Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions (MCSA)

1. Horizon 2020Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions (MCSA) Mandy Heard European Funding Advisor Associate to Global to Local Ltd email: keele@globaltolocal.com EPSAM: 26th February

2. Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions (MCSA) ‘......Ensure excellent and innovative research training as well as attractive career and knowledge-exchange opportunities through cross-border and cross-sector mobility of researchers to best prepare them to face current and future societal challenges’ Total budget: €6.2bn (compared with €4.7bn in FP7) 30% of the total H2020 Budget

3. MCSA Objectives Overall objective: “to strengthen the excellence of European research” • Attract and retain research talent • Develop state-of-the-art, innovative training schemes, consistent with the highly competitive and increasingly inter-disciplinary requirements of research and innovation • Promote sustainable careerdevelopment in research and innovation • Strengthen international & Inter-sector Cooperation and intersector mobility

4. MCSA Key Features • For researchers at every stage of their career • Bottom-up approach • From basic research to market take-up • Mobility of researchers from all over the world • Focus on training and career development of researchers • Participation of non-academic sector strongly encouraged, especially industry and SMEs • promotion of attractive working and employment conditions (financing rate of 100% )

5. MCSA – 4 main schemes

6. Researcher Definitions Early Stage Researcher (ESR) At the time of recruitment (ITN) or secondment (RISE) by the host organisation, must be in the first 4 years (full-time research experience) of their research careers and have not been awarded a doctoral degree Experienced Researcher (ER) At the time of the call deadline (IF) or secondment (RISE) by the host organisation, must be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least 4 years of full-time equivalent research experience

7. Innovative Training Networks (ITN)Key Features ‘Aims to train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative early-stage researchers, able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit’

8. Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Key Features • Doctoral and initial training of researchers proposed by international networks of organisations from academic and non-academic sectors • Dedicated to early-stage researchers (no ER recruitment) • Focus on scientific/ technological knowledge through research on individual/personalised projects • Meaningful exposure to non-academic sector • Developing entrepreneurship and skills matching research labour market needs. Transferable skills training e.g. communication, research management, IP, ethics, societal outreach, entrepreneurship • 1) Beneficiaries – full partner, supervise, host ESRs, secondment opportunities and 2) Partner: provide training and host ESRs during secondments

9. MCSA: The triple ‘i’ dimension within the knowledge triangle

10. Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Researchers funded from 3-36 months

11. Innovative Training Networks (ITN)

12. Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Activities over 4 years project max: Average size of consortium = 6-10 Max support 36 months for ESRs Communication & Dissemination Career development of early stage researchers Research and Innovation Supervision Public Engagement Networking Collaboration & Exchange of Knowledge Conferences Secondments , placements Training: Seminars, Workshops, summer schools modules

13. Individual Fellowships “Aims to enhance the creative and innovative potential of experienced researchers wishing to diversify their individual competence in terms of skill acquisition at multi- or interdisciplinary level through advanced training, international and intersectoral mobility”

14. Individual Fellowships • Individual fellowships for most promising experienced researchers • Enhance competences and creative potential of best researchers of any nationality • to develop their skills through international or inter-sector mobility • Acquire and transfer new knowledge (in and outside EU) • Specific support for reintegration and career restart

15. Individual Fellowships Mobility rule applies Mobility rule for CAR and RIG: “researcher has not resided or carried out their main activity in the country of their host organisation for more than 3 years in the 5 years immediately prior to the relevant deadline” * AND “researcher has not been active in research for at least 12 months” ** AND “researcher has previously been active in Europe for at least five consecutive years”

16. IndividualFellowships • Optional intersectoral secondment that should significantly add to the impact of the research project • Must take place in a MS/AC and during the fellowship • Secondment phase can be a single period or divided into shorter mobility periods • For a fellowship > 18 months, secondment phase may be up to 6 months • For a fellowship ≤ 18 months, secondment phase may be up to 3 Month

17. IndividualFellowships – impact • Significant development of researchers • to meet their full potential and.... • Catalyse careers in both academic and non-academic sectors • Strengthen networks of both researcher and host

18. Research and Innovation Staff Exchange ‘“Aims to promote international and inter-sector collaboration through research and innovation staff exchanges, and sharing of knowledge and ideas from research to market (and vice-versa) for the advancement of science and development of innovation”

