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Boost your career with MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships Funding and the top Central European research institute
This year’s MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call is now open for submissions. Since the MSCA-PF is highly competitive, we offer you several free hybrid intensive trainings for MSCA-PF candidates held by experienced MSCA-PF specialists Jakub Zeman and Hana Owsianková, designed especially for applicants who wish to spend their fellowship at Masaryk University.
Increase your chances to succeed and save the following dates!
| Training event | Target group | Date | Format |
| MSCA-PF one-day training | candidates, research managers | 4.6.2024 | Hybrid Brno + online |
| MSCA-PF workshop | candidates | 20.–21.5.2024 | Hybrid Olomouc + online |
| MSCA-PF workshop | candidates | 24.–25.6.2024 | Hybrid Brno + online |
Contact veronika.sterbova@ceitec.muni.cz to be included to our MSCA-PF mailing list and be the first to get the registration links to the seminars.
What is the idea behind this MSCA-PF grant?
The MSCA-PF purpose is to support complex career development of young postdocs. The applicant and the supervisor should be complementary and enrich each other with their respective knowledge, expertise and approach. Thus the supervisor must be actively engaged in both the proposal preparation and implementation.
The essence of the proposal is a strong scientific idea and a research plan, but also a plan of both hard and transferrable skills development. The transferrable skills trainings should be organic part of the project and can include IPR, Open science, publication strategy, communication with different targets, management in research, grant writing, etc.
Who can apply for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship?
Eligibility:
- the candidate defended Ph.D. thesis at the call deadline (11.9.2024) at the latest
- applies up to 8 years after they defended their Ph.D. thesis
- not having spent in Czechia (host country) more than 12 months during last 3 years
Advantage:
- Ph.D. abroad; experience abroad
- first author´s publication
- very good track record – complementarily matching yourselves/your institution
- international collaboration and their professional networks
- Ph.D. from a prestige university; reputation of her/his Ph.D. supervisor
- independent publication, i.e. WITHOUT supervisor; in SSH – a published book
- track record in non-academic sector; science communication
- involvement in/collaboration with more research groups
- excellent citation track record, prizes and awards…
- EU relevant research (in line with Mission, EU strategies)
- topic with multiple scientific impacts (increases good integration of the fellow)
What's the MSCA-PF funding and contribution?
MSCA-PF cover postdoc salary, but also includes family and mobility allowance, as well as contribution to research, trainings and networking for the whole duration of the project, usually two years.
MSCA-PF FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS |
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| Researcher unit cost in EUR | Institutional unit cost in EUR | |||
| person/month | person/month | |||
| living allowance | mobility allowance | family* allowance | research, training and networking costs | management and indirect costs |
| 5 990** | 710 | 660 | 1 000 | 650 |
| Monthly netto salary in Czechia ≈ 80 000 CZK, if fellow comes with family ≈ 85 000 CZK. Gross-gross pay before taxation and other deduction! |
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| * if applicable ** for the living allowance, a country correction coefficient (CCC) applies (for Czechia is 94.1 %) |
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Three chances to win the grant
MSCA PF is a competitive and prestigious funding scheme with a success rate between 10 and 15 % and is believed to be the stepping stone for getting an ERC starting grant in the future. The best-ranking MSCA PF proposals with a host institution in one of the “widening countries”, such as the Czech Republic, that aren’t funded due to lack of finances will be funded from the budget of the “Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence” of Horizon Europe. The fellow just has to indicate in this application that if unsuccessful, he/she wants to apply for the ERA Fellowship.
After the MSCA PF evaluation is completed, then, if the proposal is not selected for funding but is eligible for ERA Fellowship, it is automatically “resubmitted” to the ERA Fellowship call. Applicants aiming for widening countries have therefore better chances to get funded.
And this is not all! The Czech Republic comes with a special national funding scheme OP JAC from structural funds that aims to attract foreign scientific talents into the country. The same MSCA PF proposal will also be submitted to this national funding scheme. To be eligible for OP JAC scheme, the original MSCA proposal has to obtain at least 70 % score in the evaluation.
MAXIMIZE YOUR CHANCES TO GET YOUR MSCA PF PROJECT FUNDED! |
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| ERA Fellowship required score > 91 % achived by 20 - 25 % proposals |
Structural Funds OP JAC required score > 70 % achived by 80 % proposals |
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship required score > 93 % achived by 10 - 15 % proposals |
Meet our supervisors and find out who they are looking for in their team!
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| Prof. Robert Vácha, Ph.D. Research Group Leader Senior |
Gabriel Demo, Ph.D. Research Group Leader Junior |
| Research topic Biological membranes, proteins, and their interactions |
Research topic Regulation of Translation |
| Contact robert.vacha@ceitec.muni.cz |
Contact gabriel.demo@ceitec.muni.cz |
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| Prof. Marek Mráz, Ph.D. Research Group Leader Senior |
Petr Těšina, Ph.D. Research Group Leader Junior |
| Research topic Microenvironment of Immune Cells |
Research topic Translation Control |
| Contact marek.mraz@ceitec.muni.cz |
Contact petr.tesina@ceitec.muni.cz |
CEITEC and Masaryk University as a stepping stone for a successful career in science
Some research institutes and universities in widening countries are very advanced in terms of their institutional culture and support for foreign researchers and also in terms of research infrastructures. CEITEC is one of the most renowned research centres in the Czech Republic and in Central Europe, focused on life sciences and is the largest partner of the CEITEC consortium and the flagship of Masaryk University.
CEITEC MU employs approximately 500 people from more than 35 countries around the world who jointly contribute to the success of the Institute. Every year, CEITEC scientists publish more than 300 articles in prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journals, of which more than 60 % are published in Q1 journals and more than 40 % have a corresponding author with an affiliation at CEITEC MU. Since its foundation, CEITEC MU has considered its people as the most important factor of its success. Since January 2019, CEITEC MU has been a proud holder of the HR Excellence in Research Award and is constantly striving to improve working conditions for its employees.
Let’s see the adaptation process at CEITEC MU!
More than 300 scientists and researchers are working in 28 research groups, which are thematically divided into four research areas: Structural Biology, Molecular Medicine, Genomics and Proteomics of Plant Systems, and Brain and Mind Research. Experienced supervisors and mentors guide more than 200 PhD students within the CEITEC PhD School. More than half of the PhD students come from abroad. CEITEC MU provides open access to 11 shared laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art technologies. Unique instrumentation is available not only to scientists from CEITEC MU, but also to external users from the academic and private sectors.
Grant Office – Service & Support
CEITEC and Masaryk University also provide personalized support to all fellows during the MSCA PF application procedure. Their experienced grant office personnel help the foreign early-stage researcher to identify a compatible laboratory, expertise, and equipment. Other important support for potential fellows are online courses and workshops that help the candidates to prepare a strong grant application. Participation in those courses is free of charge and greatly increases the chances of receiving the grant.
- cooperative application preparation – seminars, workshops, individual meetings, etc.
- assistance with defining the fundamental pillars – research plan, scientific framework, specific objectives, horizontal priorities, impact
- placing the project in the R&D&I policies framework
- consultation on partial sections of the application
- commenting and feedback on the project proposal
- providing internal peer-review
- ensuring the submission process in the system