TPL - Application Form (Part B) (HE MSCA PF)
TPL - Application Form (Part B) (HE MSCA PF)
Version 3.1
28 March 2024
Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
HISTORY OF CHANGES
Publication
Version Changes
date
1.0 18.06.2021 Initial version
1.1 05.05.2022 Updated definitions: artificial intelligence, critical risks. Alignment of wording of
title 1.2 with the wording of the work programme.
2.0 11.07.2022 Addition of tags
2.1 08.09.2022 Added instructions on Artificial intelligence
3.0 20.03.2023 Letter of commitment for non-academic placement no longer required
Font size of text in tables - alignment with standard application form template
Criteria 1.2 open science practices: link to external video added
Revision of criteria 2.1 explanation
Partial alignment of text with standard application form template for criteria 2.3
Addition of Section 8 “Environmental considerations in light of the MSCA Green
Charter”
Rephrasing of title of Section 9.
3.1 28.03.2024 Guidance on the use of AI for the preparation of the proposal
Added link on open science
Added “rationale and added-value of secondment (if applicable)” under sub-
criterion 1.3
Added “provide credible quantified estimates” under sub-criterion 2.3
Included how to describe the MSCA green charter
Note
National Contact Points (NCPs) have been set up across Europe and beyond by the national
governments to provide information and personalised support to Horizon Europe applicants
in their native language. The mission of the NCPs is to raise awareness, inform and advise on
Horizon Europe funding opportunities as well as to support potential applicants in the
preparation, submission and follow-up of the grant applications. For details on the NCP in
your country, please consult the National Contact Points page.
Part B - Page 2 of 17
Instructions, please remove
Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
Part B of the proposal contains the details of the proposed MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship as
well as the required supporting information. It will be used by the independent experts to
undertake their assessment of the proposal. We therefore advise applicants to address each of
the award criteria as outlined in the relevant sections, using both descriptive text and the
tables provided. Please note that the explanatory notes included in the part B proposal
template serve to explain the award criteria without being exhaustive. To draft a proposal,
applicants should also consult the current version of the MSCA Work Programme.
Part B-1
Page limit: Sections 1, 2 and 3 together should not be longer than 10 pages. All tables,
figures, references and any other element pertaining to these sections must be included as an
integral part of these sections and are thus counted towards this page limit. The page limit for
this part of the proposal will be applied automatically; therefore, you must remove these
instruction pages before submitting. Do not add a cover page or a table of contents.
If you attempt to upload a proposal longer than the specified page limit before the deadline,
you will receive an automatic warning and will be advised to shorten and re-upload the
proposal. After the deadline, excess pages (in over-long proposals) will be automatically
made invisible, and therefore will not be taken into consideration by the experts. Note that
experts will be instructed to ignore hyperlinks to information that is specifically designed to
expand the proposal, thus circumventing the page limit.
Part B - Page 3 of 17
Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
shorten the representation of the proposal in number of pages compared to using the
reference font (for example with a view to bypassing the page limit).
The minimum font size allowed is 11 points. Standard character spacing and a
minimum of single line spacing is to be used. This applies to the body text, including
text in tables.
Text elements other than the body text, such as headers, foot/end notes, captions,
formulas, etc. may deviate, but must be legible and not be less than 8 points.
This document is tagged. Do not delete the tags; they are needed for our internal processing
of information, mostly for statistical gathering. In that light, please do not move, delete, re-
order, alter tags in any way, as they might create problems in our internal processing tools.
Tags do not affect or influence the outcome of your application.
Part B-2
Part B-2, for which you will find a template at the end of this document does not have a page
limit. It must comprise the CV of the researcher, the capacity of the participating
organisation(s) and the commitment letter(s) of the associated partner hosting the outgoing
phase in case of Global Fellowship. Part B-2 must be submitted as a separate document.
