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A new initiative called Choose Europe, aimed at addressing brain drain and precarity in research careers in Europe, is set to be piloted in 2025 with a budget of EUR 22.5 million, as outlined in the draft work programme for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) in Horizon Europe. The initiative, proposed in 2024 in Manuel Heitor’s report to the Commission on FP10, the upcoming Framework Programme for research and innovation, has now been adopted by the European Commission.
The objective is to fund young researchers during or following their first postdoctoral positions. Moreover, hosting institutions must guarantee an opportunity for permanent employment once the funding period ended.
According to the draft call, proposals for talent recruitment programmes must offer “concrete long-term career prospects with a preference going to open-ended or non-temporary contracts”. This involves developing and maintaining a Career Development Plan throughout the duration of the programme. The latter should not only address research objectives, but also comprise career development needs, including language training, transferable skills, teaching, planning for publications, and attending events and conferences. Additionally, the plan should describe the expected career progression within the host institution.
The draft programme indicates that the overall budget for MSCA in 2025 is slightly higher than last year, set at EUR 1,255 million. The following budget is foreseen for the different actions:
Reinforcing the global talent attraction objective through the MSCA is a highly welcomed initiative, which is in line with ACA members’ feedback on the future orientations of MSCA presented in March 2024.