The Postdoctoral Fellowship programme within the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions (MSCA-PF) is the most prestigious post-doctoral funding opportunity within the European Union. However, writing a competitive project can be challenging and requires practice. This course, presented by two former MSCA fellows, aims to provide a hands-on workshop to get you started in the process of writing a competitive MSCA-PF application.

The course is directed to late-stage PhD candidates and early career researchers interested on applying to the MSCA-PF scheme, and to consolidated researchers that may be interested in participating as hosts for incoming European Post-docs.

Specific learning objectives:

• To review the general features of the MSCA-PF application.
• To assimilate and rehearse writing the different parts of a MSCA-PF proposal.
• To clearly and concisely state your aims & goals.
• To acquire hands-on experience writing a funding proposal.
• To learn the different aspects that make a proposal successful.

• Unit 1: Introduction to the MSCA-PF program. Parts of a MSCA-PF proposal.
• Unit 2: Framing the state-of-the-art. Define your aims & goals.
• Unit 3: Methodology: how much is enough. Keys to delivering impact.
• Unit 4: Building synergies with the host. Tips for scheduling your proposed activities.
• Unit 5: What makes a proposal successful?

By the end of the course, students are expected to be able to:

• understand the MSCA-PF funding scheme and how to submit an application.
• identify and think through the key points to address before start writing an application.
• write a competitive funding proposal.
• shape the proposal narrative to make the most of their specific strengths.  

learn to assess and provide feedback to others on funding applications.

To pass the course, students must complete and upload 100% of the tasks requested throughout.