MSCA: Research Talent is Europe’s Strategic Advantage

EU-LIFE, together with other leading stakeholder organisations, has launched a joint statement calling on European decision-makers to reinforce the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) as a core research programme for the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10). The message is clear. MSCA should remain in Pillar I as a fully bottom-up programme open to all scientific domains, with the budget needed to scale its impact.

“MSCA is one of Europe’s strongest investments in research talent. Its strength lies in providing researchers with the conditions to pursue excellent research across all fields, while building the careers, networks and institutions that Europe needs for the future,” said Marta Agostinho, Executive Director of EU-LIFE. “FP10 is an opportunity to build on this success and ensure MSCA can deliver with the ambition Europe’s research community needs.”

As negotiations advance on FP10 and the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the statement calls for MSCA to be recognised first and foremost as a research programme for research careers. Its excellence-based, research-field agnostic and bottom-up approach enables Europe to nurture talent and ideas across all fields, investing in the researchers behind scientific discovery and innovation.

One year after EU-LIFE and partners called for MSCA to remain open and bottom-up, the new statement reaffirms that the programme’s proven model should be preserved and scaled. The statement is co-signed by 17 organisations representing widely the European Research & Innovation sector: ALLEA, AURORA, CESAER, Coimbra Group, EARMA, EASSH, ECIU, EUA, EU-LIFE, Eurodoc, The Guild, LERU, MCAA, Science Europe, SSH Council of the Netherlands, UNICA and YERUN.

Read the full statement: https://eu-life.eu/newsroom/publications/msca-06-2026