European research associations call EU to protect and expand MSCA

As negotiations intensify over the next Horizon Europe programme and the EU’s long-term budget, research organisations are urging European leaders to protect and expand the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), calling research talent Europe’s 'strategic advantage'.

In a new statement, the signatories stress that MSCA must remain a research programme under Pillar I of FP10, open to all scientific fields and driven by bottom-up excellence. They argue that the programme’s success over the past 30 years comes from supporting doctoral candidates, postdoctoral researchers and emerging research leaders, while strengthening institutions and research environments across Europe. Rather than redesigning MSCA, Europe should preserve its proven model and increase investment to multiply its impact on research, innovation and competitiveness.

The statement warns against turning MSCA into a tool for addressing short-term labour market shortages or predefined political priorities. According to the organisations, introducing top-down thematic restrictions would weaken the programme’s ability to generate unexpected breakthroughs and long-term scientific capacity.

They also highlight strong demand for MSCA funding, noting that many high-quality projects still go unsupported due to oversubscription.

The staement can be found here:

MSCA Joint Statement.