Horizon Europe

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions

Doctoral Networks 2021

Webinar 25. June 2021

Berit Sundby Avset and Per Magnus Kommandantvold, National Contact Points for MSCA and ERC in Norway

#DN2021

@MarieCurie_NCP

MSCA: Developing talents,advancing research!

25.06.20212

Horizon Europe 2021 - 2027

Total budget: EUR 95.5 billion

Excellent Science (EUR25.8 billion)

Global Challenges and European IndustrialCompetitiveness (EUR 52.7 billion)

Innovative Europe(EUR 13.5 billion)

European Research Council (ERC) Clusters

1. Health

2. Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Societies

3. Civil Security for Society

4. Digital, Industry & Space

5. Climate, Energy and Mobility

6. Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & EnvironmentEU Joint Research Centre (JRC)

European Innovation Council (EIC)

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Budget 6,6 billion

Innovation ecosystems

Research InfrastructuresEuropean Institute of Innovation

and Technology (EIT)

Widening participation and strengthening the European research area (EUR 2.1 billion)

Widening participation and spreading excellence.Reforming and enhancing the European R&I system.

• The EU flagship programme for funding research training and mobility since 1994

• Part of the Excellence pillar in Horizon Europe

• 145,000 researchers funded so far

• Bottom-up

• Open to all disciplines

• International, intersectoral and interdisciplinary (3 I´s)

The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

3

4

• MSCA in Horizon Europe 2021-2027:

• 1. MSCA Doctoral Networks - networks training doctoral candidates

• 2. MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - postdoctoral researchers

• 3. MSCA Staff Exchanges - any type of research(-related) staff

• 4. MSCA COFUND - co-funding training programmes

• 5. MSCA and Citizens - public outreach events

Funding

schemeCall opens Call closes (deadline!) Budget

Postdoctoral

Fellowships22/06/2021 12/10/2021 242 mEUR

Doctoral

Networks22/06/2021 16/11/2021 403 mEUR

COFUND 12/10/2021 10/02/2022 89 mEUR

Staff Exchange 07/10/2021 09/03/2022 72 mEUR

MSCA call deadlines & budget

Budget and dates acc. to the work programme of 15. June 2021

Objective – Doctoral Networks

The objective of Doctoral Networks is to implement

doctoral programmes

by partnerships of organisations from different sectors

across Europe and beyond to

train highly skilled doctoral candidates,

stimulate their creativity,

enhance their innovation capacities and

boost their employability in the long-term.

The same overall aim;

Changes in details and implementation

Horizon 2020

MSCAInnovative

Training Networks

MSCA Doctoral

Networks

NEW

What is a Doctoral Network?

• A consortium of organisations from different countries and sectors

• Propose a joint research training programme

• Recruit Doctoral Candidates across the consortium – each candidate has an Individual Research Project

• The candidates must comply with the MSCA mobility rule – max 12 months in the country of their host in the 3 years prior to recruitment.

• The candidates may come from any country in the world

• Advanced research skills and transferable skills training – local and network-wide

• Networking events

• Secondments of the doctoral candidates

Academic and non-academic sectors

Academic sector

• public or private highereducationestablishments

• public or private non-profit researchorganisations

• International European Research Organisations

Non-academic sector

• any socio-economic actor not included in the academic sector

Joint Doctorates

Joint or multiple degrees,

Pre-agreement for joint degreesrequired

Size: up to 540 person-months

Industrial Doctorates

Training in academia and industry

Minimum 50% of the time in thenon-academic sector

The academic and non-academichost of a doctoral candidate can be

in the same country

Size: up to 540 person-months

Doctoral Networks (standard)

Training in academia and/or industry

Size: up to 360 person-months

Three modalities:

New

New

New

Common features

• Max duration: 48 months

• Doctoral candidates: between 3 and 36 months

• All candidates must be enrolled in a PhD programme

• All beneficiaries must recruit at least one doctoral candidate

• Secondments: worldwide, up to 1/3 of fellowship duration

• Max. 40.0% of the EU contribution may be allocated to beneficiaries in the same country

New

New

• Minimum 50% stay in the non-academic sector

• Each doctoral candidate must be recruited (employment contract) by both theacademic and the non-academic host.

• Mandatory joint supervision by both the academic and non-academic host

• A doctoral candidate can have his/her academic and non-academic host in the same country.

