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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

Core Objective: The MSCA Doctoral Networks program aims to train creative, entrepreneurial, innovative, and resilient doctoral candidates capable of addressing current and future challenges and converting knowledge into products and services for economic and social benefit.
Target Recipient Type: Partnerships (consortia) of universities, research institutions, research infrastructures, businesses (including SMEs), and other socio-economic actors.
Target Recipient Size: Not explicitly limited; explicitly includes SMEs.
SECTOR-AGNOSTIC: This grant is SECTOR-AGNOSTIC, as it is designed to respond to well-identified needs across various R&I areas.
Geographic Scope: Open to organizations from different countries across Europe (EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries) and beyond (specific third countries).
Key Filtering Criteria: Focus on doctoral training, fostering inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility, promoting an innovation-oriented mindset, and requiring a consortium approach.
Grant Frequency: Recurring call (implied by '2025' in the name), part of the ongoing MSCA Doctoral Networks program.

Financial Structure

Funding Mechanism: The grant operates as a 'Unit Grant' ('HORIZON-AG-UN'), implying that funding is based on unit costs rather than a percentage of actual costs.
Total Call Budget: The total budget allocated for the HORIZON-MSCA-2025-DN-01 call, encompassing all types of Doctoral Networks, is EUR 597,803,810.
Minimum Grant Amount: Not specified per grant. The budget provided is for the entire call, not individual grants.
Maximum Grant Amount: Not specified per grant. The budget provided is for the entire call, not individual grants.
Eligible Costs: Not explicitly detailed in the provided information, but 'Unit Grants' typically cover personnel costs (living allowance, mobility allowance, family allowance) and institutional costs.
Co-financing Requirements: Not explicitly stated as a separate percentage, but typical for unit grants where the grant covers specific unit costs and the host institution covers additional project-related expenses.
Financial Reporting: Described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Types

Partnerships are required, involving: universities, research institutions, research infrastructures, businesses (including SMEs), and other socio-economic actors.
Organizations from EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries are eligible.
Organizations from third countries (non-EU/non-Associated Countries) may also be eligible if specific provisions for funding their participants in Horizon Europe projects are in place.

Consortium Requirements

A consortium of multiple participating organizations is mandatory.
Industrial Doctorates require joint supervision by an academic and a non-academic organization, which can be established in the same EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country.
Joint Doctorates represent highly integrated international, inter-sectoral, and multi/interdisciplinary collaborations in doctoral training.

General Conditions

Admissibility conditions: As described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Eligible countries: As described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Other eligibility conditions: As described in the MSCA part of the Work Programme.
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria: As described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Doctoral Candidate Selection Requirements

The selection procedure for doctoral candidates must be open, transparent, and merit-based, in line with the 'Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers'.
Vacancy notices must be widely advertised internationally, including on the EURAXESS website.
Vacancy notices should specify if published rates include all employer and employee's taxes and contributions. If possible, the gross salary (net salary + employee’s taxes and contributions) should be published.

Application Process

Application Deadlines

Application Submission Deadline: 2025-11-25.

Submission Process

This call operates under a single-stage submission procedure.
To submit, applicants must access the Electronic Submission Service via the designated submission button on the Funding & Tenders Portal.
Applicants will need to confirm their chosen 'type of action' and 'model grant agreement', as this choice cannot be changed within the submission system.
Existing draft proposals can be accessed by logging into the Funding & Tenders Portal and navigating to the 'My Proposals' page within the 'My Area' section.

Required Documentation and Materials

A standard application form, with a call-specific version available directly in the Submission System, must be used.
Part B of the Application Form must adhere to specific page limits and layout guidelines, as described within the form itself.

Evaluation and Selection Process

The detailed submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
An indicative timeline for the evaluation and grant agreement procedures is also provided in Annex F.

Support and Guidance

Comprehensive guidance documents are available, including the 'HE MSCA DN Guide for Applicants', 'HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025' (parts 1, 2, and 13), and the 'HE Programme Guide'.
Legal and financial setup guidance is available in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes, the 'EU Financial Regulation', 'Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment', and the 'EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement'.
Technical support and administrative information can be found in the 'Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual', 'Terms and Conditions', and 'Privacy Statement'.
Additional support resources include the 'Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ', 'Research Enquiry Service', 'National Contact Points (NCPs)', 'Enterprise Europe Network', 'IT Helpdesk', 'European IPR Helpdesk', and the 'CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk'.
Information on researcher recruitment and conduct is provided in 'The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment'.

Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Proposals are expected to demonstrate contribution to the following impacts and outcomes: Expected Impacts (Overall Strategic Contribution)

Strengthening Human Capital: Contributing to Europe's human capital base in Research & Innovation (R&I) by training highly-skilled doctoral candidates.
Improving Career Attractiveness: Enhancing the attractiveness of researchers' careers, particularly through better working and employment conditions for doctoral candidates in Europe.
Fostering Knowledge Circulation: Increasing talent and knowledge circulation across the R&I landscape via international, inter-sectoral, and interdisciplinary mobility.
Boosting Europe's Attractiveness: Increasing Europe's appeal as a leading research destination.
Enhancing R&I Quality: Improving the quality of R&I to contribute to Europe's sustainable competitiveness.
Establishing Sustainable Collaboration: Building lasting partnerships between academic and non-academic organizations.
Promoting Open Science and Entrepreneurship: Fostering a culture of open science, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Expected Outcomes (Project-Specific Achievements)

For Supported Doctoral Candidates:
- Acquisition of new research and transferable skills and competences, leading to improved employability and career prospects within and outside academia.
- Generation of new knowledge that enables the conversion of ideas into products and services.
- Enhanced networking and communication capacities with scientific peers and the general public, increasing research and innovation impact.
For Participating Organizations:
- Improved quality, relevance, and sustainability of doctoral training programs and supervision arrangements.
- Enhanced cooperation and knowledge transfer between sectors and disciplines.
- Increased integration of training and research activities among participating organizations.
- Boosted R&I capacity.
- Increased internationalization and attractiveness of the organizations.
- Regular feedback of research results into teaching and education at participating organizations.

Project Quality and Implementation (Implied Scoring Factors)

Training Quality: Demonstrating well-identified needs addressed by training activities, including inter- and multidisciplinary fields, following EU Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training.
Skills Development: Focus on developing new scientific knowledge through original research and substantial training modules (including digital) for key transferable skills, Open Science, innovation, entrepreneurship, and good scientific conduct.
Supervision and Mentoring: Quality of supervision and mentoring arrangements, including career guidance, and effective coordination by a supervisory board.
Career Development: Mandatory establishment and regular revision of a comprehensive 'Career Development Plan' for each doctoral candidate.
Inter-sectoral Engagement: Encouragement and relevance of inter-sectoral secondments to other participating organizations, including in third countries.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

Doctoral degrees awarded through Joint Doctorates must be recognized by the relevant authorities in at least one EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country.

Ethical Standards and Conduct

The selection procedure for doctoral candidates must adhere to the 'Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers'.
Projects must foster good scientific conduct, including research integrity.

Data Protection and Open Science

Doctoral Networks are encouraged to adequately prepare doctoral candidates for increased research collaboration and information-sharing, particularly concerning new digital technologies.
This includes promoting open access to publications and other research outputs (e.g., data), implementing FAIR data management principles, and engaging in societal engagement and citizen science.
Projects should generally foster a culture of Open Science, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Intellectual Property

Training activities should include instruction on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

Supervision and Mentoring

Each MSCA Doctoral Network must establish a clearly identified supervisory board responsible for coordinating network-wide training, research, and especially supervision activities in line with the 'Guidelines for MSCA supervision'.
The supervisory board should facilitate continuous communication and exchange of best practices among participating organizations.
A 'Career Development Plan' must be established jointly by the supervisor(s) and each recruited doctoral candidate. This plan should cover the researcher's training and career needs, including transferable skills, teaching, publication planning, and participation in Open Science events. It must be established at the beginning of recruitment and revised/updated within 18 months.
Joint supervision of researchers is mandatory for both Industrial Doctorates and Joint Doctorates.

Mobility and Inter-sectoral Secondments

Inter-sectoral secondments of researchers to other participating organizations, including those in third countries, are encouraged when relevant, feasible, and beneficial for the researchers and the project objectives.

Unique Aspects and Preferences

Proposals for doctoral networks can be based on existing or planned research partnerships among the participating organizations.
MSCA Doctoral Networks are specifically encouraged to lead to 'Industrial Doctorates' or 'Joint Doctorates'.

Grant Details