The European Commission is awarding €404.3 million to postdoctoral researchers through its 2025 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships. This initiative will empower 1,610 researchers, selected from 17,066 international applicants, to develop their own research projects while receiving high-quality training, expert supervision, and international mobility opportunities at academic and non-academic institutions. MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to researchers of any nationality.
The 2025 fellowships are part of Horizon Europe, the EU’s multi-billion-euro research and innovation framework. Selected researchers represent nearly 80 nationalities and will conduct their projects across 45 countries in Europe and beyond, working at universities, research centres, public institutions, private organisations, and small and medium-sized enterprises.
The projects cover all scientific disciplines, with the strongest representation in social sciences and humanities, life sciences, and engineering. They include fundamental research as well as projects addressing major societal and technological challenges. Most of the funding will support European Postdoctoral Fellowships, enabling 1,446 researchers to work within the EU and Horizon Europe-associated countries. In addition, 164 researchers will benefit from Global Postdoctoral Fellowships, allowing them to carry out part of their research in leading institutions outside Europe, including the United States, Canada, and Australia, before returning to share their knowledge and experience.
Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, highlighted that the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships reinforce Europe’s attractiveness to researchers and demonstrate the EU’s commitment to scientific excellence, openness, and mobility. The next call for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships is scheduled to open on 9 April 2026.
The year 2026 also marks the 30th anniversary of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, which since 1996 has supported over 150,000 researchers worldwide, including 23 Nobel Prize winners, advancing research, innovation, and international scientific collaboration.
