MSCA COFUND 2026
Co-funds new or existing doctoral or postdoctoral training programmes run by universities and research organisations, topping up national or regional funding with EU money.
Doctoral programmes recruit candidates toward a doctoral degree, built on the EU's principles for innovative doctoral training and covering transferable skills such as digital tools, open science, and where relevant innovation and entrepreneurship. Postdoctoral programmes instead fund individual advanced research-training and career-development fellowships, with regular selection rounds on fixed d…
This topic co-funds doctoral or postdoctoral programmes run by universities, research institutions or other organisations, usually open to any research discipline but occasionally narrower where tied to a national or regional Smart Specialisation strategy. Doctoral programmes must lead to a doctoral degree recognised in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country; postdoctoral programmes fund advanced research training and career-development fellowships with regular, fixed selection rounds. Both must give every recruited researcher a jointly agreed Career Development Plan, reviewed within 18 months of starting.
Sign up free to see the funding breakdown
Sign up free to see the industries in scope
Sign up free to see the full eligibility
Sign up free to see how to apply
Sign up free to see how they score you
Sign up free to see the timeline
Sign up free to see where teams trip up
Guides for this application
All guides →Horizon Europe Grants for Startups: A Founder Guide
A practical guide to Horizon Europe grants for startups, including EIC, consortia, eligibility, Funding & Tenders, TRL, budgets, and EU strategy.
DocumentsLetter of Support for Grant Applications: Template and Examples
Learn how to write and request a letter of support for a grant, with template structure, examples, reviewer logic, and common mistakes.
Find grantsGovernment Grants for Startups: What Deeptech Founders Should Know
A practical guide to government grants for startups, including Grants.gov, SBIR/STTR, state programs, eligibility, fit, timelines, and when to apply.
More from European Commission
All grants from this funder →Digital Europe Programme
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds Europe-wide digital capability development in AI, cybersecurity, semiconductors, hardware, and IoT.
Crime prevention approaches, online and off-line, tackling the nexus between addictions and crime
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds research and pilot collaboration between police authorities and civil-society groups to prevent addiction-linked crime across the EU.
Horizon Border Security: Accessible Travel Facilitation
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds two €4M border-crossing tech projects, run with Border or Coast Guard Authorities, built for travelers with disabilities or low digital skills.
Horizon Border Security: Age Assessment Reliability
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds a €1.33M project, run with border and coast guard authorities, that compares how reliable different ways of estimating a young migrant's age really are.
Horizon Border Security: Surveillance & Drone Detection
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds two €6M projects that build border detection and surveillance tech, run jointly with national Border and Coast Guard authorities.
Horizon Civil Security: Bioterrorism Prevention
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds a €3M project that reviews how synthetic biology could be misused for bioterrorism and pinpoints where monitoring and regulation fall short.
Similar grants
Browse the directory →
5th Innowwide Call for Market Feasibility Projects — Autumn 2026
🇪🇺EUREKA · Global / Multinational
Pays SMEs a fixed EUR60,000 grant to run a six-month market feasibility project testing whether their innovation can be commercialised in a target country in Africa, the Americas, Asia or Oceania.
Co-Innovation
🇫🇮Business Finland · Finland
Funds Finnish companies running joint R&D projects with public research organisations through Business Finland's Co-Innovation scheme.
MBIE Horizon Europe Top-up Funding
🇳🇿MBIE · New Zealand
Funds New Zealand innovation teams building Horizon Europe top-up support for EU partners from proof to commercialization.
Research, Development & Innovation Fund
🇮🇪Enterprise Ireland · Ireland
Provides Irish enterprises planning support for innovation programmes that strengthen global markets.
MBIE Horizon Europe Top-up Funding Scheme
🇳🇿MBIE · New Zealand
Funds New Zealand teams building Pillar two top-up support for EU partners from proof to commercialization.
ENEA Proof of Concept Program
ENEA · Italy
Funds companies moving ENEA laboratory technologies toward industrial use through co-funded proof-of-concept projects.