The 2025 call for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Choose Europe for Science scheme is open as of 1 October 2025.
With an indicative budget of €22.5 million, this pilot scheme aims to make European research careers more appealing by providing stable employment and high-quality working conditions.
It addresses precarity in the research sector, helping Europe retain talent within its borders and attract top researchers from around the world.
The call is open to applications in any scientific field, demonstrating the MSCA’s commitment to excellence and innovation across disciplines.
Host institutions can include universities, research institutions or facilities, companies including SMEs, government or public institutions, museums, hospitals, NGOs, or any other eligible entity based in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. A beneficiary can receive a maximum of €3.5 million for this call.
To find out more, sign up for the MSCA Information Webinar for host organisations on Wednesday 8 October, 2-4.30pm CEST (1-3.30pm UK time).
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MSCA Choose Europe for Science is a “mono-beneficiary” action. This means that only one organisation based in the EU or a country associated to Horizon Europe applies.
Any type of organisation that can recruit researchers can apply to Choose Europe for Science, including
- higher education institutions
- research institutions and infrastructures
- private sector organisations, including industry, businesses, and small and medium-sized enterprises
- public sector organisations, including national, regional, and local governments, agencies, and museums
- other socio-economic actors including NGOs, think-tanks, charities, etc.
The beneficiary must recruit and host the researchers.
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Projects should recruit at least 3 researchers for up to 5 years, with MSCA co-funding the first 2 to 3 years and the institutions providing the funding (with internal or external funds) for an additional 2 years.
Funding helps host organisations cover a fixed amount (Choose Europe for Science allowance) to support any cost items of the programme, equivalent to the minimum salary that researchers should receive during the first 2-to-3-year phase of the project (€6700), a long-term leave allowance and a special needs allowance, if applicable, for each supported researcher.
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Researchers recruited onto selected MSCA Choose Europe for Science projects are supported during the full duration of the project (48 months or 60 months depending on the length chosen by the institution for the first phase).
They
- can be of any nationality
- should comply with the mobility rules: in general, they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the recruiting organisation for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the deadline of the co-funded programme’s call
- can go on short-term secondments
- must have a doctoral degree. Researchers who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis but who have not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree will also be considered as postdoctoral researchers and will be considered eligible to apply
- should not already be permanently employed by the organisation hosting them