Applicants will not be able to submit their proposal in the submission system unless both
Parts 1 and 2 are provided in PDF format (Adobe version 3 or higher, with embedded
fonts).
Definitions
DEFINITIONS
1Definition from the European Commission’s High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence,
https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/system/files/ged/ai_hleg_definition_of_ai_18_december_1.pdf
Part B - Page 4 of 17
Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
The goals of the work performed within the project, in terms of its
research and innovation content. This will be translated into the
Objectives
project’s results. These may range from tackling specific research
questions, demonstrating the feasibility of an innovation, sharing
knowledge among stakeholders on specific issues. The nature of the
objectives will depend on the type of action, and the scope of the
topic.
Outcomes The expected effects, over the medium term, of projects supported
under a given topic. The results of a project should contribute to these
outcomes, fostered in particular by the dissemination and exploitation
measures. This may include the uptake, diffusion, deployment, and/or
use of the project’s results by direct target groups. Outcomes generally
occur during or shortly after the end of the project.
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Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
Guidance on the use of generative AI tools for the preparation of the proposal
When considering the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools for the preparation of
the proposal, it is imperative to exercise caution and careful consideration. The AI-generated
content should be thoroughly reviewed and validated by the applicants to ensure its
appropriateness and accuracy, as well as its compliance with intellectual property regulations.
Applicants are fully responsible for the content of the proposal (even those parts produced by
the AI tool) and must be transparent in disclosing which AI tools were used and how they
were utilized.
Specifically, applicants are required to:
Verify the accuracy, validity, and appropriateness of the content and any citations
generated by the AI tool and correct any errors or inconsistencies.
Provide a list of sources used to generate content and citations, including those
generated by the AI tool. Double-check citations to ensure they are accurate and
properly referenced.
Be conscious of the potential for plagiarism where the AI tool may have reproduced
substantial text from other sources. Check the original sources to be sure you are not
plagiarizing someone else’s work.
Acknowledge the limitations of the AI tool in the proposal preparation, including the
potential for bias, errors, and gaps in knowledge.
Part B - Page 6 of 17
Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
1. Excellence #@REL-EVA-RE@#
1.1 Quality and pertinence of the project’s research and innovation objectives (and the
extent to which they are ambitious, and go beyond the state of the art) #@QUA-LIT-QL@#
1.2
Instructions, please remove
Soundness of the proposed methodology (including interdisciplinary approaches,
consideration of the gender dimension and other diversity aspects if relevant for the
research project, and the quality of open science practices)
Integration of methods and disciplines to pursue the objectives: Explain how expertise
and methods from different disciplines will be brought together and integrated in
pursuit of your objectives. If you consider that an inter-disciplinary 2 approach is
unnecessary in the context of the proposed work, please provide a justification.
Gender dimension and other diversity aspects : Describe how the gender dimension
and other diversity aspects are taken into account in the project’s research and
innovation content. If you do not consider such a gender dimension to be relevant in
your project, please provide a justification.
Remember that that this question relates to the content of the planned research
and innovation activities, and not to gender balance in the teams in charge of
carrying out the project.
Sex, gender and diversity analysis refers to biological characteristics and
social/cultural factors respectively. For guidance on methods of sex / gender
analysis and the issues to be taken into account, please refer to this page.
If you plan to use, develop and/or deploy artificial intelligence (AI) based systems
socially robust, in that they duly consider the context and environment
in which they operate;
Open science practices: Describe how appropriate open science practices are
implemented as an integral part of the proposed methodology. Show how the choice
of practices and their implementation is adapted to the nature of your work in a way
that will increase the chances of the project delivering on its objectives [e.g. up to 1/2
page, including research data management]. If you believe that none of these
practices are appropriate for your project, please provide a justification here.
