Initiative aims to address precarity in research careers and attract excellent young researchers to Europe
Photo credits: Mauro Bottaro / European Union
An initiative intended to tackle the brain drain and precarity in research careers in Europe is to be tested during 2025, according to a draft work programme for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) in Horizon Europe.
The initiative, called Choose Europe, was suggested last year in Manuel Heitor’s report to the Commission on FP10, the next Framework Programme for research and innovation. The aim is to fund young researchers in, or following, their first postdoctoral positions. Hosting institutions must also commit to offer candidates the chance of permanent employment at the end of the funding period.
The draft work programme, sent to Science|Business with tracked edits, reveals that the Commission has adopted Heitor’s recommendation, and will launch a Choose Europe pilot in 2025 with a budget of €22.5 million.
According to the draft call, applicants submitting proposals for talent recruitment programmes must include “concrete long-term career prospects with a preference going to open-ended or non-temporary contracts.”
Choose Europe is not Heitor’s first attempt at moving the dial on the perennial problem of research careers. In 2022, he was part of the Initiative for Science in Europe, whose manifesto for early career researchers suggested a similar initiative.
The most recent version of the idea has been warmly received by academic groups, with the CESAER university association calling last year for its implementation.
Other MSCA programmes
The leaked draft work programme sees the MSCA budget for 2025 set at €1,255 million, slightly higher than in 2024. This avoids a cut to €935.28 million projected for 2025 in previous planning documents.
MSCA Doctoral Networks are expected to receive an allocation of €598 million, a slight decrease from the €609 million set aside last year. A call for proposals is set to open on May 28 and close on November 25.
Postdoctoral Fellowships Actions, which support PhD holders conducting research abroad, will also see a funding reduction. Its budget is expected to decrease from €417 million in 2024 to €404 million in 2025, with two calls for proposals opening on April 9.
MSCA Staff Exchanges will have a budget of nearly €98 million this year. And MSCA Cofund, which co-finances doctoral and postdoctoral fellowship programmes, is expected to receive €128 million, including the €22.5 million allocated to the Choose Europe pilot.
Finally, an extra call in 2025 will allocate €10 million in fellowships for displaced researchers from Ukraine.
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