RESEARCH FOR INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Innovative Training Networks (ITN) 2020

Part 1: National Contact Points in Norway:Berit Sundby Avset and Per M. Kommandantvold

Part 2: Coordinator for EDULIA ITN:Senior Researcher Paula Varela from NOFIMA

#MSCA & #ITN

@MarieCurie_NCP

Introduction to MSCA

What is an ITN?

Award criteria

The money

Statistics

Timeline

Comments and advice

The future

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions:

National Contacts Points for Norway:

3

Berit Sundby Avset bsa@rcn.no, ph. 93059324

Per Magnus Kommandantvold pmk@rcn.no, ph. 92247635

@MarieCurie_NCP

Newsletter on MSCA/ERC (in Norwegian):https://www.forskningsradet.no/sok-om-finansiering/internasjonale-midler/sok-horisont-2020/

The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions

in Horizon 2020

9/18/2019 Kolumnetittel 4

MSCA

MSCA key features5

Career development and training of researchers

✓ Open to all domains of research and innovation

✓ Bottom-up approach

✓ Open to all career stages and nationalities

✓ International, intersectoral and interdisciplinary

✓ Attractive career and knowledge-exchangeopportunities through mobility

✓ Development of knowledge and enhancement of skills

✓ Promotion of attractive working and employment conditions

ITN

IF

RISE

COFUND

NIGHT

6

MSCA: the different

actions

2014 – 20206 162 million €

• Innovative Training Networks• Host driven, early-stage researchers

(network recruiting ~PhD students)

• Individual Fellowships• Individual, experienced researchers• Incoming & outgoing post-docs

• Research and Innovation Staff Exchange• Exchange of all types of research staff

with ‘Third Countries’ and/or non-academic sector

• COFUND• Cofunding e.g. national schemes

• European Researchers’ Night• Outreach & communication

MSCA ITN 2020 budget allocation

Deadline: 14. January 2020

Call opens: 12. September 2019

Budget: Overall indicative budget 530.00 mill EUR

• European Training Networks 445 mill EUR

• European Joint Doctorates 40 mill EUR

• European Industrial Doctorates 45 mill EUR

Increase from 2019: 60 mill EUR

So, what´s new? (for re-submitters)

• Updated definitions (Academic, Non-Academic sectors, secondments)

• Clarification of EJD requirement on supported researchers

• Clarification of secondments

• Updated instructions for Institutional Letter of Commitment (EJD)

• Updated instructions for partner organisation Letter of Commitment and new Template

• Footnote added on recruitment in EID

• Updated Note on visa costs

• Update of Operational Capacity assessment during evaluations

• Updates in the evaluation process description

• Update of the Resubmission procedure

• Clarification added on the List of Participating Organisations and updated table regarding participation in other projects or similar proposals submitted under the same call.

What is an ITN?

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Purpose of ITN: To train a new generation of researchers

Policy objectives:

▪ Train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative researchers

▪ Raise excellence and structure research and doctoral training

▪ The right combination of research–related and transferable competencies

▪ Prepare for careers in both academic and non-academic sectors

▪ Trigger cooperation and exchange of best practice among participants

Definition of ESR

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Early-stage researcher is someone who at the date ofrecruitment by the beneficiary is in his or her first fouryears of their research career and have not been awardeda doctoral degree.

What is an ITN?

• A consortium of organisations from different countries and sectors

• Propose a joint research training programme

• Recruit ESRs (early stage researchers) across the consortium – each ESR has an Individual Research Project

– ESRs must comply with the MSCA mobility rule – max 12 months in the country of their host in the 3 years prior to recruitment.

– ESRs may come from any country in the world

• Advanced research skills and transferable skills training – local and network-wide

• Networking events

• Secondments for each ESR to another sector (academic to non-academic, or vice-versa)

The three ITN modes

European Industrial

Doctorate (EID)

European Training Network (ETN)

European Joint Doctorate (EJD)

Project duration 48 months

3 beneficiaries3 countries

Minimum participant requirements:

3 academic beneficiaries3 countries

2 beneficiaries2 countries2 sectors

+ Partner organisations from any sector (no min or max)

Early stage researchers (ESR) funded 3 to 36 months

15 ESRs (for 36 months) 5 ESRs* /15 ESRs

No educational degree required

(PhD typical)Joint/Double PhD

PhD (50% of time in non-academic

sector)

* For a two –beneficiary project

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What are the ’sectors’ in MSCA?

