The Slovak Government has opened a new call under its National Recovery and Resilience Plan to support MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships applicants whose proposals could not be funded by the European Commission.
The Government Office of the Slovak Republic has opened a new scheme for MSCA Seal of Excellence holders and applicants with a high score who applied to Postdoctoral Fellowships (excluding Global Fellowships) under Horizon Europe, but failed to be funded due to budget constraints.
The scheme targets applicants who
- received the “Seal of Excellence” certificate
- were evaluated successfully by the European Commission and reached the minimum threshold (70%), but could not be funded due to budgetary constraints
The scheme is open both to applicants who
- were planning to carry out their project in Slovakia
- had a host organisation in another EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country in the original project and are willing to carry out their project in Slovakia
The deadline to submit proposals is 31 December 2023.
The government has published full details and eligibility conditions on its website (in Slovak, an automatic translation into English is also available).
This scheme is the sixth example of a Seal of Excellence funding scheme using Recovery and Resilience Facility funding, after similar schemes in Spain, Romania, Italy, Lithuania and Slovenia.
How to apply
The application must be submitted on behalf of the researcher either by the original host organisation from Slovakia or by the newly proposed eligible organisation in Slovakia.
Applicants must submit the original project proposal and the Seal of Excellence and/or the evaluation summary report.
About the MSCA Seal of Excellence
The MSCA Seal of Excellence is a quality label awarded to applicants of Postdoctoral Fellowships and COFUND who achieved a high score in their applications (85% or more) but unfortunately were not awarded funding due to budgetary constraints.
The MSCA Seal of Excellence
- underlines the value of these projects, which may use it to help find alternative funding
- allows other funding bodies such as national, regional, and university-level schemes to support MSCA proposals holding the label and take advantage of the Horizon Europe evaluation process
Source: European Commission | Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (https://shorturl.at/aOY15)