MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships by field of study

Most guides treat the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships 2026 as one single call. In practice, your application is read very differently depending on your discipline. MSCA is a bottom-up programme — any field can apply — but every proposal is scored inside one of eight scientific panels, and your panel decides who evaluates you, which ethics checks apply to your project, and what a competitive application in your field looks like. This page is the field-by-field version of the call: how the panels work, which eligibility details change from one discipline to another, and the field-specific documents you need to prepare.

Funder: European Commission (Horizon Europe)
Call Deadline: 9 September 2026 (17:00 Brussels time)
Fellowship Types: European Postdoctoral Fellowship (1–2 years) or Global Postdoctoral Fellowship (2–3 years, with return phase)
Eligible Disciplines: All research fields
Eligibility: PhD holders with ≤8 years post-PhD research experience; mobility rules apply (must not have resided in host country for >12 months in last 36)
Funding: Living allowance, mobility allowance, family allowance (if applicable), plus research, training and networking costs
How to Apply: Apply jointly with a chosen host organisation via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Find hosting organisations on Euraxess
Official Link: marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu

The MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships are a career-defining opportunity for researchers who want to work internationally, develop new skills, and contribute to cutting-edge research. Applicants should begin identifying host organisations as soon as possible, as proposals require substantial preparation. Don’t miss this competitive but rewarding pathway to research independence.

Always verify deadlines and details on the official European Commission / MSCA website before applying.

The eight MSCA panels: where your field sits

When you submit, you choose a panel and add free keywords. Evaluators are drawn from that panel, so the choice is strategic — pick the panel that covers the core of your project, not a neighbouring field you hope will be less competitive.

CHE — Chemistry: analytical, organic, inorganic, physical and theoretical chemistry, chemical engineering fundamentals.
ECO — Economic Sciences: economics, finance, management, quantitative social research on markets and policy.
ENG — Information Science and Engineering: computer science, AI, robotics, electronics, systems and communication engineering.
ENV — Environment and Geosciences: earth sciences, climate, ecology, environmental engineering and sustainability research.
LIF — Life Sciences: biology, medicine, genetics, neuroscience, agriculture and food science.
MAT — Mathematics: pure and applied mathematics, statistics and mathematical modelling.
PHY — Physics: physics and astronomy, optics, materials and nanophysics.
SOC — Social Sciences and Humanities: sociology, law, history, linguistics, philosophy, education and cultural studies.

Eligibility: what is the same, and what changes by field

The core rules are identical in every field: you must hold a PhD by the call deadline, have no more than eight years of full-time research experience after the PhD, and respect the mobility rule — you must not have lived or worked in the host country for more than 12 months in the 36 months before the deadline. What changes is the ethics self-assessment. A LIF project using human tissue or animals, a SOC project built on interviews and personal data, and an ENG or PHY project with dual-use potential each trigger different ethics sections, and panels read those sections hard. Fieldwork-based projects (ENV, SOC) also need to show data access and permits are realistic inside the project timeline.

Documents that differ by field

Every applicant uses the same Part A forms and Part B proposal template, but the content is judged against field norms. In ENG and MAT, top conference papers carry the weight that journal articles carry in LIF. In SOC, a monograph or a strong dataset can matter more than publication counts. Data-heavy fields are expected to address FAIR data management; lab-based fields (LIF, CHE, PHY) need a host with the specific infrastructure your project depends on — name it in the proposal. Your track record is scored relative to your field and career stage, so present it in the format your panel expects.

Worked examples by field

Life sciences: a postdoc moving to a wet-lab host in another country pairs the European Fellowship with a host that has the model organism or imaging platform the project needs; the ethics section covers animal work and genetic data.
Social sciences: a researcher planning interviews in a third country often fits the Global Fellowship better — an outgoing phase outside Europe, then a mandatory return phase at the European host.
Engineering: MSCA allows short non-academic placements (up to six months) inside the fellowship, so an ENG applicant can plan a spell with an industry partner to strengthen the impact section.

Want the general version? This page covers the MSCA call from the field-of-study angle. For the complete overview — the funding table, the standard eligibility rules and the general application route — see MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2026 — the full programme guide.

Frequently asked questions

Can I apply to MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships from any field of study?

Yes. The call is bottom-up and open to all disciplines, from mathematics and physics to law and history. Your proposal is evaluated in the one of the eight scientific panels that best matches your project.

Who chooses my evaluation panel?

You do, at submission. Choose the panel covering the core discipline of the project and add precise keywords; the evaluators and the expertise judging your ethics section come from that panel.

My project is interdisciplinary. Which panel should I pick?

Pick the panel of the main discipline and use the free keywords to signal the secondary field. Panels routinely assess interdisciplinary proposals, but the majority of the project should sit inside the chosen panel.

Does my field change the amount of funding?

No. The living, mobility and family allowances are the same across fields. Only the host country’s correction coefficient adjusts the living allowance.