MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship 2027 (Marie Curie PF): Deadline 8 September and What It Pays

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA PF) is Europe's best-known individual postdoctoral grant: you design your own project, a host institution backs it, and the EU pays a generous allowance package. The 2027 call closes on 8 September 2027, and the allowance benchmark under the current Work Programme is a living allowance of €6,350 per month before the country correction coefficient, plus a €710 monthly mobility allowance.

What the fellowship pays in 2027

MSCA PF pays fixed monthly unit costs, not a salary negotiation:

• Living allowance: €6,350/month (2026–2027 Work Programme) — multiplied by a country correction coefficient, then reduced by the employer's social charges
• Mobility allowance: €710/month for everyone, paid on top
• Family allowance where eligible (e.g. €1,290/month where the current rates apply) if you have family obligations
• Research, training and networking costs paid to the host institution (about €1,000/month), of which a share goes to you
• Special needs, long-term leave and parental allowances where applicable

In practice, a single fellow in a typical EU country takes home roughly €4,000–€5,000/month after institutional charges and tax — comfortably above local postdoc salaries in most countries.

Who is eligible

1. PhD awarded at the call deadline (8 September 2027).
2. Maximum 8 years of full-time research experience after the PhD (career breaks, part-time and work outside research don't count fully).
3. Mobility rule: you must not have resided or carried out your main activity in the host country for more than 12 months in the 36 months before the deadline.
4. Choice of route: European Fellowship (12–24 months in an EU/associated country) or Global Fellowship (12–24 months outside Europe plus a mandatory 12-month return phase in Europe).

Timeline: when results and money actually arrive

The evaluation takes about five months. For the 2026 call (deadline 9 September 2026), results are expected around February 2027, grant agreements are prepared through spring and summer, and most fellowships start between late 2027 and 2028. If you are waiting on a February result and planning your start date, build in the grant-agreement signature: the fellowship cannot begin before it is signed, and the agreed start date is fixed in it. Fellows typically start 6–12 months after results day — plan bridging funding accordingly.

How to apply (and what the evaluation rewards)

Applications are single-person proposals on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: excellence (your track record and the project's novelty), impact (career development, dissemination) and implementation (work plan, host support). The single biggest predictor of success is fit — a project the host department genuinely wants, with a named supervisor who has co-designed it. Success rates hover around 10–15%, so:

• Start 4–6 months before the deadline; treat it as a job application plus a research proposal.
• Get the host's research-support office to review the budget and the supervision commitment letter.
• Write the career-development plan as seriously as the science — it carries its own scoring.

Alternatives if MSCA PF is not the right fit

If the 8-year experience cap or mobility rule excludes you, look at national fellowships: the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship in the UK, national returner schemes, or themed programmes such as the Tayebati AI postdoctoral fellowship for AI research. Our MSCA Doctoral Networks guide covers the PhD-side equivalent of the same programme family.