Academic• Universities/ University Colleges• Public Research Organisations• Private-Non-Profit Research

organisations

Non-academic• Industry• Government/public organisations• Other

▪ UK: 80% of the PhD candidates gets a job in the non-academic sector

▪ Norway: 40 % of the PhD candidates plan to look for a job outside research1

1 NIFU Rapport 2017:10

Participation of the non-academic sector is a must!

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Participants in ITNs

1. Beneficiaries (incl. Coordinator)

▪ recruit, host and train researchers

▪ sign the Grant Agreement

2. Partner organisations

▪ do not recruit researchers

▪ host short secondments and/or

▪ contribute to training activities

▪ do not sign the Grant Agreement

Recommended sizes of ITNs:

▪ ETN: 6-10 beneficiaries▪ EJD: 4-8 beneficiaries

Coordinator

Bene-ficiary

Bene-ficiary

Bene-ficiary

Bene-ficiary

Bene-ficiary

Training Secondments

Partner organisations

Secondments – if added value!

The purpose of secondments in MSCA is to expose the researchers to other environments, preferablyin another sector.

• A planned, longer stay at another beneficiary or at a partner

• The ESR receives training and supervision at the secondment host

• Must be relevant, feasible, beneficial for the researcher and in line with the project objectives

• ETN: Up to 30% duration of recruitment period

• EID: Secondments must not be in conflict with the requirement of minimum 50% time in the non-academic sector.

• Can be pursued in any country, also outside of Europe.

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Which countries can participate?

▪ Member States (MS) and Associated Countries (AC) can participate as beneficiaries or partner organisations

▪ There can be > 1 beneficiary from the same country but:

▪ Non-European countries can be beneficiaries or partners, but “High income” countries (e.g US, Australia and Japan) cannot receive funding, thus must be Partner Organisations

Max 40.00% of the budget can go to one country

BREXIT scenarios?

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• «No Deal» /»hard» BREXIT: UK participants will by 29. March 31.October (?) be«third country participants», and may not receive EU funding or participate as coordinators or beneficiaries. MSCA does not allow for 3rd country coordination. Funding to 3rd countries: Annex A of the general work programme for H2020.

• BREXIT with a deal?

– Temporary deal for H2020 lifetime, no change until 31.12. 2020. Underwrite guarantee from UK Gov. Associated country temporary.

– «Norway»-solution: EEA access to FP as associated country

• No BREXIT – no worries!

Right now, nobody knows. Best information for the moment:

• https://www.forskningsradet.no/en/news/2019/what-does-brexit-mean-for-norwegian-horizon-2020-participants/

• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/horizon-2020-funding-if-theres-no-brexit-deal/horizon-2020-funding-if-theres-no-brexit-deal--2

• https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/743864/horizon-2020-government-overview-27-september-2018.pdf

• https://www.ukro.ac.uk/

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Getting the concept right

ITN is not a Research Project

It is a Research Training

Programme

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Central quality elements of an ITN proposal

▪ Develop a comprehensive programme vision

▪ Provide an integrated training and research strategy

▪ Develop a realistic management, financial and institutional strategy

▪ Recruit excellent students and deliver value to them

WP 1

WP 3WP 2

The ITN project:An illustration

ESR9

ESR8ESR4ESR3

ESR2

ESR1

ESR7ESR6

ESR5

ESR10

Supervisory board

Consortium meetings

Joint training activities

Dissemination & communication

Management

Joint recruitment strategyand involvement

B1

B2

B3

B4

B5

B6

P1 P2P3

Recruitment

Secondments

Partner contributionto joint tasks

Must make sense for the training of the ESR

The project as seen from the ESR

Recruited by beneficiary• open process, preferably

coordinated at consortium level

• 3-36 months, max length and PhD-enrolment encouraged

Exposure to (non-) academic sector

Seconded to partner or other beneficiary, max 30% of the total recruitment period (ETN)

Personal Career Development Plan

Training in “transferable skills”, at host, at partner organisations, and/or through (annual) consortium-wide workshops

Training through research in an individual, personalised project

Networking through secondments, short visits and consortium-wide joint workshops/summer schools

Representation of 1-2 ESRs in the Supervisory board

Supervisor at host organisation, (co-supervisor at secondment host if relevant)

Proposal structure and award criteria

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The proposal consists of two parts25

Part A

• Section 1: General information about the proposal;

• Section 2: Data on participating organisations(list of beneficiaries and additional table for partner organisations (manual entry));

• Section 3: Budget (request for funding in terms of person-months);

• Section 4: Ethics issues table;

• Section 5: Call-specific Question (Open Access)

• B2: no overall page limit

– 4. EID specific requirements

– 5. Participating organisations (max 1 pageper beneficiary, and ½ per partner)

– 6. Ethics issues: If yes in part A, a self-assessment must be included

– 7. Letters of commitment

Part B

• B1: Max length 34 pages in total.