19. Research and Innovation Staff Exchange • Development of joint research and innovation project partnerships. • Projects up to 4 years and max. 540 researcher months • Typically can be 4-6 organisations • Knowledge sharing via international and/or inter-sector mobility through two way secondments of (ESRs /ERs/support staff) with built-in return mechanism – no recruitment of new staff • Exchanges between MS/AC only: secondments must be inter-sectoral • Exchanges between MS/AC and third countries: secondments can be same sector and/or intersectoral

20. Research and Innovation Staff Exchange • A RISE partnership shall be composed by at least three independent participants established in three different countries and must respect one of the following two conditions: • two organisations are located in two different MS/AC and one organisation is located in a TC (can be either sector) • or • If from MS/AC, at least one organisation should be from the academic sector and one from the non-academic sector. • Above these minimum requirements additional organisations established in MS/AC and/or in other third countries can participate

21. Research and Innovation Staff Exchange • Participants must be from at least three different countries, at least two of • which are MS/AC: • If all participants in same sector one participant country must be a third • Country • Secondment period - 1 to 12 months- does not need to be continuous • Activities of the programme: Career Development Networking Joint research and innovation Training / Workshops / conferences / summer schools New skills Knowledge Sharing

22. Research and Innovation Staff Exchange

23. COFUND Supports new or existing programmes for international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary research training and transnational and cross-sector mobility of researchers

24. AWARD CRITERIA Excellence 50% Impact 30% Implementation 20% Evaluation scores awarded for each criteria from 0 to 5  Each award criterion has a weighting  Total score is subject to a threshold of 70%  Proposals ranked  Proposals funded in ranking order  Evaluation summary reports provided  No restrictions on re-application

25. Standard Mobility Rule At the time of the relevant deadline for submission of proposals, or recruitment/secondment by the host organisation, depending on the action, researchers shall not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc) in the country of their host organisation for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the reference date.”

26. Funding

27. Deadlines

28. Initial Training Networks results 2013 • UK co-ordinators submitted 255 apps • 38 successful (14.9% success rate) • General success rate: 12.5% • UK participated in 1325 applications • 182 successful (13.7% success rate)

29. Marie Curie Actions in FP7 • Intra-European Fellowships (IEF) – Aug 2012 • 3,708 proposals received • Success rate: 16.6% • UK success rate: 23.0% • UK host for 237 fellowships (out of 614 funded) • Approx. value to the UK € 46M • International Incoming Fellowships (IIF) – Aug 2012 • 1,447 proposals received • Success rate: 13.3% • UK success rate: 18.6% • UK host for 78 fellowships (out of 193 funded) • Approx. value to the UK € 16M • International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF) – Aug 2012 • 955 proposals received • Success rate: 16.4% • UK success rate: 29.5% • UK return host for 36 fellowships (out of 157 funded) • Approx. value to the UK € 9M

31. Horizon 2020 European Research Council (ERC)

32. European Research Council (ERC) “The ERC shall provide attractive and flexible funding to enable talented and creative individual researchers and their teams to pursue the most promising avenues at the frontier of science….. scientific excellence shall be the sole criterion on which ERC grants are awarded. The ERC shall operate on a ‘bottom-up’ basis without predetermined priorities”. Total budget: €12.7 billion for Horizon 2020 (compares to the allocation of €7.5 billion for FP7).

33. European Research Council (ERC) • The ERC seeks to fund the best ‘frontier research’ proposals submitted by excellent researchers, with excellence as the single peer review criterion • Independent researchers of any age and career stage can apply for attractive long-term funding • Provides attractive, long-term funding of up to 5 years to pursue ground-breaking, ambitious, high-gain/ high-risk research • Encourages proposals of an interdisciplinary nature which cross the boundaries between different fields of research, pioneering proposals addressing new and emerging fields of research or proposals introducing unconventional, innovative approaches and scientific inventions • Flexible and portable

34. European Research Council (ERC) • keen to encourage excellent proposals from Principal Investigators based outside Europe • Will fund projects led by a PI, supported by a team (no need for • pan-European collaboration) if necessary • do not have to be based full-time in Europe, may involve team members outside Europe • 25 panels in 3 domains which proposals can be submitted to: •  Physical Sciences and Engineering •  Life Sciences •  Social Sciences and Humanities