DN – Industrial doctorates

New

New

• Joint, double or multiple doctoral degrees recognised in at least two EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries

• Joint supervision is mandatory

• Joint governance structure with joint admission, selection, supervision, monitoring and assessment procedures

• It is expected that each doctoral candidate is recruited (employment contract) multiple times in order to receive the correct salary (country correction coefficient)

• A pre-agreement to award a joint, double or multiple degree must be provided when the proposal is submitted

DN – Joint Doctorates

The Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions (UHR): Joint Degrees at the PhD Level Introduction and Guidelines (2015) https://www.uhr.no/_f/p1/i1bd6acae-1051-49f8-8464-b1bb18326bc7/joint_degrees_at_the_phd_level.pdf

New

Who applies?

• Consortia of universities, research institutions and research infrastructures, businesses including SMEs, and other socio-economic actors

• At least three independent legal entities (beneficiaries), each established in a different MS or AC; minimum of 1 beneficiary from a MS

(on top of this minimum, any entity from any third country can join; no minimum for associated partners)

New

Beneficiaries Associated partners

Academic / non-academic yes yes

Signs the Grant Agreement yes no

Recruits researchers yes no

Training and/or hosting ofseconded researchers

yes yes

Participation in Supervisory Board

yes yes

Directly claim costs yes no

Eligible participants:

Beneficiaries and Associated partners

Eligible researchers

• Supported researchers must be doctoral candidates (not already in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of recruitment)

• Researchers must be enrolled in a doctoral programme, in at least 1 EU Member State/Associated Country (at least 2 for Joint Doctorates)

• Any nationality

• Mobility rule: must not have resided or carried out main activity in the country of the recruiting beneficiary for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their (first) recruitment date

New

New

DN (Standard) DN-ID DN-JD

BEN

EFIC

IAR

Y (

IES)

Minimum Number of beneficiaries

3 3 3

Minimum MS or AC 3 3 3

Minimum MS (beneficiaries) 1 1 1

Academic sector No restrictions Minimum 1

Minimum 3 entitled to award doctoral degrees; at least 2 (beneficiaries/ associated

partners/ associated partners linked to a

beneficiary) conferring the degree

established in MS/AC.

Non-academic sector No restrictions Minimum 1 No restrictions

Max no. of person months 360 540 540Max 40.0% budget for 1

country/international organisation

Mandatory Mandatory Mandatory

Beneficiary (or associated partner/associated partner linked to a beneficiary) awarding PhD

Mandatory (beneficiary or

associated partner/ associated

partner linked to a beneficiary)

Mandatory (beneficiary or

associated partner/ associated

partner linked to a beneficiary)

Mandatory for minimum 3 beneficiaries in MS/AC

Joint award of PhD Optional Optional MandatoryJoint degree – letter of pre-agreement N/A N/A Mandatory

Joint supervision for researchers Encouraged Mandatory (from the 2 sectors) MandatoryResearchers enrolment in the PhD Mandatory Mandatory Mandatory

Stay in non-academic sector Encouraged Min 50% of fellowship duration Encouraged

Secondments ≤ 1/3 ≤ 1/3 ≤ 1/3

Associated partner: Letter of Commitment Mandatory

Ranking lists 8 (Scientific) panelsBudget ~€403 Million

Secondments – if added value!

The purpose of secondments in MSCA is to expose the researchers to other environments, preferably in another sector.

• A planned, longer stay at another beneficiary or at an associated partner

• The E receives training and supervision at the secondment host

• Must be relevant, feasible, beneficial for the researcher and in line with the project objectives

• Up to 1/3 of recruitment period

• Can be pursued in any country, also outside of Europe.

Funding – unit costs

• Linked to the person-months of therecruited researchers

• Family allowance canbe granted during theproject if the status ofa researcher changes

• Long-term leave and special needsallowance if not covered by socialsecurity or similar

• Living allowance is subject to a Country Correction Coefficient

New

New

Contributions for recruited researchers

• Living allowance to cover personnel costs for the employment of researchers with full social security coverage.

• Mobility allowance: additional, private mobility-related costs

• Family allowance to contribute to mobility-related costs of researchers with familyobligations

NB!Each beneficiary must be able to documentthat thesecontributions werespent on theresearcher(s)

Exchange rates!

Contributions for institutional costs

• Research, training and networking contribution: costs for training and networking activities, research expenses, visa-related fees and travel expenses, additional costs arising from each secondment of six months or less, which require mobility from the place of residence (e.g. travel and accommodation costs)

• Management and indirect contribution should cover the beneficiary’s additional costs in connection with the action

NB!Coordination costs and joint training costs. Agree at the proposalstage!!

