Updated MSCA Work Programme with Changes for 2027 & Recent MSCA Guidance Documents

Friday, 9. October 2026

The European Commission has released the final updated version of the MSCA work programme for 2026-2027. It foresees higher budgets for Doctoral Networks (2026 – 628,03 Mio. EUR; 2027 – 645,99 Mio. EUR) and Postdoctoral Fellowships (2026 – 434,05 Mio EUR; 2027 – 459,70 Mio. EUR).

The other most noteworthy changes for the 2027 calls are:

MSCA Staff Exchanges 2027

Deadline moved up to April 13, 2027

MSCA Doctoral Networks 2027

Secondments can now last up to half of the recruitment period (standard Doctoral Networks only)
The financial contribution for the recruitment of doctoral candidates will increase and the corresponding country correction coefficients have been updated
AI networks, established as part of the RAISE pilot, may receive additional funding. Calls can be found in the separate work programme “Horizontal Acitvities”

MSCA Choose Europe for Science 2027

Maximum financial contribution per beneficiary are now double from 5 to 10 million

An older newsletter article from KoWi (that worked with an earlier draft and not the final version) lists more details on additional minor changes, e.g. on evaluation sub-criteria or on staff exchanges to China.

Are you considering applying for one or more MSCA calls for 2026 or 2027? If so, you should familiarize yourself with the relevant official guidance documents provided by the European Commission, as well as the handbooks and guides by RADIANCE.

The EU Commission has released in the last months the following guidance documents regarding the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions:

Radiance, the joint network project of national contact points, has published the following publications for MSCA applicants since July 2026:

ZEUSS is happy to support Saxon universities, research institutes, as well as all other interested actors in Saxony with promising MSCA grant proposals. Tap here to get in touch: https://zeuss-saxony.de/contact/