Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) is a set of major research fellowships created by the European Union/European Commission to support research in the European Research Area (ERA). The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are among Europe's most competitive and prestigious research and innovation fellowships.[1] [2]
Established in 1996 as Marie Curie Actions and known since 2014 as Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, they aim to foster the career development and further training of researchers at all career stages. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions promote interdisciplinary research and international collaborations, supporting scientists from not only within Europe but also across the globe.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are currently financed through the ninth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (called Horizon Europe) and belong to the so-called 'first pillar' of Horizon: "Excellent Science." Through this funding scheme, the European Research Executive Agency (REA) has devoted € 6,6 billion to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions between 2021 and 2027 (about 7% of all Horizon Europe Programme).
Since the launch of the programme in 1996, over 100,000 researchers had received MSCA grants by March 2017.[3] [4] To mark this milestone, the European Commission selected thirty highly-promising researchers (who achieved the highest evaluation scores in 2016) to showcase the EU's actions dedicated to excellence and worldwide mobility in research.[5]
The eponymous Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a Polish-French physicist and chemist, and the first female Nobel prize winner. The only person to win a Nobel Prize for contributions in two different sciences (physics and chemistry), she was also the first person — and only woman — to have been awarded a Nobel Prize twice.[6] [7]
Fellowships are awarded by the European Commission across scientific disciplines within the framework of Horizon Europe.
MSCA are grouped into the following schemes: