MSCA Doctoral Networks 2026 (HORIZON-MSCA-2026-DN-01)
Opening date: 28 May 2026
Deadline: 24 November 2026 (17:00:00 Brussels time)
Budget allocation: €593,033,846 (indicative number of supported projects: 130)
Funding scheme: Horizon Europe Unit Grant
Submission type: Single-stage
Consortia of universities, research institutions, SMEs, and other non-academic organisations can submit project proposals to implement doctoral programmes in all scientific fields.
Each beneficiary must recruit at least one doctoral candidate and may also organise secondments anywhere in the world.
Within this call, applicants can apply for the following types of actions:
- Standard Doctoral Networks
- Industrial Doctoral Networks
- Joint Doctoral Networks
Project duration: up to 4 years (up to 5 years for Joint Doctoral Networks)
Restrictions on resubmission:
Project proposals that scored below 80% in the previous call cannot be resubmitted under this call.
What does the funding cover?
The grant budget is calculated automatically based on the number of person-months and is adjusted using the country correction coefficient applicable to the host organisation.
The budget is divided into two parts:
- For the doctoral candidate (consisting of up to three allowances: living, mobility, and family allowance, where applicable);
- For the organisation (research, training and networking activities, management, and indirect costs).
Eligibility requirements for doctoral candidates:
- must not hold a doctoral degree at the date of recruitment;
- may be of any nationality;
- must be enrolled in a doctoral programme during the project;
- for Industrial Doctoral Networks, must spend at least 50% of their time outside academia;
- must comply with the mobility rule: in general, they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the recruiting organisation for more than 12 months during the 36 months immediately preceding their recruitment date.
Useful links:
MSCA Doctoral Networks 2026, call Funding&Tenders Portal
Doctoral Networks call: 6 steps to prepare your application
Doctoral Networks 2026 - Call info day (3.6.2026)
MSCA DN by Radiance (Handbook, Submission Guide, Inspirational stories, Training on Proposal writing etc.)
Matchmaking Platform (by Radiance)
PhD vacancies (Euraxess)
Key documents:
Please feel free to consider applying for this call in collaboration with our KreativEU partners. We would be happy to support you in establishing contact with the partners.