Special Needs Allowance

• personnel costs incurred by the beneficiaries, not reimbursed by the social security/other sources, in case of researchers’ leave, including maternity, paternity, parental, sick or special leave.

• For absences longer than 30 consecutive days

• The disability - long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments must be certified by a competent national authority

• Contributes to the additional costs for the acquisition of special needs items and services for researchers with disabilities

• Must not have been funded from another source (e.g. social security or healthinsurance)

• Requested when the need arises

• Ten different Unit cost rates

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/unit-cost-decision_he-msca_en.pdf

Long term leave allowance

New

How to applyChemistry

Information Science and Engineering

Social sciences

and humanities

Environment and

Geosciences

Economic sciences

Life Sciences

Mathe-matics

Physics

Part A – on-line form

• Select one of the eight evaluation panels

• Select the specific keywords carefully

• Compose the abstract with care

Part B1

• Proposal description, max 4 + 30 pages

• Follows award criteria

Part B2

• Description of participants

• Letters of commitment

Overview of the evaluation process

Receipt ofproposals

Individualevaluation

Consensus group

Panel review

Finalisation

Admissibility/eligibilitycheck

Allocation of proposalsto evaluators

Experts assessproposals individually

Minimum three expertsper proposals (oftenmore)

All individual expertsdisscuss together to agree on a commonposition, includingcomments and scores, for each proposal

The panel of expertsreach an agreement onthe scores and comments for all proposal within a call, checking consistencyacross the evaluations

If necessary, resolve cases where evaluators were unable to agree

Rank the proposals with the same score

The Commssion-/Agency reviews theresults of the experts’ evaluation and puttogether the final ranking list

Excellence Impact Quality and efficiency of theimplementation

Quality and pertinence of the project’s research and innovation objectives (and the extent to which they are

ambitious, and go beyond the state of the art)

Contribution to structuring doctoral training at the European level and to strengthening European innovation capacity, including the potential for:

a) meaningful contribution of the non-academic sector to the doctoral training, as appropriate to the implementation mode and research fieldb) developing sustainable elements of doctoral programmes

Quality and effectiveness of the work plan, assessment of risks and appropriateness of the effort assigned to work packages

Soundness of the proposed methodology (including interdisciplinary

approaches, consideration of the gender dimension and other diversity aspects if relevant for the research project, and the quality of open science practices)

Credibility of the measures to enhance the career perspectives and employability of researchers and contribution to their skills development

Quality, capacity and role of each participant, including hosting arrangements and extent to which the consortium as a whole brings together the necessary expertise

Quality and credibility of the training programme (including transferable skills,

inter/multidisciplinary, inter-sectoral and gender as well as other diversity aspects)

Suitability and quality of the measures to maximise expected outcomes and impacts, as set out in the dissemination and exploitation plan, including communication activities

Quality of the supervision (including

mandatory joint supervision for industrial and joint doctorate projects)

The magnitude and importance of the project’s contribution to the expected scientific, societal and economic impacts

50% 30% 20%

Document describingProposal template Part B

Template without instructions

Template with instructions

• Overall instructions• Definitions• Template with instructions• Template without instructions

MSCA WorkProgramme, call

text (p 12-15)

MSCA WorkProgramme,

definitions DN (p 74 -82)

Guide for applicants

FAQ (web)

Project description

template withinstructions

Where to find information:

New principle in Horizon Europe:

➢ Information and definitions shouldonly appear once, to avoid anyambiguities

➢ More documents

• Funding and Tenders portal

• Create and submit your proposal MSCA Doctoral Networks 2021

• Reference documents (Work programme, Application forms, evaluation forms, grant agreements,….)

• https://rea.ec.europa.eu/funding-and-grants/horizon-europe-marie-sklodowska-curie-actions/msca-doctoral-networks-2021_en

• https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/actions/doctoral-networks

Where to find information: (cont.)

25.06.2021 29

Getting the concept right

DN is not a Research Project

It is a Research Training

Programme

25.06.2021 30

Central quality elements of an DN proposal

▪ Develop a comprehensive programme vision

▪ Provide an integrated training and research strategy

▪ Develop a realistic management, financial and institutional strategy

▪ Recruit excellent students and deliver value to them

Must make sense for the training of the Researcher

The project as seen from the doctoral candidate

Recruited by beneficiary• open process, preferably

coordinated at consortium level

• 3-36 months• PhD-enrolment mandatory

Exposure to (non-) academic sector

Seconded to associated partner or other beneficiary, max 1/3 of the total recruitment period

