Horizon Europe MSCA Doctoral Networks 2025

By Marine Hurard, Project Manager – GO and Maëlle Pichard, Head of EU division – GO

The Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) Doctoral Networks call presents an opportunity for research groups to coordinate and/or participate in European-funded structured doctoral programs through partnerships of universities, research institutions, or businesses (industrial DN) across Europe and beyond. 

Key Information 

• Call document EU Funding and Tender Portal  

• Opening date: 28 May 2025 

• Deadline: 25 November 2025, 17:00 CET  

• This is a highly competitive recurring call, published annually, with an average success rate of around 10%. 

• Consortium: Minimum 3 independent organisations from 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries.  In practice, most consortia include 6 to 10 partners. 

• Budget: Maximum €3-4 million per consortium (in general for standard Doctoral network, about 10 students are recruited and defined unit costs per country are used to build the budget)  

• Duration: 48-month projects (4 years); 36-month funding for individual researchers (3 years) 

• Resubmission restrictions: for applications that received a score below 80% the previous year 

• Tips and guidance available here 

Eligibility Requirements 

• PhD candidates: Candidates of any nationality with less than 4 years of research experience and no doctoral degree 

• Mobility Rule: Researchers cannot have resided in the country of recruitment for more than 12 months in the past 36 months 

• Secondments: Researchers may be seconded to partners for up to one-third of their recruitment period 

Funding covers: 

• Monthly allowance (salary + mobility) 

• Research, training and networking activities 

• Management and indirect costs 

Network Types 

1. Standard Doctoral Networks: Traditional doctoral programs. This scheme supports international partnerships to implement structured doctoral programmes built around a joint research project, aimed at training PhD candidates and enhancing their long-term employability. 

2. Industrial Doctoral Networks: They train PhD candidates who wish to develop their skills and step outside academia, in industry and business. Individual participants must be enrolled in a doctoral programme and jointly supervised by academic and non-academic partners. 

3. Joint Doctoral Networks: Delivers joint/double/multiple doctoral degrees. They provide a highly integrated type of international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration in doctoral training leading to a joint doctoral degree or multiple doctoral degrees awarded by the participating institutions. PhD candidates must be enrolled in a joint programme and be jointly supervised. 

The Grants Office – EU division can provide support for consortium building, proposal and budget preparation. Contact us at goeurope[at]pasteur.fr to get involved.