Funding news digest ·
Research Funding News for Doctoral and Early-Career Researchers
This digest gathers a selection of notable announcements from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme that are relevant to doctoral candidates and early-career researchers, spanning new publications, anniversary milestones, Nobel Prize connections, and a significant funding increase.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions · 21 October 2026
Interactive publication featuring over 100 success stories and testimonials
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions has released an interactive publication showcasing more than 100 success stories and testimonials from funded researchers. Early-career researchers can browse the collection by country or institution to see how past participants have benefited from the programme and to get a sense of the range of projects it supports.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions · 20 October 2026
Science without borders: the lasting legacy of Marie Skłodowska-Curie
An article published via Horizon Magazine traces how the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, inspired by Marie Skłodowska-Curie's vision of borderless science, has supported over 150,000 researchers since its creation in 1996, including 25 Nobel laureates. The programme has grown from funding around 800 researchers per year to roughly 8,000 annually, with companies making up nearly half of participating organisations. For doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, the piece illustrates the programme's scale and its strong links to both academic and industry sectors.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions · 6 October 2026
Nobel Prizes in Medicine and Physics awarded to former MSCA fellow and supervisor
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Georg Nagel, a former Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fellow who studied the role of the Na+ Ca2+ exchanger in neurodegeneration at the University of Naples Federico II, sharing the prize for discoveries in optogenetics. The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics went to Francis Halzen, who supervised the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions funded ASTRONU project on neutrino astronomy and the development of large-scale neutrino telescopes. These awards underscore how early-career funding through the programme can be part of trajectories leading to the highest levels of scientific recognition.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions · 30 September 2026
Over €210 million boost for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions to support more researchers in Europe
The European Commission has announced an additional EUR 210 million for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, directed toward Postdoctoral Fellowships and Doctoral Networks, as part of its broader effort to attract and retain research talent in Europe. The boost responds to record demand: the 2026 Postdoctoral Fellowships call received 21,627 applications, the highest number ever for any single funding action across more than 40 years of EU framework programmes. With over EUR 1.3 billion foreseen for the programme in 2027, this increase should translate into more funded positions for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in the final calls under Horizon Europe.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions · 25 September 2026
Cancer research in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions has published a document highlighting cancer research funded through the programme, which has a total budget of EUR 6.6 billion for 2021 to 2027. The publication illustrates how the programme's bottom-up, excellence-driven approach supports researchers working on cancer at all career stages, making it relevant for doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers seeking funding in this field.