Personal Career Development Plan

Training in “transferable skills”, at host, at partner organisations, and/or through (annual) consortium-wide workshops

Training through research in an individual, personalised project

Networking through secondments, short visits and consortium-wide joint workshops/summer schools

Representation of 1-2 Researchers in the Supervisory board

Supervisor(s) at host organisation(s), (co-supervisor at secondment host if relevant)

• Two new publications to be aware of in the proposal development:

• Green charter: A set of general principles and objectives that promote the sustainable implementation of research activities in line with the European Green Deal, the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. The MSCA Green Charter constitutes a code of good practice for all recipients of MSCA funding – both individuals and institutions – and promotes the mainstreaming of environmental considerations in all aspects of project implementation.https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/2bfbb0d9-9b3c-11eb-b85c-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

• Guidelines for Supervision: A set of recommendations to be adopted on a best-effort basis by participants in the programme – both individuals and institutions – in order to help institutions and supervisors in guiding/mentoring MSCA researchershttps://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/bb02d56e-9b3c-11eb-b85c-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

MSCA Green Charter and Guidelines for Supervision

Resubmission restrictions from the 2022 call

“Proposals submitted to the previous call of MSCA Doctoral Networks under Horizon Europe and having received a score of less than 80% must not be resubmitted the following year.1»

- Purpose: Increase the successrate by decreasenumber of applications ( 7 – 10 % successrate in H2020)

- Does not apply to proposals submitted in Horizon 2020

- It is not clearly defined what constitutes a resubmission

1) Work Programme 2021-2022, MSCA page 77.

What happenswhen?

• Opening of call:22. June 2021 - delayed

• Deadline for submission of proposals: (tbc)16. November 2021 at 17:00:00, Brussels local time

• Evaluation of proposals:November 2021 – March 2022

• Information on the outcome of the evaluation: April 2022

• Indicative date for the signing of Grant Agreem.: July 2022

https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/strategy/strategy-2020-2024/democracy-and-citizens-rights/gender-equality-research-and-innovation_en

https://kifinfo.no/nb/content/handlingsplaner-likestilling35

Proposal submission: Gender Equality Plan (GEP)

Horizon 2020 – ITNSuccess rates and Norwegian applications

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

suksessrate, alle søknader norsk suksessrate, søknader

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Norske deltakelser Søknadermed norsk deltakelse

25.06.2021 Kolumnetittel37

Essential advice to take into consideration

• The proposal is not a research proposal, but a proposal for a training programme in research

• The weighting of criteria is 50% - 30% - 20%. You need to perform at close to 100% on each

• The employability of the early-stage researchers (fellows) is key, in and outside of academia

• The Guide for Applicants, the Work programme and the Proposal templates are Must Reads

• Follow the template

• Start early. It takes time to develop an DN consortium and training programme

• Be innovative, think outside of the box

• Be detailed, address it all

• Your reviewers may not be specialists in your field, give them reasons to rank you highly

25.06.2021 Kolumnetittel38

Essential advice to take into consideration

• Figures/illustrations/pictures are sometimes better than words and makes reading less boring…

• Write part B, leave it for 1-2 weeks, read it carefully again. Have you explained everything in a clear language that the evaluators will understand in the way they are meant to understand it?

• Ask someone to do a mock-up evaluation, use the evaluation forms https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/temp-form/ef/ef_he-msca_en.pdf

• In the 2018 call, almost 12% of the 976 evaluators were from the private sector. Will they be pleased?

• Budget: Discuss the RTN-allowance distribution with partners and beneficiaries at an early stage

Common pitfalls I Collected from Evaluation Summary Reports in H2020

• Unclear research objectives

• State of the art/progress beyond poorly explained

• Lack of inter-/multidisciplinarity

• Gender aspects ignored

• High complexity of proposal

• Non-academic sector neglected

• Proposal not easy to read

• 40% rule is not respected (eligibility)

• No clear communication or dissemination plan

• Individual Researcher-projects poorly explained

Common pitfalls II

▪ Training programme is unfocused andnot clearly presented

▪ Local host training opportunities not used

▪ Not using network wide training opportunities

▪ Balance between the two

▪ Non-academic contribution to the training is poor

▪ Transferable skills neglected

▪ Risk management neglected

▪ Impact section neglected

▪ No mention of Personal Career Development Plans

Berit Sundby Avset

bsa@rcn.no, ph. 930 59 324

Per Magnus Kommandantvold

pmk@rcn.no, ph. 922 47 635

Twitter and LinkedIn:

NCP-team ERC and MSCA