– Start page (1 page)

– Table of contents (1 page)

– Participating organisations (2 pages)

– The proposal description (30 pages)

Award criteriafor ITN 2020

The award criteria match the headings and structure of part B of the proposal.

Sub-headings in part B help you to further structure the proposal and add content.

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Quality, innovative aspects and credibility of the research programme (including inter/multidisciplinary, inter-sectoral and, where appropriate, gender aspects)

Quality of the supervision (including mandatory joint supervision for EID and EJD projects)

Quality and innovative aspects of the training programme (including transferable skills, inter/multidisciplinary, inter-sectoral and, where appropriate, gender aspects)

Quality of the proposed interaction between the participating organisations

1. Excellence (50%)

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1. Excellence

• What is the over-arching goal of your ITN?

• Why is your consortium best suited to reach thisgoal?

• State the objectives for the research.

• What is the state-of-the-art, and how will you go beyond this?

• Give an overview of the training, including events.

• What will the non-academic partners contributewith?

• Quality of the supervision for each ESR

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Weaknesses found in unfunded ITNs: EXCELLENCE

• Poorly focused research theme/overall goal->cohesiveness not demonstrated

• State of the art poorly explained->novelty not demonstrated

• Unclear research objectives

• Overambitious research objectives

• No link to EU policies on research careers/research training

• Training programme is unfocused and not clearly presented

• Transferable skills poorly addressed esp. those related to innovation and entrepreneurship

• Insufficient local training opportunities (at each ESR’s host organisation)

• Poorly thought-out network wide training opportunities

• Lack of detail on supervision experience of the proposed supervisors

• Unstructured supervision plans (including lack of clarity on preparation and monitoring of Personal Career Development Plans, no information on frequency/methods of student-supervisory team meetings)

• Only one supervisor per ESR (no joint supervision arrangements)

2. Impact (30%)

Impact on three levels (MSCA work programme):

➢ Impact at researcher level

➢ Impact at organization level

➢ Impact at system level

Why should the EU spend money on your training network?

Why will EU funding, as compared to other funding, make sense in your project?

Explain the European added value!

2. Impact18.09.2019

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Enhancing the career perspectives and employability of researchers and contribution to their skills development

Contribution to structuring doctoral/early-stage research training at the European level and to strengthening European innovation capacity, including the potential for:

a) Meaningful contribution of the non-academic sector to the doctoral / research training (as appropriate to the implementation mode and research field)

b) Developing sustainable (= lasting) joint doctoral degree structures (for EJD only)

Quality of the proposed measures to exploit and disseminate the results

Quality of the proposed measures to communicate the activities to different target audiences

Dissemination and communication

• Understand the difference, and don’t confuse them:

• Dissemination and exploitation is about the results of the action (project), and is targeted at peers. http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020-funding-guide/grants/grant-management/dissemination-of-results_en.htm

• Communication is to show how the research, training and mobility contribute to the «Innovation Union» goals, and account for public spending. Public outreach is key. http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/other/gm/h2020-guide-comm_en.pdf

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Weaknesses found in unfunded ITNs: IMPACT

• Comments on how the proposed programme will structure doctoral/early stage research training in Europe are missing

• Potential synergies with other doctoral/research training programmes (at EU or national level) are not described

• The role of the non-academic sector in the training programme is limited, limiting the impact of the programme to structuring training at EU level.

• Comments on the lasting impact of the ITN (continuation after completion of the programme) are missing.

• The contribution of the non-academic sector to the doctoral training is not described in sufficient detail (especially for EID).

