Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship
A Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (often abbreviated as MSCA PF) is one of the most prestigious and competitive research fellowships in the world, and it is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe framework (and previously Horizon 2020). It is designed to support advanced researchers after they have obtained a PhD, with the explicit goal of strengthening Europe’s research excellence and fostering international, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral mobility.
The fellowship funds an individual research project proposed by the applicant. The researcher applies together with a host institution and supervisor, typically a university or research center (but not necessarily), and designs a project that combines original research with advanced training, skills development, and career progression. Like in many Horizon calls, the evaluation focuses on scientific excellence and on the quality of the training plan, but also on the researcher’s profile, the host environment, and the expected impact on the fellow’s long-term career.
There are two main types of this grant scheme. European Postdoctoral Fellowships (2 years) support mobility within Europe (including incoming mobility from outside the EU), while Global Postdoctoral Fellowships (between 2 to 3 years) fund a period of research outside Europe followed by a mandatory return phase at a European host institution. In both cases, mobility is a core requirement: applicants must move to a country where they have not recently lived or worked, which is intended to prevent academic inbreeding and encourage knowledge circulation.
From a funding perspective, the fellowship is very generous. It covers the researcher’s salary (with a competitive living allowance), mobility and family allowances where applicable, as well as research, training, and networking costs. Importantly, the fellow is employed under a full employment contract, which includes social security and employment rights according to national law.
In academic signaling terms, holding an MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship is widely regarded as a strong marker of excellence and independence. Success rates are low (about 11%), the peer-review process is strict, and awardees are expected to demonstrate the ability to define and lead a coherent research agenda. For this reason, the fellowship is often considered a stepping stone toward tenure-track or permanent academic positions, especially in Europe. Many MSCA fellow later apply to the ERC grant scheme.
In 2023, I have been awarded this prestigious EU grant within the HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01 action, grant agreement no. 101108151.
DataCom has started on the 01/07/2023 at University of Turin (Turin, Italy) at the Department of Law, under the supervision of Prof. Ugo Pagallo.
It aimed at building a new framework to facilitate an ethical secondary use of health data held by public bodies to improve accountability and enhance responsible re-use.
To build it, I developed in intersectoral practical environments the innovative concept of “Ethical Commodification”: the possibility of exploiting personal data in an ethical way for the public good, in accordance with the data subject’s expectations and needs and taking into account the risks associated with the exploitation of anonymized data sets.
I focused on 3 Member States: Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands.
If you want to know more, you can check the DataCom Project website.