35. European Research Council (ERC) – five schemes

36. ERC Starting Grant • at the career stage at which researchers are starting their own independent research team or programme • produced at least one important publication without the participation of their PhD supervisor • promising early achievement track record including significant publications (as main author) in major international peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journals / leading international peer-reviewed journals of their respective field , highlight citations • May demonstrate invited presentations @ established international conferences, awards, prizes etc • awarded his/her first PhD ≥ 2 and ≤ 7 years • Grants of up to €1.5 million over max. 5 yrs (pro-rata) but additional €500,000 (“start-up" costs moving to the MS/AC / major equipment / access to facilities) • spend a minimum 50% of their total working time on the ERC project and a minimum of 50% of their total working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country

37. ERC Consolidator Grant • Excellent Pis at the career stage at which they may still be consolidating their own independent research team or programme • will have produced several important publications without the participation of their PhD supervisor • significant publications (as main author) in major international peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journals, or in the leading international peer-reviewed journals of their respective field • awarded their first PhD over 7 and up to 12 years prior to the publication date of the call for proposals • Grants of up to €2 million over max. 5 yrs (pro-rata) but additional €750,000 (“start-up" costs moving to the MS/AC / major equipment / access to facilities) • 50% of their total working time on the ERC project and a minimum of 50% of their total working time in an MS/AC

38. ERC Advanced Grant • exceptional established research leaders with a recognised track record of original and significant research contributions. • Active in research with significant research achievements in the last 10 years • one or more of the following benchmarks: • 10 publications as senior author in major international peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journals, and/or in the leading international peer-reviewed journals and peer-reviewed conferences • 3 major research monographs, of which at least one is translated into another language. • Grants of up to €2.5 million over max. 5 yrs (pro-rata) but additional €1 million (“start-up" costs moving to the MS/AC / major equipment / access to facilities) • 30% of their total working time on the ERC project and a minimum of 50% of their total working time in an in an MS/AC

39. ERC Synergy Grants – No call in 2014 • promote substantial advances in the frontier of knowledge • Funds ambitious proposals submitted by a group of 2 to 4 Pis • Ran as two pilot calls under FP7 with very low success rates. • synergies, complementarities and added value that could lead to breakthroughs thatwould not be possible by the individual Principal Investigators working alone

40. Funding & Deadlines: Direct Costs: • 100% of eligible and approved direct costs funded Indirect Costs: • 25% flat rate (of the total direct costs excluding subcontracting and third party resources not used on premises) • Is allocated and charged (for all institutions no proof needed of how spent)

41. A few Statistics since 2007 The UK was the most successful country in applying to the ERC in FP7: See here for examples of funded projects: http://erc.europa.eu/ercfunded-projects

42. Peer Review process • Starting, Consolidator and Advanced Grants • ERC operates a single-stage submission and two-stage evaluation process: • Step 1: panel evaluates 5-page Extended Synopsis, CV and track record sections • Step 2: panel evaluates 15-page full proposal description (in conjunction with the sections above) • An interview with the PI forms part of the step 2 evaluation for Starting and Consolidator Grants (not for Advanced Grants) • PI must choose the panel, based on the keywords and panel descriptors in the Guide for Applicants. Panel consists of up to 15 leading researchers • For interdisciplinary proposals: can choose primary and secondary panel

43. Support and Links:Marie Curie Actions (MCSA) (website being updated for H2020):http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/MSCA UK National Contact Point:http://www.ukro.ac.uk/mariecurie/Pages/index.aspxParticipant Portal (calls and submission):http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portalWork Programmes for MSCA and ERC :http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/main/h2020-wp1415-msca_en.pdfhttp://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/erc/h2020-wp1415-erc_en.pdfERC:http://erc.europa.eu/ERC UK National Contact Point:http://www.ukro.ac.uk/erc/Pages/index.aspxHorizon 2020 UK website:https://www.h2020uk.org/European Commission H2020 website:http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/

44. THANK YOU! Contact: Mandy Heard keele@globaltolocal.com