• Lack of detail on external communication/dissemination methods

• Unclear how communication/dissemination activities will be advertised to potential participants

• Poorly defined/lack of public engagement strategy

3. Implementation (20%)

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• Work plan, tasks and resources. Work Packages, deliverables, milestones, indv. ESR research projects, (no GANTT chart)

• Management structure, risks and contingency plan• Infrastructures/facilities in light of tasks• Competences, complementarity and commitment

Management

• Grant agreement with EC – signedby all Beneficiaries

• Consortium agreement –mandatory for all Beneficiaries.Recommended to include Partners

• Supervisory board – mandatory

– Representatives of all Beneficiaries and Partner organisations

– Other stakeholders, optional

– Best practise: Representation from the ESRs

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Weaknesses found in unfunded ITNs: IMPLEMENTATION

• WPs are only about research, with no WPs for management, dissemination/communication, training etc.

• The content of the WPs is poorly described (lack of detail on methodology)

• The descriptions of the Individual ESR projects (all or some of them) are lacking in detail – cannot understand precisely what they will do

• Decision making and conflict resolution strategies are not clear

• No ESR representative on the Supervisory Board

• Poor gender balance in management structure

• One or all of the organisations has not provided details on the appropriate available infrastructure for the research training programme (especially for secondments at partner organisations)

• The complementarity between the capabilities of the organisations (in light of their tasks in the programme) has not been made clear.

Evaluation

• Choose one of the eight panels– Chemistry (CHE)– Physics (PHY)– Mathematics (MAT)– Life sciences (LIF)– Economic sciences (ECO)– ICT and Engineering (ENG)– Social Sciences & Humanities (SOC)– Environment & Geosciences (ENV)

• All evaluation is carried out remotely– Minimum 3 disciplinary experts. Virtual consensus meeting if necessary.– ETN – Proposals are ranked by disciplinary panel– EID and EJD: final ranking in separate EID and EJD panels

Keywords and descriptors!See Annex 7 in “Guide for

Applicants”

The money

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Financial aspects ITN

• Simple budget! Two types of unit costs:

– Researcher unit costs;

– Institutional unit costs

Researcher unit cost (Person/month)Institutional unit cost

(Person/month)

Living allowance*Mobility

allowance Family allowance

Research, training and networking

costsManagement and

indirect costs

3270 600 500 1800 1200

*Living allowance is adjusted by Country Correction Coefficients (Norway = 130,6%)

1 unit =

1 month of eligible ESR

Statistics

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Success rates and Norwegian participation18.09.2019

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0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Norske deltakelser (beneficiaries)

Søknader mede norsk deltakelse (beneficiaries)

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

suksessrate, alle søknader norsk suksessrate, søknader

Current state of play in ITN

Cut-offs 2019

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/doc/call/h2020/msca-itn-2019/1857601-h2020-msca-itn-2019_-_flash_call_info_with_cumulative_percentiles_en.pdf

Timeline

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What happenswhen?

• Opening of call:12. September 2019

• Deadline for submission of proposals:14. January 2020 at 17:00:00, Brussels local time

• Evaluation of proposals:February – April 2020

• Information on the outcome of the evaluation: June 2020

• Indicative date for the signing of Grant Agreem.: September 2020

• Possible start of project: October 2020 or later

Comments from evaluators, advice and web pages

18.09.2019Kolumnetittel 52

Essential advice to take into consideration18.09.2019

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• The proposal is not a research proposal, but a proposal for a training programme in research

• The weighting of criteria is 50% - 30% - 20%. You need to perform at close to 100% on each

• The employability of the early-stage researchers (fellows) is key, in and outside of academia

• The Guide for Applicants is a must-read, and the Net4Mobility handbook is great help

• Follow the template

• Start early. It takes time to develop an ITN consortium and training programme

• Be innovative, think outside of the box

• Be detailed, address it all

• Your reviewers may not be specialists in your field, give them reasons to rank you highly

Essential advice to take into consideration18.09.2019

Kolumnetittel

54

• Figures/illustrations/pictures are sometimes better than words and makes reading less boring…

• Write part B, leave it for 1-2 weeks, read it carefully again. Have you explained everything in a clear language that the evaluators will understand in the way they are meant to understand it?

• Ask someone to do a mock-up evaluation, use the evaluation forms http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/call_ptef/ef/2018-2020/h2020-call-ef-msca-itn-2018-20_en.pdf (From last year – no update so far)

• In the 2018 call, almost 12% of the 976 evaluators were from the private sector. Will they be pleased?

