Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF)
The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) is a prestigious funding programme designed by the European Union (EU) to boost careers of talented early-stage researchers. Candidates apply for this highly competitive grant jointly with the Host Institution, where they will then perform the research activities and will be provided with necessary equipment and support. Successful candidates perform own research project for 12-24 months, under supervision of an expert in the field. The MSCA-PF is an individual grant, so the grantees are establishing no research teams.
This is the great opportunity for you ⬇
The MSCA-PF aims to fund excellent research and support complex career development of the grantees, so the project proposal must consist of both (1) a plan of excellent research activities based on strong and current idea and (2) a plan for hard and soft skills development.
The proposed research should ideally combine knowledge and techniques from various fields and should have ambition to bring something novel (no incremental research). The proposed activities must be realistic – the young researcher has relevant expertise and is skilled enough to carry out the proposed research activities alone or under supervision of the expert at the Host Institution.
The plan of skills development should present the long-term career goal of the young researcher and proof relevancy of proposed activities, trainings and workshops. The young researcher is expected to advance knowledge and skills not only in lab techniques and research methodology, but also in other aspects related to work of a scientist as IPR, publication strategy, grant proposal writing and project management, Open Science etc.
For more information, see the officialwebsite of MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships here.
Financial conditions
The MSCA-PF grant fully covers all personal costs of the grantee (salary + legal contribution in Social Security and Health Insurance system). Further, the grantee will be provided with a budget on expenditures connected with the research and training activities, including travels, publishing costs, conference fees, workshops, etc.
The total budget is calculated on a UNIT-COST model, where the financial contribution in each cost category is set by the rules of the funding programme and the unit is the number of months of project implementation (min. 12 months, max 24 months):
Financial contributions
For the recrioted researcher*
Institutional
- *** all types of contributions for the recruited researcher are paid off within the salary
- ** if applicable
- *** for the living allowance, a country correction coefficient (CCC) applies (for Czechia is 94.1 %), i.e. 5 990 × 0,941 = 5 637 EUR
Example: budget of a 24-month project will amount 207 758.16 EUR, calculated on categories as follows
| Living allowance (for Czechia) | Mobility allowance | Family allowance** | Research, training and networking contributions | Management and indirect contributions |
| 135 278.16 EUR | 17 040.00 EUR | 15 840.00 EUR | 24 000.00 EUR | 15 600.00 EUR |
Living + Mobility Allowance:
Gross salary around 4 690 € per month (net around 3 545 €)
Living + Mobility + Family Allowance:
Gross salary around 5 130 € per month (net around 3 865 €)
Alternative funding options in the Czech Republic
ONE PROPOSAL, 3 CHANGES THE GET FOUNDING!
The MSCA-PF grant competition is quite fierce with only about top 12 % of applicants selected. However thanks to alternative funding schemes we have in the Czech Republic, your chances will be maximized to get your project funded! In addition, you are applying for all types of funding with the same proposal.
The first of alternatives is the ERA Fellowships – additional EU funding for about 50 project proposal that were not supported under MSCA-PF. Eligible only for project applying with host institution from certain countries (including the Czech Republic). Proposals are automatically re-submitted in this competition, same conditions for implementation (incl. budget) as MSCA-PF.
The second of alternative funding schemes is MSCA-CZ – additional Czech funding for projects that were not supported under MSCA-PF nor ERA Fellowships, but who obtained at least 70 % score in the evaluation within the MSCA-PF competition. Eligible only for project applying with host institution residing in the Czech Republic (incoming) + for researchers from Czech institutions applying for the MSCA-PF grant with foreign Host Institution (outgoing). Proposals are re-submitted in this competition by the Czech host/home institution; very similar conditions for implementation (incl. budget) as MSCA-PF and ERA Fellowships.
„Interested? Apply for the grant with us!“
Submit your application through our
Who are we?
CATRIN – the Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute – is a scientific hub that consolidates top research capacities of Palacky University Olomouc in Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, and Biomedicine. Being equipped with the state-of-the-art instruments and laboratories and having strong network of academic and business partners.