Open science is an approach based on open cooperative work and systematic sharing
of knowledge and tools as early and widely as possible in the process. Open science
practices include early and open sharing of research (for example through pre-
registration, registered reports, pre-prints, or crowd-sourcing); research output
management; measures to ensure reproducibility of research outputs; providing open
access to research outputs (such as publications, data, software, models, algorithms,
and workflows); participation in open peer-review; and involving all relevant
knowledge actors including citizens, civil society and end users in the co-creation of
R&I agendas and contents (such as citizen science).
Please also see the “how to evaluate open science in Horizon Europe proposals”
video on the Funding & Tenders portal and Open science - European Commission
(europa.eu).
Part B - Page 8 of 17
Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
1.3 Quality of the supervision, training and of the two-way transfer of knowledge
between the researcher and the host
Supervision
Employers and/or funders should ensure that a person is clearly identified to whom
researchers can refer for the performance of their professional duties, and should inform the
researchers accordingly.
Such arrangements should clearly define that the proposed supervisors are sufficiently
expert in supervising research, have the time, knowledge, experience, expertise and
commitment to be able to offer the postdoctoral researcher appropriate support and provide
for the necessary progress and review procedures, as well as the necessary feedback
mechanisms.
Discuss the quality and appropriateness of the researcher’s existing professional experience
in relation to the proposed research project.
3While the MSCA Guidelines on Supervision are non-binding, funded-projects are strongly encouraged to take them into
account.
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Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
2. Impact #@IMP-ACT-IA@#
2.1 Credibility of the measures to enhance the career perspectives and employability of
the researcher and contribution to his/her skills development
2.2 Suitability and quality of the measures to maximise expected outcomes and impacts,
as set out in the dissemination and exploitation plan, including communication activities
#@COM-DIS-VIS-CDV@#
All measures should be proportionate to the scale of the project, and should contain
concrete actions to be implemented both during and after the end of the project.
Provide a narrative explaining how the project’s results are expected to make a
difference in terms of impact, beyond the immediate scope and duration of the project.
The narrative should include the components below, tailored to your project.
4 In case your proposal is selected for funding, a more detailed Dissemination and Exploitation plan will need to be provided
as a mandatory project deliverable during project implementation
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Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
Be specific, referring to the effects of your project, and not R&I in general in this
field. State the target groups that would benefit.
The impacts of your project may be:
- Scientific: e.g. contributing to specific scientific advances, across and within
disciplines, creating new knowledge, reinforcing scientific equipment and
instruments, computing systems (i.e. research infrastructures);
- Economic/technological: e.g. bringing new products, services, business processes
to the market, increasing efficiency, decreasing costs, increasing profits,
contributing to standards’ setting, etc.
- Societal: e.g. decreasing CO2 emissions, decreasing avoidable mortality,
improving policies and decision-making, raising consumer awareness.
Only include such outcomes and impacts where your project would make a significant
and direct contribution. Avoid describing very tenuous links to wider impacts.
#§COM-DIS-VIS-CDV§#
3.1 Quality and effectiveness of the work plan, assessment of risks and appropriateness
of the effort assigned to work packages
The schedule in the Gantt chart should indicate the number of months elapsed from the
start of the action (Month 1).
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Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
3.2 Quality and capacity of the host institutions and participating organisations,
including hosting arrangements
Note that for GF, both the quality and capacity of the outgoing Third Country host and the
return host should be outlined.
#§CON-SOR-CS§# #§PRJ-MGT-PM§#
--------------------------------------- End of page count (max 10 pages) -------------------------------
5 See the definitions section of the MSCA Work Programme for further information.
Part B - Page 12 of 17
Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
Applicants who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis before the call deadline but
who have not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree must clearly indicate the date of
the successful PhD defence (“viva”). Researchers having their last thesis defence after the
call deadline will be automatically declared ineligible for this call.
Please provide an overview list of all participating organisations (the beneficiary and, where
applicable, all associated partners) using template table 5.1 below, and more detailed
information for each of the participating organisations (using a separate table for each
organisation) using template table 5.2 below.
