Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions - Seal of Excellence Postdoctoral Fellowships

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions - Seal of Excellence FWO (MSCA SoE FWO) wants to support researchers in the development of an independent, international research career.

Status

Open

21/03/2025

Duration

2 Duration

No extension possible

Announcement of results

22/05/2025

Objective

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions - Seal of Excellence FWO (MSCA SoE FWO) postdoctoral fellowships want to support researchers in the development of an independent, international research career.

For the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions Postdoctoral European Fellowships (MSCA PF EF) 2024 call, fellowships are made available to the 8 highest ranked and for FWO eligible candidates on the reserve list.

Background information

The Seal of Excellence (SoE) was introduced under the previous European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (2014-2020).

The SoE is awarded to project proposals submitted under a Horizon Europe (HE, 2021-2027) call and ranked above a predetermined quality threshold, but which were not funded by HE due to budgetary constraints.

With this label, the European Commission recognises the value of project proposals and encourages other funding organisations to use HE's high-quality evaluation process. The SoE provides basic information about the proposal, the call and the applicant(s).

Currently, the SoE quality label exists for a number of funding channels in HE including the annual call for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships (PF). For MSCA PF, the quality threshold for a SoE is set at 85%. In a number of countries, funding organisations, governments and research institutions offer (limited) funding (for part) of MSCA SoE recipients including in Belgium by the FWO.
MSCA PF support postdoctoral researchers, whom during their mandate undertake international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary mobility to acquire new knowledge, skills and competences to prepare them for the future needs of the labor market. There are two types: European Fellowships and Global Fellowships.

European Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to researchers moving within Europe or coming to Europe from another part of the world to pursue their research career. These fellowships take place in an EU Member State or HE Associated Country and can last between 1 and 2 years. Researchers of any nationality can apply.

Global Postdoctoral Fellowships fund the mobility of researchers outside Europe. The fellowship lasts between 2 to 3 years, of which the first 1 to 2 years will be spent in a non-associated Third Country, followed by a mandatory return phase of 1 year to an organisation based in an EU Member State or HE Associated Country. Only nationals or long-term residents of the EU Member States or HE Associated Countries can apply.
Since 2018, the FWO supports researchers who have been awarded a SoE under the MSCA PF EF call. Fellowships are awarded to the eight highest ranking researchers who applied under MSCA PF with an FWO eligible Flemish host institution, have received a SoE and were ranked on the reserve list, for a duration of 24 months. Candidates receive an invitation to submit an application for a SoE fellowship at FWO with a main host institution eligible under the FWO postdoctoral researcher regulation.

Important dates

Invitations will be send as of the second week of March (10-14 March 2025)
Last application date a week after the candidate has received the invitation to submit an application
Announcement of results: 22 May 2025
Start of fellowship: 1 October or 1 November 2025

Features

Duration of the fellowship: 2 years, not renewable
Gross monthly salary (minimum 4 years seniority): min. 5,398.85 - max. 7,857.64 (index 2,0807 from 01/06/2024)
Bench fee: € 4.000 [pay attention: no flexible bench fee]

Profile and conditions

For an MSCA SoE FWO postdoctoral fellowship only candidates are eligible who have submitted an application for a MSCA PF EF and are ranked on the reserve list of the MSCA PF programme.
The MSCA PF EF application has to be submitted with an for FWO eligible Flemish principle host institution or the Flemish Institution for Biotechnology (VIB) as affiliation, as mentioned in article 4 of the Regulation of the Research Foundation - Flanders governing postdoctoral researcher Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions - Seal of Excellence).
You have not previously received a similar fellowship (not even in part).
You agree with the Research Integrity Clause.
Postdoctoral fellows must submit a final report on their scientific activities during the MSCA SoE FWO postdoctoral fellowship to the FWO. The Cross-Domain Panel (CDP) assesses the reports.

Application, Evaluation and selection procedure

FWO will select the eight highest ranked applications on the reserve list of MSCA PF EF applications, being eligible for a MSCA SoE FWO postdoctoral fellowship as described above, on the basis of their relative position (being their rank in the panel where the application is evaluated divided by the number of eligible applications submitted in that panel). For ex aequo’s the score given to the concerned applications applies.
FWO invites from the second week of March (10-14 March 2025) the selected candidates to submit an application for a MSCA SoE FWO postdoctoral fellowship by e-mail on ncp_fwo@fwo.be. If the candidate declines the offer, the next candidate on the reserve list, identified following the selection principles as explained, will be invited.
If the candidate does not have an FWO e-portal account yet, (s)he must register in the e-portal.
The application must include: 1) the complete application for a MSCA PF EF (part A and B including all annexes, i.e. a complete PDF file generated by the submission system including the electronic acknowledgement of receipt digitally sealed by the European Commission), 2) the Evaluation Summary Report of the European Commission and 3) the FWO application form. The FWO application form is similar to the application form for FWO junior and senior postdoctoral fellowships.
The supervisor has to write a letter of recommendation and add it to the FWO application form.
The board of trustees of 21 May 2025 assesses and decides on the award.
The MSCA PF EF ranking is followed, so the FWO does not conduct anymore an internal and external peer review.
The results will be announced via email to the candidates (22 May) and on the FWO website via the results page (expected end of June).
If as of 1 June the applications on the reserve list are in the end picked up by the European Commission, no other application will be funded by the FWO.

Regulations

General Regulations

Regulations for Postdoctoral Fellowship

Regulations postdoctoraal mandaat Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions - Seal of Excellence

Regulations for the bench fee of FWO fellows

Contact

For questions about the application form or procedure: ncp_fwo@fwo.be and +32 2 550 15 76.

For technical (IT) problems regarding e-portal and application modules send an email to the IT helpdesk: FWOhelpdesk@fwo.be.