Top-up Financing of MSCA and HFSP Fellows

For outgoing MSCA or HFSP fellows: Funding is awarded to individuals who meet the "Project Manager Requirements", see below.  

For incoming HFSP candidates: Funding is awarded to Norwegian research organisations that host an incoming researcher with an HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship. 

The stay at the foreign host institution must be at least 12 months.

For outgoing MSCA or HFSP candidates, the following requirements apply to the project manager (the person receiving top-up funding): 

You must have lived in Norway for at least five of the last eight years when you submit your application for top-up funding. 

• MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships (PF): You must have a PhD from Norway and have received a Postdoctoral Fellowship offer from the Research Executive Agency (REA). 
• HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowships: You must have a PhD from Norway and have received a Postdoctoral Fellowship offer from the Human Frontier Science Program. 
• MSCA Doctoral Networks (DN): You must have a graduate degree (master's degree or equivalent) from Norway and have received an offer of a PhD position in an MSCA Doctoral Network. 
• MSCA COFUND, Postdoctoral Program: You must have a PhD from Norway and have received an offer of a postdoctoral position from the coordinator of the MSCA COFUND project. 
• MSCA COFUND, Doctoral Program: You must have a graduate degree (master's degree or similar) from Norway and have received offers of doctoral position from the coordinator of the MSCA COFUND project. 

For Norwegian-coordinated MSCA COFUND projects, support is only given to outgoing research fellows with stays abroad lasting longer than 12 months at the same organisation. We do not provide support for "secondment" stays. 

For incoming HFSP candidates, the following requirements apply to the Project Owner organisation (host institution) 

The Project Owner organization is the host institution for the candidate. 

The postdoctoral candidate must serve as the project manager in the grant application. 

Calculation of support for outgoing MSCA and HFSP candidates 

We calculate the top-up funding based on the rate for the Research Council's Overseas Research Grants, with or without family. 

You get the full rate for the first 12 months of the MSCA/HFSP period and then 50 percent of the rate (month 13 to max month 48). 

If you have an MSCA Global Fellowship grant or are employed on an MSCA COFUND project, you will not receive top-up funding for the return phase to Europe/Norway. 

You can use this spreadsheet to calculate the support you get. The amounts must be filled in in the application form, and you do not have to submit the spreadsheet. Support will not be given for other costs.  

You can find a guide on how to fill out the application form here.

Calculation of support for incoming HFSP candidates 

We provide a to-up grant in addition to the funding that the host institution receives from HFSP, so that the total funding is comparable to the amount a host institution receives for an MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship.   The grant is set at 1/3 of the Research Council's rate for researchers in the university and university college sector per year. 

Obligation to inform the MSCA/REA 

The European Commission requires that any top-up funding is referred to in the Grant Agreement between the researcher/host institution and the European Commission/Research Executive Agency (REA). 

You must discuss this with your host institution at the earliest possible stage. 

The Research Council's requirements relating to allocation and disbursement of support for the first year, and any pledges and payments for subsequent years, are set out in our General Terms and Conditions for R&D Projects, which can be found in their entirety on the information page This is what the contract consists of.  

Reporting and disbursement of funding 

Support for outgoing research fellows is disbursed monthly. 

Support for incoming HFSP candidates is disbursed annually to the Norwegian host institution. 

This is a call for proposals with an ongoing deadline, which means that you can only submit the application once. Therefore, do not press the "submit" button until the application is completely finished and ready to be submitted. 

If you are an outgoing PhD candidate, you will find a guide on how to fill out the application form here. 

The grant application and all attachments must be submitted in Norwegian or English. 

All attachments must be in PDF format. 

Mandatory Attachments for Outgoing MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship 

• CV for the project manager. Use the default template that you can download at the bottom of the page. In your CV, you must clearly describe what you have done over the past eight years, so that it is clear whether you have spent at least five years of the last eight years in Norway when you send us an application for top-up funding. 
• PhD diploma from a Norwegian institution 
• project description: B-part of the application to the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship 
• confirmation of project funding from the Research Executive Agency (REA) (other) 

Mandatory Attachments for Outgoing HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship 

• CV for the project manager. Use the default template that you can download at the bottom of the page. In your CV, you must clearly describe what you have done over the past eight years, so that it is clear whether you have spent at least five years of the last eight years in Norway when you send us an application for top-up funding. 
• PhD diplomas from the Norwegian research organisation 
• project description: a PDF version of the "full proposal" sent to HFSP, but without copies of publications 
• confirmation of project granted by the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) (other) 

Required Attachments for Outgoing MSCA Doctoral Network Fellows 

• CV for the project manager. Use the default template that you can download at the bottom of the page. In your CV, you must clearly describe what you have done over the past eight years, so that it is clear whether you have spent at least five years of the last eight years in Norway when you send us an application for top-up funding. 
• Master's degree diplomas from the Norwegian Research Organisation 
• project description: describe the DN project and the sub-project you intend to carry out in maximum three pages, use the template that you can download at the end of the call 
• Confirmation of a project awarded funding from your host institution (other) 

Mandatory Attachments for the Outgoing MSCA COFUND Postdoctoral Program 

• CV for the project manager. Use the default template that you can download at the bottom of the page. In your CV, you must clearly describe what you have done over the past eight years, so that it is clear whether you have spent at least five years of the last eight years in Norway when you send us an application for top-up funding. 
• PhD diploma from a Norwegian institution 
• Project description: Describe the project you will be carrying out in a maximum of three pages, use the template that you can download at the end of the call 
• Confirmation of a project awarded funding from your host institution (other) 

Required Attachments for Outgoing MSCA COFUND Doctoral Program 

• CV for the project manager. Use the default template that you can download at the bottom of the page. In your CV, you must clearly describe what you have done over the past eight years, so that it is clear whether you have spent at least five years of the last eight years in Norway when you send us an application for top-up funding. 
• Master's degree diploma from a Norwegian institution
• Project description: Describe the project you will be carrying out in a maximum of three pages, use the template that you can download at the end of the call 
• Confirmation of a project awarded funding from your host institution (other) 

Mandatory attachments for Norwegian host institutions that receive incoming HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship 

• CV for the project manager. Use the standard template that you can download at the bottom of the page. 
• project description: a pdf version of the "full proposal" sent to HFSP, but without copies of publications 
• confirmation of project granted by the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) (other) 

NOTE: All attachments to the application must be submitted with the application. 

We will not consider documents and websites linked to in the application, or other attachments than those specified above. Be careful to upload the correct attachment type, as there are no technical restrictions on what kind of templates it is possible to upload in the application form. 

Grant applications will be assessed in light of the objective of the application type and whether the project manager satisfies the requirements. 

Grant applications are processed on an ongoing basis by the Research Council administration. You will normally receive a response within four weeks.