Should the proposal be shortlisted for funding, all participating organisations will have to be
registered with the European Commission’s Participant Register Services. Therefore where
this information is already known, please provide in Table 5.1 the (draft or validated) nine
Part B - Page 13 of 17
Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
Associated
partner linked to
a beneficiary (if
applicable)
Associated
partner for
outgoing phase
(mandatory for
GF)
Associated
partner for
secondment
(optional)
Associated
partner for non-
academic
placement
(optional)
Other:
________
Please complete a separate table for each participating organisation. For the beneficiary, this
table should be maximum 1 page in length; for each associated partner, the table should be
maximum ½ page in length.
Key research facilities, Infrastructure Demonstrate that the beneficiary has sufficient
and Equipment facilities and infrastructure to host and/or offer a
suitable environment for training and transfer of
knowledge to the recruited experienced researcher.
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Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
Additional information that could not be included in Part A of the proposal (if needed).
Additional information on security aspects that could not be included in Part A of the
proposal (if needed).
Please explain how the proposed project would strive to adhere to the MSCA Green Charter 6
during its implementation. Please indicate here - max 1/2 page - what actions you propose to
take to ensure the sustainable implementation of project and to mitigate its environmental
impact, in line with the principles set out in the MSCA Green Charter.
Use this section to add scanned copies of the letter(s) of commitment, if applicable.
Minimum requirements:
With heading or stamp from the institution;
· Up-to-date document, i.e. not dated prior to the call publication;
· Demonstrating the will to actively participate in the (identified) proposal;
· Explanation of the precise role.
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Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
Any additional information the organisation deems useful can be added in the letter.
Note that the expert evaluators will be instructed to disregard the contribution of any
associated partners for which no such evidence of commitment is submitted.
In case the letter fails to provide enough information on the associated partner’s role and/or
enough assurance of their commitment in the project (e.g. no signature, wrong proposal
references, outdated letter…), the experts may penalise the proposal on these aspects under
the implementation evaluation criterion.
I undersigned [title, first name and surname], in my quality of [role in the organisation]
in [name of the organisation] commit to set up all necessary provisions to participate as
associated partner in the proposal [proposal number and/or acronym] submitted to the
call HE-MSCA-2024-PF, should the proposal be funded.
On behalf of [name of the organisation], I also confirm that we will participate and
contribute to the research, innovation and training activities as planned in this project. In
particular, [name of the organisation] will be involved in [free field for any additional
information that the participating organisation wishes to indicate in order to describe its
role and contribution to the project].
I hereby declare that I am entitled to commit into this process the entity I represent.
Part B - Page 16 of 17
Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
PART B TEMPLATE
------------------------------------- Start of page count (max 10 pages) --------------------------------
[This document is tagged. Do not delete the tags; they are needed for processing.] #@APP-FORM-HEMSCAPF@#
Part B-1
1. Excellence #@REL-EVA-RE@#
1.1 Quality and pertinence of the project’s research and innovation objectives (and the
extent to which they are ambitious, and go beyond the state of the art)
1.3 Quality of the supervision, training and of the two-way transfer of knowledge
between the researcher and the host
2. Impact #@IMP-ACT-IA@#
2.1 Credibility of the measures to enhance the career perspectives and employability of
the researcher and contribution to his/her skills development
2.2 Suitability and quality of the measures to maximise expected outcomes and impacts,
as set out in the dissemination and exploitation plan, including communication activities
#@COM-DIS-VIS-CDV@#
2.3. The magnitude and importance of the project’s contribution to the expected scientific,
societal and economic impacts
#§COM-DIS-VIS-CDV§# #§IMP-ACT-IA§#
3.1 Quality and effectiveness of the work plan, assessment of risks and appropriateness
of the effort assigned to work packages
3.2 Quality and capacity of the host institutions and participating organisations,
including hosting arrangements
Part B-2
(No overall page limit applied)
4. CV of the researcher
Insert here text for your proposal