This is the edition of 20 October 2026. The dates and statuses below are as they stood on that day and may have changed since. Read the current edition.
European research funding spans a wide range of career stages and disciplinary contexts, and knowing which calls align with your current position is the first step toward a well-timed application strategy. This radar brings together Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and ERC calls so you can map the landscape and plan your next move with a clear sense of what each instrument is designed to do.
Of the five calls below, three are applied for by institutions or consortia, with individual positions recruited after the grant is awarded, and two are applied for directly by the individual researcher, together with a host organisation.
MSCA Doctoral Networks 2026
Open, closes 24 November 2026. MSCA Doctoral Networks.
Who applies. Institutions or consortia apply. Individual positions are recruited openly after the grant is awarded.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks bring together universities, research institutes, and non-academic partners to design and run structured doctoral training across sectors and disciplines. For doctoral candidates, the programmes that emerge from funded networks are designed to build research skills alongside broader competences that translate into careers within and outside academia. Because the network model requires genuine cross-institutional collaboration, the positions it produces tend to be embedded in rich supervisory and mobility arrangements. Watching which consortia receive funding in this round will help you identify where well-structured doctoral opportunities are likely to appear in the following recruitment cycle.
Preparation step. Map the research groups, departments, and non-academic organisations in your field that have previously participated in Doctoral Networks or similar consortium-based training schemes, then follow their news channels and vacancy pages so you are well placed to respond when recruited positions are advertised after a grant is awarded.
Official topic page: HORIZON-MSCA-2026-DN-01-01
ERC Consolidator Grant
Open, closes 12 January 2027. ERC Consolidator Grant.
Who applies. The individual researcher applies directly, together with a chosen host organisation.
The ERC Consolidator Grant is designed for researchers who have already demonstrated independence and are in the process of consolidating their own research team or programme, making it a significant milestone grant for those several years beyond their doctorate. The call supports excellent principal investigators across all fields, with substantial funding available for a five-year period, allowing the kind of sustained, ambitious research agenda that is difficult to pursue through shorter-term instruments. For an early-career researcher approaching this stage, the Consolidator Grant represents a concrete horizon to plan toward, since the expected evidence of independence means that the groundwork you lay in your current role directly affects your competitiveness. Understanding the scope and scale of this grant helps you make strategic decisions about publications, team-building, and institutional affiliations well before the submission deadline arrives.
Preparation step. Draft a one-page outline of the independent research programme you would propose, identify a prospective host organisation whose environment supports that agenda, and open a preliminary conversation with the relevant research office to understand internal endorsement processes and timelines.
Official topic page: ERC-2027-COG
MSCA COFUND 2027
Opens 8 December 2026, closes 6 April 2027. MSCA COFUND (doctoral programmes).
Who applies. Institutions or consortia apply. Individual positions are recruited openly after the grant is awarded.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND for doctoral programmes co-funds existing or new doctoral schemes at participating organisations, with an emphasis on international, inter-sectoral, and interdisciplinary dimensions woven into the training design. The expected outcomes for doctoral candidates include a broader set of research-related competences and the kind of cross-boundary experience that shapes how researchers approach problems throughout their careers. For prospective doctoral candidates, a funded COFUND programme at an institution signals a deliberate institutional commitment to training quality and sustainability. Identifying institutions currently seeking or likely to seek COFUND support helps you target environments where doctoral training has been purposefully designed rather than assembled ad hoc.
Preparation step. Research universities and research institutes in your field that have run COFUND doctoral programmes in previous cycles, note the thematic and disciplinary scope of those programmes, and position your profile and research interests to align with the kinds of candidates such programmes are built to recruit once funding is secured.
Official topic page: HORIZON-MSCA-2027-COFUND-01-01
MSCA Choose Europe for Science 2027
Opens 8 December 2026, closes 6 April 2027. MSCA COFUND (postdoctoral programmes).
Who applies. Institutions or consortia apply. Individual positions are recruited openly after the grant is awarded.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Choose Europe for Science targets postdoctoral programmes and is explicitly oriented toward offering researchers concrete career prospects and greater professional autonomy. Notably, the description ties participating organisations to alignment with the European Charter for Researchers and a specific Council Recommendation on attracting and retaining research talent in Europe, as well as the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment, which signals that positions arising from funded programmes should sit within institutions actively reforming how they evaluate and support researchers. For a postdoctoral researcher, this framing means the host environments produced by this instrument are expected to offer more than a fellowship stipend. Monitoring which organisations receive funding under this call will help you identify institutional environments that have made formal commitments to researcher career development.
Preparation step. Familiarise yourself with the European Charter for Researchers and the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment referenced in this call's description, then use that knowledge to ask sharper questions when you later encounter postdoctoral vacancies advertised through programmes funded under this instrument, so you can assess whether an institution's commitments are substantive.
Official topic page: HORIZON-MSCA-2027-COFUND-02-01
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2027
Opens 7 April 2027, closes 8 September 2027. MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships.
Who applies. The individual researcher applies directly, together with a chosen host organisation.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships allow postdoctoral researchers to apply directly alongside a host organisation, making this one of the instruments where the researcher's own proposal is central to the application. The fellowship is designed to develop research and transferable skills, with an emphasis on the international, inter-sectoral, and interdisciplinary dimensions of the proposed project. The description also notes expected outcomes for host organisations around alignment with the European Charter for Researchers, which is worth considering when choosing a prospective host. Preparing a strong fellowship proposal takes sustained effort, and beginning the process of identifying a research question and a compatible host well before the deadline is essential.
Preparation step. Sketch a research outline that articulates a clear question, a methodology, and why a specific host organisation's environment is necessary to carry the work forward; then reach out to a potential supervisor at that organisation to test whether there is genuine intellectual alignment, and verify all eligibility conditions including the mobility rule on the official topic page before investing further time.
Official topic page: HORIZON-MSCA-2027-PF-01-01
Deadlines, statuses, and call identifiers are drawn from the
EU Funding and Tenders Portal and were verified against it on the date shown above. Confirm each call's current status on its own topic page before you rely on it. These calls close at 17:00 Brussels time on their stated deadline. Clau is a free companion for doctoral candidates and early-career researchers that helps with the project text and application materials behind calls like these.