The institute employs over 180 scientists from all around the world, with more than 33% being international researchers. The scientists are working in 13 thematically divided research groups under supervision of experienced and successful researchers. CATRIN considers its people as the most important faactor of its success.
The institute presents high publication performance (270 scientific publications in 2022; 165 with IF>5; 45 with IF>10) and is also participating in various national and international R&I projects, including the most prestige EU grants as ERC or EIC, and significant national strategic projects co-funded by EU EDRF/ESF with cumulative budget of nearly €40 million. In addition, CATRIN is experienced in supervising excellent young postdocs as it houses now 4 MSCA/ERA Fellows and many more supported by national grants (MSCA-CZ). ps://www.catrin.com/
Who are we looking for?
The potential candidate must meet following eligibility criteria by the call deadline (10 Sept 2025):
- successfully defended Ph.D. thesis
- were awarded Ph.D. for less than 8 years
- have not resided in the Czech Republic for more than 12 months in period Sept 2022 – Sept 2025
We as Host Institution will prioritize collaboration with candidates, who have:
- already participated as (co-)principal investigator or WP leaders in research projects
- abroad experience (employment, Ph.D., research stays)
- Ph.D. from a prestige university (reputation of her/his Ph.D. supervisor may play role too)
- first author´s publication or independent publication (i.e., WITHOUT supervisor)
- very good track record – publications in prestigious journals in field (Q1 and Q2) and complementarily matching candidate’s history and suggested topic for the project
- experience in international collaboration or collaboration with more research groups
- experience in collaboration with non-academic sector
Support of CATRIN Grand Office
During the preparation of project proposal, the CATRIN Grant Office provide the candidates with various information and individual support to maximize their chances to get granted. In particular:
- candidates are invited to participate in webinars that will provide more details about the MSCA-PF scheme and the idea behind, what’s the structure of the project proposal and how to deal with the particular sections, and many more
- candidates will benefit also from individual consultations with the supervisors and the Grant Office team on their topic and proposed research methodology as well as on structure of the proposal and individual sections and aspects
- Grant Office team offers also peer-review of the proposal drafts and is providing feedback and comments
- Grant Office also ensures assistance with the submission of grant application in the system
Supervisors & Research Topics
CATRIN houses many excellent researchers and experts in fields who are looking for passionate postdoctoral researcher in their teams:
- Prof. Michal Otyepka, Ph.D.
- Prof. Zdeněk Trávníček, Ph.D.
- Aristeides Bakandritsos, Ph.D.
- Mgr. Kateřina Poláková, Ph.D.
- Mgr. Jan Filip, Ph.D.
- Prof. Patrik Schmuki / doc. Ing. Štěpán Kment, Ph.D.
- Bruno de la Torre, Ph.D.
- Prof. Alexander Dömling
- Prof. Ivo Frébort, CSc., Ph.D.
- Prof. Inf. Ladislav Bocák, Ph.D.
- Nuria de Diego, Ph.D.
- doc. MUDr. Marián Hajdúch, Ph.D.
More information here
Selection of Candidates
We set several cut-off dates by which the submitted applications will be assessed and the most relevant and promising candidates will be selected. With these candidates we arrange an interview where the potential Supervisor will be present too. Candidates accepted by Supervisors will be given support by the Grant Office through introduction workshops (about MSCA-PF and How to compile the proposal) and individual consultations in which the Supervisors may also participate. Please NOTE that candidates passing to this phase can be also excluded from the list, if the proposal would not be developing well.
How to apply?
Please fill out the application in our OnBoard App and enclose the following as PDFs:
- CV up to 2 pages and excluding the list of publications
- list of TOP 5 publication results
- up to 1-page long description of currently performed research activities
- up to 1-page long summary of the proposed research project/activities in form:
- What the project will be about (simple and general sentences, no technical details)
- Why the suggested research is needed
- How you are going to perform the research (activities, methology)
- Why you are the right person to do it (expertise, experience, network)
- What are the expected results (data, publications…)
Success stories