• Budget: Discuss the RTN-allowance distribution with partners and beneficiaries at an early stage

Common pitfalls I

• Unclear research objectives

• State of the art/progress beyond poorly explained

• Lack of inter-/multidisciplinarity

• Gender aspects ignored

• High complexity of proposal

• Non-academic sector neglected

• Proposal not easy to read

• 40% rule is not respected (eligibility)

• No clear communication or dissemination plan

• Individual ESR-projects poorly explained

Common pitfalls II

▪ Training programme is unfocused andnot clearly presented

▪ Local host training opportunities not used

▪ Not using network wide training opportunities

▪ Balance between the two

▪ Non-academic contribution to the training is poor

▪ Transferable skills neglected

▪ Risk management neglected

▪ Impact section neglected

▪ No mention of Personal Career Development Plans

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Non-academic sector in ITN: Some advice from Norwegian proposers (in Norwegian…)

https://www.forskningsradet.no/sok-om-finansiering/internasjonale-midler/sok-horisont-2020/tips-fra-noen-som-har-lykkes/

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Relevantweb pages

• The 2020 ITN call on Participant Portal:https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-

details/msca-itn-2020;freeTextSearchKeyword=;typeCodes=1;statusCodes=31094501,31094502;programCode=H2020;programDivisionCode=31047830;focusAreaCode=null;crossCuttingPriorityCode=null;callCode=Default;sortQuery=openingDate;orderBy=asc;onlyTenders=false;topicListKey=topicSearchTablePageState

• Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions:http://ec.europa.eu/mariecurieactions

• EURAXESS: http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/index.cfm/general/index

• Net4Mobility, web page of the MSCA NCPs:http://www.net4mobility.eu/ncp-doc.html and http://mariecurieactions.blogspot.no/

• Cordis (funded projects):http://cordis.europa.eu/projects/home_en.html

• IP management in MSCA:https://www.iprhelpdesk.eu/sites/default/files/newsdocuments/Fact-Sheet-IP-Management-in-H2020-MSCAs.pdf

• The Research Council of Norway H2020 web page:www.forskningsradet.no/Horisont2020

The next framework programme:Horizon Europe (2021 – 2027)

Proposed structure for Horizon Europe 2021 - 202760

Excellent Science(25,8 b. €)

Global Challenges and Industrial Competitiveness (52,7 b. €)

Open Innovation(13,5 b. €)

• European Research Council (ERC)

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

• Research Infrastructures

Clusters• Health• Inclusive and Security Society• Digital and Industry• Climate, Energy and Mobility• Food and Natural ResourcesOthers• Non-nuclear direct actions of the

JRC

• European Innovation Council (EIC)• Innovation Ecosystems• European Institute of Innovation and

Technology (EIT)

Strengthening the European Research Area (2,1 mrd. €)

• Spreading excellence• Reforming and enhancing the European R&I system

Budget: 94,1 billion euro

MSCA in Horizon Europe, supporting:

1. Doctoral Training Networks → PhD students

2. Postdoctoral Fellowships → postdocs

3. Staff Exchanges → any type of research staff

4. Synergies → co-funding training programmes

5. European Researchers’ Festivals → public outreach events

Objective: To stimulate those who have not yet been mobile out of Norway

• MSCA Individual fellowship (12-24 months)– PhD from a Norwegian university

• MSCA Innovative Training Networks (3 – 36 months)– MSc or similar from Norwegian university

• Must have spent at least 5 of the previous 8 years in Norway

• Continous submission

• «new» open-ended call will open soon: http://www.forskningsradet.no/

Top-up financing for outgoing MSCA fellows62

Be strategic as a host –use also other EU programmes for further synergies

63

• Key Action 1: Learning mobility of individuals

– Support for mobility for students and staff, in Europe and to/from other parts of the world

– Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Degree

• Key action 2: Innovation and good practices

– Strategic partnerships

– Knowledge Alliances

– Sector Skills Alliances

– Capacity building

• Key action 3: Support for policy reform

• Jean Monnet Actions

https://diku.no/ressurser-og-verktoey/erasmus

Thanks for listening, and get in contact if you have questions!

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Marie Skłodowska-Curie ActionsNational Contacts Points for Norway:

Berit Sundby Avset bsa@rcn.no, ph. 93059324

Per Magnus Kommandantvold pmk@rcn.no, ph. 92247635

@MarieCurie_NCP