play H2020
EU-13 countries tend to lag behind but widening not exclusively EU-13 problem.
Widening countries tend to apply less and have a higher share of rejected proposals.
However, all widening countries have a lot of proposals above threshold and a majority of widening countries have excellent (very high- scoring) proposals not funded due to lack of budget.
Brain drain is an issue though all MSCA offer opportunities for nationals to return home and many take advantage of this, e.g. For FP7, 600 of MSCA fellows in Italy were Italian.

8. Who should qualify as a widening country for MSCA?
One possible indicator produced by JRC:
Total MSCA fellows by host country divided by total MSCA fellows by nationality
FP7 data (yet to be updated with H2020)

9. What can be done to close the gap?
– at national and institutional level
Member States and institutions have a clear and important role to play (c.f. MIRRIS)
Increased investment in R&I
More attractive research environment
Synergies (Structural Funds, MSCA-COFUND, Teaming)
Smart specialisation
Raising awareness among targeted groups
Building partnerships (outside academia and abroad)
Seal of Excellence (examples CZ and CY)

10. What can be done at EU level for MSCA?
MSCA intends to strengthen Reintegration Panel (addressing the diaspora) and increase Global Fellowships (mobility outside EU with return to EU)
Seal of Excellence
Provide support for NCPs, training /mentoring of applicants
A possible IF panel for excellent proposals among widening countries (creating a more level playing field)?
Open to suggestions? e.g., Why so few COFUND applications from EU-13?