Funding news digest ·
Research Funding News for Doctoral and Early-Career Researchers
This digest gathers a selection of notable announcements from European research bodies, chosen for their relevance to doctoral candidates and early-career researchers. Each summary explains what was announced and why it may matter for those building a research career.
European Research Council · 5 November 2026
Commission invites nominations for the next President of the European Research Council
The European Commission is asking research organisations across the EU to put forward candidates to lead the European Research Council, with nominations due in late November 2026. The appointee will begin in autumn 2027, taking over from Professor Maria Leptin for a four-year term that can be renewed once. Early-career researchers who may one day seek ERC funding have a stake in who guides the council's direction.
European Research Council · 23 October 2026
Starting Grants 2027 applications: Facts and figures
Preliminary figures for the ERC Starting Grants 2027 call, which closed in October 2026, show 7,710 proposals: a jump of 60.4% over the previous round, after rises of 22.4% and 13% in the two calls before it. Physical Sciences and Engineering made up 43% of submissions, Social Sciences and Humanities 29% and Life Sciences 28%, while women submitted nearly 39% of proposals. For early-career researchers considering this scheme, the numbers point to a sharply more competitive field.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions · 21 October 2026
Interactive publication featuring over 100 success stories and testimonials
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions have released an interactive publication with more than 100 testimonials and success stories from the programme. Readers can browse by country or by university to locate relevant researchers and projects. Doctoral candidates weighing a fellowship application may find it useful for seeing how others shaped their projects and careers.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions · 20 October 2026
Science without borders: the lasting legacy of Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Marking 30 years of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in 2026, this article notes that over 150,000 researchers, including 25 Nobel laureates, have taken part since 1996, and that annual support has grown from about 800 to roughly 8,000 researchers. Companies represent almost half of participating organisations, and more than 4,000 firms have joined projects over the last five years. For early-career researchers, this highlights how the programme connects academic training with careers in industry and other sectors.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions · 6 October 2026
Nobel Prizes in Medicine and Physics awarded to former MSCA fellow and supervisor
Two Nobel laureates of 2026 have ties to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. Georg Nagel, who shared the Medicine prize for work on light-gated ion channels and optogenetics, held a fellowship at the University of Naples Federico II between 1999 and 2000, and Francis Halzen, awarded in Physics for contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, supervised within the MSCA-funded ASTRONU project on neutrino astronomy. These examples show that mobility fellowships and training networks can sit early in careers that later reach the highest levels of recognition.
European Research Council · 5 October 2026
ERC grantee Peter Hegemann shares Nobel Prize in Medicine
The ERC reports that Peter Hegemann, a co-recipient of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, is the sixteenth ERC grantee to receive a Nobel Prize, having held an Advanced Grant and a second, jointly held grant with two other researchers since 2016. His discovery of Channelrhodopsin-1 in 2002 helped establish optogenetics, a method for controlling cell activity with light. The ERC President used the occasion to argue for continued European investment in curiosity-driven research, the kind of research ERC grants are designed to support.