Marie Curie Doctoral Networks: The Complete PhD Guide (2026-27)

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks are the European Union's flagship funded doctorates: fixed-term doctoral positions inside cross-border consortia, open to researchers of any nationality, with published allowance rates and no fee-status ambiguity because candidates are recruited as funded staff. This guide explains how the networks work, what the 2026-27 rates actually are, and how to win one of the vacancies.

What a Doctoral Network is

A Doctoral Network (DN) is a consortium of universities, research institutes, companies and SMEs — at least three independent legal entities in three different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries — that jointly delivers a doctoral programme. Networks last up to four years (five for joint doctorates) and recruit doctoral candidates into specific projects. Three flavours exist: standard networks, Industrial Doctorates (joint supervision with a company) and Joint Doctorates (a single integrated programme leading to joint or multiple degrees). Every vacancy is advertised individually — there is no central application — and the official vacancy list lives on EURAXESS, updated daily.

The current call closes on 24 November 2026 at 17:00 CET, which matters less to candidates than it looks: the universities that win funding recruit their doctoral candidates in waves during the following year, so the practical cadence is 'watch EURAXESS continuously and apply to individual vacancies as they appear'.

The money: 2026-27 unit rates

MSCA funding is built from published unit costs per researcher-month. The core package for a doctoral candidate: a living allowance of €4,250 per month before adjustments under the 2026 call — up from €4,010 in earlier calls —, a mobility allowance of €710 per month, and — where applicable — a family allowance of €660 per month. Two adjustments apply on top: the living allowance is multiplied by a country correction coefficient (so the same rate buys different amounts in Brussels, Bucharest and Zurich-adjacent sites), and most host institutions top the package up to national employment norms — in practice, many DN candidates on expensive countries earn more than the headline rates suggest, because the EU contribution is a floor, not a ceiling. Deductions follow national employment or fellowship rules of the host country.

Read that as a total package: €4,010 + €710 = €4,720 a month before country correction, family supplements and employer top-ups — the strongest standard doctoral package in Europe, which is why DN vacancies draw deep international fields. The allowance figures above are the published unit rates; your offer letter is the binding document.

The mobility rule that decides eligibility

One rule eliminates more applicants than any other: at recruitment, you must not have resided or carried out your main activity in the country of the recruiting beneficiary for more than 36 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline. Short holidays and mandatory national service are ignored. The rule is per host country — a candidate in Berlin can apply to a Paris-based vacancy but not to a Berlin-based one. Check it before investing a weekend in an application, and check the second gate too: doctoral candidates must not already hold a doctorate.

Beyond the rule, competitive files share a pattern: a master's degree completed or near completion in the network's field, evidence of method skill (dissertation, code, lab work), and a motivation letter that names the specific project and supervisors — because DN vacancies are project positions, the fit paragraph is the application. English proficiency follows the host's rules; many networks use interviews rather than test scores.

Finding and winning a vacancy

The search runs on three channels. EURAXESS is the official vacancy board — filter by 'Doctoral candidate' and set an alert, because good vacancies close within weeks. The MSCA website publishes the funded projects after each call, which lets you track consortia in your field across funding years. And project pages name principal investigators whose groups host multiple candidates over successive calls — following a productive group across cycles is a legitimate strategy.

Applications are per-vacancy: CV, transcripts, motivation letter and references, each tailored to the named project. Interviews are typically conducted by the local supervision team and test the same four competencies as any doctoral interview — research understanding, method capability, ownership and fit — with one addition: secondment willingness. Every DN candidate spends months at partner organisations in other countries; saying 'I would prefer not to travel' in an interview is functionally a withdrawal.

One structural note completes the picture: DN positions are employment or fellowship contracts with the recruiting beneficiary, not grants to the candidate, which is why the allowances interact with national tax and social-security systems rather than sitting outside them. Read any offer with three numbers side by side — the EU unit rates, the country correction coefficient, and the host's stated net figure — and you will never be surprised by the payslip.

Inside the network: supervision, secondments and skills

What the consortium model buys you is structure that a single-lab PhD rarely has. Every DN candidate carries a joint supervision plan — typically a doctoral committee of two or three supervisors from different beneficiaries, meeting on a documented schedule — plus a Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP) that maps training, secondments and deliverables across the whole doctorate. Secondments are contractual: months at partner organisations in other countries, arranged by the network rather than negotiated by you, which is how industrial doctorate candidates end up with company labs on their CVs and how joint-doctorate candidates collect supervisors in three systems.

The skills layer is equally deliberate. Networks run transferable-skills training — communication, IP, entrepreneurship, research ethics — alongside the research programme, and most host structured events twice a year where the whole cohort meets. The practical value is a peer network of twenty to thirty doctoral candidates spread across Europe who enter the job market together; DN alumni repeatedly cite the cohort as the benefit the allowance does not capture. The flip side is obligation: mobility is not optional, deliverables are tracked, and candidates who want a fully self-directed doctorate should weigh that honestly before applying.

Candidate economics: what the money means per country

The country correction coefficient makes the same package worth different lives. A €4,010 living allowance multiplied by the coefficient for, say, Belgium or the Netherlands lands near the local junior-salary range; the same rate in lower-cost Associated Countries buys considerably more purchasing power. Host top-ups then push high-cost sites above the headline: many western European universities supplement DN packages so net pay matches their standard employment scales. Candidates should therefore evaluate offers in net terms — ask the recruiting host directly what the net monthly amount will be after national deductions, because two DN offers with identical EU unit costs can differ by €800 a month in take-home.

Budget the secondments into the arithmetic too: months abroad inside the doctorate mean double rents briefly, or reimbursement arrangements the network handles differently. The networks that run smoothly publish their secondment policy in the vacancy text; the ones that do not are worth a direct question at interview — it is a legitimate question and the answer is usually reassuring.

Timing tips that consistently matter. Apply early in a vacancy's window — many networks shortlist on a rolling basis for strong candidates. Write the motivation letter around the project title in the vacancy, not around your general interests, because DN positions are funded projects with deliverables rather than open topics. And keep a spreadsheet of the mobility rule per vacancy: the 36-month clock is personal to each recruiting country, and a candidate rejected on eligibility in one country can be perfectly eligible in the neighbouring one.

Questions applicants often ask

How much does an MSCA doctoral candidate earn in 2026?

The published unit rates are a €4,010 monthly living allowance plus €710 mobility allowance (and €660 with family), before the country correction coefficient and before employer top-ups to national norms. Actual net pay depends on the host country's deductions; many candidates on high-cost countries receive more than the headline rates.

Who can apply to a Doctoral Network?

Researchers of any nationality who have not yet holds a doctorate and who satisfy the mobility rule: no more than 36 months' residence in the recruiting country in the 36 months before recruitment. Each vacancy states its own degree requirements and deadlines.

Where are the vacancies listed?

On EURAXESS, the EU researcher portal, updated daily — that is the official channel. Funded projects are also listed on the MSCA website after each call, and individual network pages republish their openings with project descriptions.