Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: Funded PhD and Doctoral Network Fellowships

What MSCA Doctoral Networks are

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) are the European Union's flagship funding programme for researcher training and mobility, part of the EU's research framework programme. For PhD candidates, the most relevant strand is MSCA Doctoral Networks (DN), which fund cohorts of doctoral researchers trained across partnerships of universities, research institutes and companies.

A Doctoral Network is a consortium that wins EU funding to recruit doctoral candidates onto a shared training programme. You do not apply to "MSCA" centrally as a student — you apply to the individual recruited positions that funded networks advertise. Note that MSCA is distinct from Erasmus+ (the EU's mobility and exchange programme) and from Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters (joint-degree scholarships) — MSCA is a research-training and funding action. Verify how each network recruits on its official call.

How an MSCA-funded PhD position works

When a Doctoral Network is funded, the partner institutions recruit doctoral candidates onto fixed-term positions, usually as employed researchers, to work on a defined project within the network. You are typically hired by one beneficiary institution and may spend time (secondments) at other partners.

Recruitment is open and merit-based, and positions are advertised publicly. The selection process, contract and host are set by the recruiting institution under the EU rules of the action, so read each vacancy's official details rather than assuming a single common procedure.

The mobility rule

A defining feature of MSCA is the mobility rule. As a general principle, the recruited researcher must not have resided or carried out their main activity in the country of the recruiting host for more than a set period within a defined timeframe immediately before recruitment.

The exact mobility condition, periods and any exceptions are defined in the official MSCA rules for the relevant call and can change between programmes. This is the single rule most applicants misread — check the precise wording in the current official MSCA documentation and the specific vacancy before applying.

How the allowances are structured

MSCA funds recruited doctoral candidates through defined allowance categories rather than a single lump figure. These typically include a living allowance and a mobility allowance, with further family-related and special-needs allowances available to those who qualify, and country correction coefficients applied.

The categories, coefficients and amounts are set in the official MSCA work programme and guide and are updated over time. Never quote a fixed take-home figure — describe the structure and verify the current amounts and conditions on the official MSCA source.

Finding and applying to MSCA vacancies

MSCA-funded doctoral positions are recruited openly and are commonly listed on the EU's EURAXESS jobs portal and on the network's and host institutions' own pages. Because each network recruits its own cohort, vacancies appear on a rolling basis once networks are funded.

• Search EURAXESS jobs and filter for MSCA / Doctoral Network positions
• Check the official MSCA programme pages to understand the rules before applying
• Read each vacancy for the host, project, contract type and required profile
• Confirm the mobility rule applies to your situation for that specific post
• Prepare a CV, motivation and references; follow the host's stated process
• Verify deadlines and conditions on the official source — never assume