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With over 800 registrants and 420 live attendees, the MCAA Ireland Chapter’s recent webinar on 2 July 2025 offered crucial insights into the highly competitive Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship (PF) call. Featuring Ireland’s National Contact Points (NCPs) and successful alumni, the session tackled everything from eligibility and proposal writing to real-world tips for success. A must-read recap for researchers preparing their applications this year!
Highlights from the MCAA Ireland Chapter event
Every year, early-career researchers across Europe and beyond eagerly await the MSCA PF call. Recognised for its prestige and for opening doors to international mobility, advanced training, and new research collaborations, the MSCA PF is also highly competitive. With this year’s call officially open, the MCAA Ireland Chapter identified a strong demand for reliable guidance and organised a dedicated webinar on 2 July 2025. The session drew remarkable interest, with over 800 registrations and 420 live attendees. The event brought together NCPs and recent fellowship alumni to address both the official requirements and the practical realities of applying for the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship.
The main presentation was delivered by Blanca Suarez-Bilbao, Ireland’s MSCA NCP. Suarez-Bilbao is no stranger to the MSCA community. Having completed her doctoral training within an MSCA network at the University of Bamberg in Germany, she now draws on over 20 years’ experience in project and account management spanning both academic and industry settings in Ireland and Spain. Her opening talk provided a comprehensive overview of the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme, demystifying eligibility criteria, mobility rules, and the key components of a competitive proposal. She also offered advice on navigating the timeline and assembling the necessary supporting documents.
Bionote
Houda Briwa is an MSCA ITN alumna and PhD researcher at Technological University Dublin. Her work focuses on explainable AI and human reliability in safety-critical systems, with applications in control-room alarm management. She serves as Chair of the MCAA Ireland Chapter, leading collaboration, outreach, and member engagement to build an inclusive, active community. She is committed to clear science communication and, as Chair, to creating a supportive space where researchers can connect, grow, and collaborate.
News from the MCAA - Writing a competitive MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship proposal: Insights from NCP and Alumni - September 2025
Supporting Suarez-Bilbao throughout the session was Jane Carrigan, Interim Head of the Irish MSCA Office and current National Delegate. Carrigan has worked in Irish higher education for over two decades, initially as an academic and later as a programme director and research administrator. Her expertise was evident as she supplemented the main presentation with timely clarifications and took a lead role in answering participants’ questions during the interactive segments. Carrigan emphasised the importance of tailoring applications to the scheme’s expectations and highlighted resources available to applicants at the national level.
The session also benefited greatly from the participation of two recent MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship alumni, who brought practical, real-world insights to the discussion. Pietro Pampili, now a researcher at Tyndall National Institute in Cork and Vice-Chair of the Ireland Chapter, shared his experience as a Global Fellowship awardee. His MSCA journey took him from Ireland to Japan, working at Nagoya University on advanced materials research. Pampili’s presentation offered practical advice on approaching each section of the MSCA proposal: introduction, excellence, impact, implementation, and CV. He encouraged applicants to use narrative techniques such as the ABT framework (“And… But… Therefore…”) to craft a compelling story and advised that visuals and literature reviews should clarify and showcase expertise. Pampili stressed the importance of linking the project’s main impact to the applicant’s career goals, maintaining coherence between the Impact and CV sections. He also addressed practical aspects of a successful fellowship, such as salary transfers, project management, legal agreements, and monitoring expenditures. Finally, he recommended aligning project ambitions with feasibility, understanding EU policy priorities, and clearly articulating both career and scientific impacts within the proposal.
Polat Goktas, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Sabanci University, brought a perspective from the European Fellowship track. Goktas’s background includes several international honours, including a Fulbright Fellowship at Harvard Medical School and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship for his work in AI applications in healthcare. He advised applicants to set clear, SMART objectives and to link their research plan, training, and career goals. Goktas stressed the value of outlining both immediate outcomes and long- term impacts, including communication and knowledge transfer. He also recommended a well-structured Gantt chart covering all project activities, and encouraged realistic planning for communication, dissemination, and exploitation to maximise the project’s overall benefit.
Audience engagement was high throughout the event. The chat was busy with questions covering topics such as eligibility nuances, how to choose a host, and common pitfalls to avoid. Many queries were answered live, while the remaining questions were collected for detailed follow-up. The event concluded with a moderated Q&A session, where speakers revisited and addressed some of the most frequently asked topics.
By bringing together NCPs and successful alumni, the MCAA Ireland Chapter provided a valuable resource for prospective applicants and reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the community through every stage of the research career journey.
Please find the full event recording and the presentation materials.
For updates and further discussions, join the MCAA Ireland Chapter and email: ireland.chapter@mariecuriealumni.eu
Houda Briwa
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Chair, MCAA Ireland Chapter
ireland.chapter@mariecuriealumni.eu
News from the MCAA - Writing a competitive MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship proposal: Insights from NCP and Alumni - September 2025