Post by European University Association

📢 Research community calls on EU leaders to preserve MSCA’s core research mission and bottom-up nature EUA, together with other leading research and higher education organisations, calls on European leaders to preserve the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) as a research programme in the 2028-2034 Horizon Europe programme. 📝 In a joint statement, the signatories urge policy makers to not change Europe's proven MSCA model, but instead to strengthen it and expand its impact, emphasising that MSCA is, first and foremost, a research programme. As the EU's only programme dedicated to supporting researchers from doctoral candidates to emerging research leaders, it plays a unique role in strengthening Europe's research talent and long-term research and innovation capacity. 🧪 While MSCA is widely recognised for promoting international mobility, its value goes far beyond mobility; it enables researchers to pursue excellent research, build international networks and contribute to strong research environments across Europe. 📈 🔝 Preserving MSCA's bottom-up, research-field agnostic nature is essential to maintaining its success. By remaining open to all scientific disciplines, MSCA enables Europe not only to respond to today's challenges but also to anticipate future ones by supporting new ideas wherever they emerge. If there is a need to develop targeted research, training and mobility actions addressing predefined strategic priorities, these should be pursued through dedicated instruments under Pillar II of FP10 or other programmes, rather than by changing the nature of MSCA or other instruments under Pillar I. The statement is co-signed by CESAER, the Coimbra Group, EU-LIFE, The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, the League of European Research Universities (LERU), YERUN - Young European Research Universities, ALLEA – The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities Aurora Universities, EARMA, EASSH – European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities, ECIU, the European University Association (EUA), Eurodoc, the Marie Curie Alumni Association, Science Europe, the Dutch SSH Council SSH-raad (Social Sciences & Humanities) and UNICA - Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe.