Marie Skłodowska-Curie opens €78.5 million Staff Exchanges call to boost international and intersectoral research cooperation
- ›The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions has opened a €78.5 million call for Staff Exchanges to fund international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary secondments.
- ›Consortia must include at least three organisations in three countries with two located in different EU Member States or Horizon Europe associated countries.
- ›Secondments run from one month up to 12 months and projects can span multiple years depending on the call rules.
- ›Funding covers top-up allowances for seconded staff, special needs allowances if applicable, and project costs for research, training, networking and management.
- ›Participation rules differ for organisations in EU and associated countries compared with third countries, and access to complementary national funding varies.
What the new MSCA Staff Exchanges call offers
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions has launched a call with a budget of approximately €78.5 million for Staff Exchanges. The scheme is designed to accelerate knowledge transfer and innovation by funding short term international and intersectoral mobility of staff involved in research and innovation. The call is open to projects across all research domains and places a strong emphasis on international, interdisciplinary and cross sector collaboration. The deadline to submit proposals for this edition of the call is 28 February 2024. Applicants should verify deadlines on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal because MSCA calls recur and dates can differ by year.
What Staff Exchanges aims to achieve
Staff Exchanges targets sustainable partnerships that span academia and non-academic sectors in order to share skills, transfer know how and encourage innovation. The programme explicitly supports exchanges of researchers at all career stages as well as administrative, technical and managerial staff who participate in research activities. Project activities are expected to foster creativity, entrepreneurship and the translation of ideas into products, services or processes. The call also aligns with European policy priorities such as the European Year of Skills by supporting lifelong learning and competence development for quality jobs.
Who can participate and how consortia must be structured
| Participant category | Can be funded for sending staff | Can be funded for hosting and training incoming staff | Notes |
| EU Member State or Horizon Europe associated country beneficiary | Yes | Yes | Eligible as beneficiaries and can receive grant funding for secondments and hosting. |
| Low and middle income third country associated partner | Yes, under project costs | Yes, under project costs | Can be funded to second staff and to host incoming staff according to MSCA work programme conditions. |
| High income third country associated partner | No, secondments only at own cost unless complementary funding exists | Yes, hosting and training under project costs | May require national cofunding schemes to support outgoing mobility. |
What the funding supports
Practical steps and where to apply
Applications must be prepared and submitted through the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. The portal hosts the call page, the MSCA work programme, the guide for applicants, application and evaluation forms, FAQs and manuals. Proposals should include a work plan for secondments, a clear scientific and innovation rationale, plans for knowledge transfer and exploitation, and realistic budgets. The application must be complete with all annexes by the deadline stated on the call page.
Context and critical considerations
MSCA Staff Exchanges is valuable for enabling short term mobility and for building long term collaborations between academic groups and industry or public actors. It is particularly useful for smaller organisations and SMEs that want to access specialised knowledge without hiring long term staff. However the scheme has limits that applicants should not overlook. The administrative burden of EU proposals and grant management remains substantial and can disadvantage smaller organisations without dedicated grant offices. Access for partners in high income third countries is constrained by the rule that they must fund outgoing secondments from their own budgets unless national cofunding exists. This can create asymmetries in participation and reduce the attractiveness for some global partners. The total envelope of €78.5 million will be spread over multiple projects and is unlikely to meet demand from all competitive consortia. Finally, measuring long term impact on innovation and regional capacity is difficult because the funded secondments are short term and sustained institutional commitments beyond the project are necessary to realise tangible commercial or social outcomes.
What success will look like and what to watch for
Successful projects deliver demonstrable skills gains for staff, sustained collaborations between partners, and concrete follow up actions that exploit the exchanged knowledge. Evaluation of proposals will look for quality of the exchange plan, complementarity of partners, sound management and feasible dissemination and exploitation strategies. Applicants and funders should track whether knowledge transfer leads to measurable outputs such as joint publications, patents, prototypes or improved public services. Pay attention to inclusion policies such as support for researchers at risk and to the MSCA Green Charter which addresses environmental footprints of projects.
Next steps and where to find official documentation
Interested organisations should consult the MSCA call page and the EU Funding and Tenders Portal for the official call text, the MSCA work programme, application forms and FAQs. National contact points and the European Research Executive Agency can provide guidance. Applicants should also check for any complementary national schemes in third countries that could support outgoing secondments.
| Resource | Purpose | Where to find |
| MSCA call page and work programme | Official rules, budget lines and eligibility conditions | EU Funding and Tenders Portal and MSCA website |
| Guide for applicants and application forms | Templates and evaluation criteria | Call page on the Funding and Tenders Portal |
| National contact points | Advice on national cofunding schemes and complementary funding | Relevant national research or funding agencies |
Bottom line
The MSCA Staff Exchanges call offers a useful instrument to support short term mobility and to catalyse international and intersectoral collaboration. The funding can materially reduce the cost barriers to secondments and reward institutions that commit to knowledge sharing. At the same time applicants should be realistic about administrative requirements, the limited scale of the overall envelope and the practical constraints that affect third country participation. Careful consortium design, realistic work plans and a clear route to exploitation will be decisive in turning a successful proposal into lasting impact.