The first MSCA Day was held at CREAF in 2022, a meeting organised by the CREAF Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Management Team (MSCA) and attended by 11 candidates and some supervisors. It was an online event in which the new features of the European Union's flagship postdoctoral fellowship programme, the MSCAs, were presented. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are extremely competitive fellowships that fund research and provide research staff with new knowledge and skills through cross-border mobility, and the passage through different sectors and disciplines.

The meeting organised by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Management Team of the CREAF was attended by 11 candidates and candidates, with some supervisors

The event provided key recommendations for developing successful proposals, accurate, up-to-date and accurate information on the 2022 call, to introduce the MSCA management team and to present the essential toolkit created by the team to help writing competitive proposals. The event was aimed at both experienced MSCA applicants and those applying for the first time. In addition, a meeting with applicants and supervisors was held, to plan and discuss the overall vision of the project and let creativity flourish.

Prior to this session, an exclusive session was also organised for people from CREAF who would like to volunteer as MSCA proposal supervisors and receive talent. This is a key action to diversify the supervisors and offer candidates a wider range of projects or lines of research.

CREAF's talent strategy

"The Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions are strategic for CREAF because, together with the ERCs, they are the main instrument for developing and attracting talent. For this reason, a large part of our research management experience is put at the service of these people; we want to help them write winning proposals and come into contact with the best international talent"

TERESA ROSAS, Talent and Gender officer at CREAF

CREAF has been hosting research staff of excellence who has obtained a European grant from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). The research centres hosting this research staff are also enriched by this knowledge and allow a basic network of international contacts to be built up.

Around 12 people have developed their research at CREAF as part of an MSCA grant. Today, thanks to the support of the Severo Ochoa "ULandscape" funded in 2019 by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, CREAF has an office to support international candidates wishing to obtain this scholarship to carry it out, in whole or in part, at CREAF. This office collaborates with the international projects office, the communication department, the talent and gender officer, the impact department and the project office. Thanks to the guidelines and the review of the proposals, those who apply for this grant increase the quality of their proposals and have a better chance of being funded. 

What are Marie Curie Fellowships?

Marie Curie Fellowships are the European Union's flagship funding programme for doctoral education and post-doctoral training of researchers. They provide grants to researchers at all stages of their careers, from doctoral candidates to highly experienced researchers, and foster research cooperation across borders, sectors and disciplines.

The aim is to strengthen, quantitatively and qualitatively, the human potential in research and technology in Europe with the aim of equipping research staff with new skills and competences; to offer attractive working conditions for researchers; to break down real and perceived barriers between academia and other sectors, especially business; to promote the involvement of industry, etc. in doctoral and postdoctoral research.

This action is part of the Severo Ochoa “ULandscape” funded in 2019 by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to support Research Centres of Excellence.