According to UNIGE internal regulations, supervisors should be Professors or Senior Lecturers (“Maîtres d’enseignement et de recherche - MER” in French).

If they have another function, they must contact us sufficiently in advance of the call deadline to inquire about applicable conditions. Indeed, they will have to follow an internal procedure to be able to act as responsible researchers.

You are required to identify one main supervisor. Formally speaking, this person will act as the only responsible researcher. If you wish so, you can have co-supervisors involved in your project. Their role must be well described in the application.

It is up to you to search for a supervisor with the right expertise. We do not support candidates in this process. Indeed, you are best placed to define the best supervisor in light of the project needs and your own individual needs.

No letter is requested from the prospective host within the framework of this call. The only exception is for Global Fellowships where a letter of commitment from the associated partner hosting the outgoing phase is necessary. The letter should be signed by the prospective supervisor there as well as the Director of Department (or equivalent). We can provide a template letter upon request.

Recommendation letters from current or previous employers are not requested by the European Commission. If you include such a letter in your application, it will most probably be removed before evaluation.

The MSCA National Contact Point provides a series of documents on its website. In addition to the official “Guide for Applicants” from the European Commission, there is a “RADIANCE Handbook” which was jointly prepared by the international network of MSCA National Contact Points with detailed guidelines on what to write in every section of the proposal. These two reference documents as well as other useful resources can be found on Euresearch website.

We will be happy to send a general description of research at UNIGE upon request. This infosheet can help you fill in section 5.2 (Part B2). Please note that you are also expected to provide more specific details related to your prospective host supervisor/department/faculty and not just UNIGE as a whole. Please check this with them directly as we are not in possession of this level of granularity.

We will be happy to send a non-exhaustive list of training options and support services provided by UNIGE and other stakeholders in Geneva and elsewhere in Switzerland, here again upon request. This infosheet can help you fill in section 3.2 (Part B1), among others. Please note that you are also expected to provide more specific details related to your prospective host supervisor/department/faculty. Please check this with them directly as we are not in possession of this level of granularity.

We have a Registry of Career Grantees on our website where you can search for past and current grantees hosted by UNIGE. The registry only concerns researchers who obtained individual funding from our two major funding bodies, namely the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the European Commission. You have the possibility to filter results by faculty. Then, you can use the search tool to keep MSCA fellowships only (just type ‘MSCA’).

We can provide examples of Gantt Charts upon request.

Researchers are generally free to use any standard academic referencing system as long as it is used consistently throughout the proposal, ensuring quality and clarity of citation as well as correct linking of references to the bibliography or footnotes. You can shorten your references provided that the conditions explained in the previous sentence are met.

Your reference list/bibliography must be included in Part B1 and counts towards the 10-page limit. Any excess page will be removed before evaluation.

There is no “one-size-fits-all” formula. Every proposal is unique. MSCA PF projects typically have 3 scientific WPs. Ideally, you should link each one of them to the different research objectives. Then, you can add other non-scientific WPs, e.g. for the project management, the training activities, and the communication-dissemination-exploitation activities.

UNIGE has a GEP called “Equality and Diversity Action Plan 2025-2028” (read more related information). This information is requested in the online application forms (Part A).

Secondments are entirely optional. They should be included in the proposal only if their added value in terms of research objectives and/or career development are clear and well described.

A secondment is a temporary stay at another institution than the main host with a significant contribution to the project which could not be achieved within the framework of simple short visits.

A co-supervisor must be appointed there for the duration of the secondment, which cannot exceed one third of the project’s total duration.

For Global Fellowships, a secondment cannot exceed one third of the duration of the outgoing phase.

The use of AI tools must be declared at the very end of Part B2 (add a dedicated section after ‘8. Environmental considerations in light of the MSCA Green Charter’). This also concerns the use of generative AI for linguistic/editing purposes.

Our office does not provide examples of successful proposals. We usually recommend searching for past applications within the host department/faculty – even those that were rejected can be useful as long as you get a copy of the evaluation report with the main weaknesses and strengths.

In principle, we do not offer comprehensive proposal reviews for this program due to the very high number of candidates and limited resources. This being said, we will be happy to answer any question you may have during the application process. Additionally, we can provide feedback on specific sections of your application, including the online application forms (Part A).

For its part, the MSCA National Contact Point offers proposal reviews on a “first come, first served” basis for candidates applying with a Swiss host institution. The complete draft of Part B1 must be sent together with a complete CV written and formatted in accordance with the MSCA guidelines. Due to the very high demand, we recommend sending out your complete draft several months before the call deadline.

Successful candidates who applied with UNIGE as host institution should be hired as “Chercheur/Chercheuse MSCA.” This is a special function outside of the salary scale of the State of Geneva. Their salary will solely depend on the amount of the Living Allowance paid by the European Commission. This amount will cover all salary costs, including the social charges (employee + employer’s shares). In Geneva, the employer’s charges amount to 23% of the gross salary.

The Mobility Allowance will be paid as a separate allowance. The same principle applies to the Family Allowance if the researcher is eligible for it.

A conservative exchange rate will be used when converting EUR into CHF to prevent risks of budget overspending.

research-grants-office(at)unige.ch
Tel +41 22 379 72 13