Research SupportMarie Skłodowska Curie Week

Marie Skłodowska Curie Week

A tailor made training event for researchers interested in applying for a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship hosted at Eurac Research

Since 2016, the Research Support Office has organized the MSC Week to offer postdoctoral researchers from across the globe the opportunity to work together with Eurac Research on their applications for the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship. During the MSC Week, researchers develop their fellowship proposal together with senior researchers from Eurac Research, learn from current MSCA Fellows in Eurac Research, and are trained by MSCA experts and an MSCA evaluator on the dos-and-don'ts of the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship proposal. After the MSC Week, the trainers accompany the researchers through the writing and fine-tuning of their fellowship proposals until the submission deadline.

MSC Week - who can apply

The programme is addressed at PhD-degree holders with maximum 8 years of research experience who comply with the “mobility rule” (as defined in the Work Programme ) and who want to apply for the Postdoctoral Fellowship with Eurac Research as a Host.

MSC Week - How to apply

Before submitting their application, researchers interested in participating in the MSC Week should familiarize themselves with the various Institutes and Centers in Eurac Research and ask a researcher from one of the Institutes or Centers to serve as their supervisor. The support of a supervisor is necessary for submitting an application to participate in the MSC Week.

Download the application form for the MSC Week (We are currently not accepting applications. The next round of applications will open in spring 2022 and the application form will be made available then.)

MSC-Week 2021

MSC Week 2021 takes place from 2 to 8 July 2021. Over the course of the MSC Week training programme, the participants learn about the objectives of the MSCA Programme, the various parts of the MSCA-PF proposal, and best practices in writing a competitive MSCA-PF proposal. Participants also have the opportunity to discuss their planned project with their expected supervisors, receive feedback on their initial project ideas from experts in Eurac Research, and learn from and engage with current MSCA Fellows in Eurac Research.

Eurac Research as a Host for MSCA-IF

Eurac Research is a private research centre, founded in Bozen in 1992. The Eurac Research’s initial focus was on the areas of language and law, minorities and autonomies, and the Alpine environment. However, over time the centre has extended its research into other disciplines, attracting researchers from all over the world and opening up new facilities. Eurac Research’s goal is to improve life for future generations. Often, in response to regional problems, the centre develops concrete solutions that can be applied globally, and explores new avenues of scientific research to meet people’s needs. Eurac Research is part of several international research networks with partnerships in more than 50 countries. The centre collaborates with the Alpine Convention, the Carpathian Convention, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), as well as with several space agencies. Today, about 400 researchers from 25 countries work at Eurac Research. Our research is concerned with three major themes: regions fit for living in, a healthy society, and diversity as a life-enhancing factor. We pursue these objectives with determination: ∙ Mitigate and adapt to climate change ∙ Manage resources responsibly ∙ Reduce risks associated with natural hazards ∙ Understand and prevent illnesses, towards personalised medicine ∙ Prevent accidents and optimise rescue operations ∙ Understand better the development of humankind ∙ Preserve biodiversity ∙ Encourage political participation and social integration ∙ Promote multilingualism ∙ Take advantage of the opportunities created by the digital transformation

Timeline

The MSCA-IF Fellowship Application Process at Eurac Research

timeline-msca-if-fellowship-application-process.pdf
(87 KB)

Seal of Excellence Funding

All proposals submitted to MSCA-PF which score 85% or above in the evaluation but are not funded due to a lack of budget are automatically awarded the Seal of Excellence . This is a quality label awarded to project proposals by the European Commission to help these proposals find alternative funding.

The Province of Bolzano offers funding for the implementation of MSCA-IF proposals that have been awarded the Seal of Excellence. To receive funding from the Province of Bolzano, such projects must be implemented at one of the local research performing institutions (eg. Eurac Research). Project proposals that were prepared and submitted for evaluation with a host institution outside the Province of Bolzano and received the Seal of Excellence are also eligible for this provincial funding if the fellow finds a suitable host institution and supervisor in the province.

Testimonials of the MSCA Week Participants and Fellows

Yonatan Fessha© Annelie Bortolotti/Eurac Research

Yonatan Fessha

I arrived at Eurac Research in the summer of 2018 after winning a MSCA-IF based on a project that examines intergovernmental relations in divided societies. Hosted by the Institute for Comparative Federalism, an internationally leading institute in the areas of comparative federalism, I examine how institutions and processes of intergovernmental relations have been used to help manage communal tensions. With a focus on societies that are divided along ethnic, linguistic or religious lies and countries that have adopted autonomy arrangements to deal with those same divisions, my project seeks to identify and develop innovative integrative institutions and processes of intergovernmental relations that can be used to manage communal tensions. The MSC Week was key in formulating a winning proposal. It did not only gave me an opportunity to sit my with prospective supervisors and identify an area of research that aligns with my interest and that of the host institute, it was also a week that gave me insights into what makes a convincing and winning MSCA-IF application. It would not be an exaggeration to say that my potential application would not have been optimized to meet the tough competition had it not been for the discussions I had and the insights I received during the MSC Week.

Michael Matiu

CliRSnow is about providing high-resolution projections of snow cover in the Alps. This is achieved by combining the Institute for Earth Observation’s strengths in remote sensing and machine learning with my expertise in statistics and climate sciences. While we had some rough idea before, the detailed project plan was developed during the Marie-Curie-Week while talking face-to-face to the people at the institute. Thus, besides learning the fundamentals of a Marie-Curie-proposal, the MSC-Week is a great opportunity to get to know your potential host.

Bianca Elzenbaumer

In my research project Alpine Community Economies Lab I mobilize participatory design methods to support alpine communities in addressing cross-cutting concerns of sustainable socio-economic development outlined in the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region and in the Alpine Convention. Via a gender-sensitive and community-based research space in Rovereto (Trentino/Italy), I engage a diversity of civic actors and policy makers in the collaborative investigation of (trans)local economies (e.g. forestry, agriculture, tourism, crafts, energy production) sustaining the local valley district: through a series of design-led workshops that draw on insights from feminist economic geography, (trans)local developments are envisioned and activated that have both people and the environment at their core. Throughout the research, I prototype, test and refine a multifaceted community economies toolkit to be released via open-access. My research is hosted at the Institute for Regional Development, which is a place with a rich mix of senior and junior researchers working on applied regional development projects from an interdisciplinary and locally-embedded position. The Institute itself, and Eurac Research at large, offer an inspiring context in which researchers can enhance their skills in multiple directions, from management to policy making, public engagement to grant writing, while growing a multidisciplinary and multi-sectorial network for future collaborations. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Week at Eurac Research has been key for the success of my funding application: I came to Eurac from a very different, and in the institution not yet represented field (namely design research), and the week had been instrumental in helping me to figure out how my research interested could meet the interests of the institution in mutually beneficial ways.

Roman Vozdek

I am extremely grateful for the support by the EU H2020 which allowed me to join the lab at the Institute for Biomedicine at Eurac Research. The MSCA Fellowship gave me the opportunity to gain several new organizational skills and, furthermore, to study the pathogenetic mechanisms of the Parkinson’s disease by which we are seeking to identify novel therapeutic targets for this devastating neurological disorder. This project is alive only thanks to the professional team of MSCA Week. They teach you how to write the proposal for MSCA fellowship, help you and instruct you extensively during proposal phase to make sure the proposal is in good shape and finally work with you to take care of the project after receiving the award.