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HI, I am currently enjoying...

1 min read Feb 05, 2016

HI, I am currently enjoying a MSCA fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014) in Sweden. I had plan a secondment at Humboldt University (Berlin), and to cover my costs there HU asks 1800 € per month, which is more than double of the Grant expenses that my host university receives to cover management and indirect costs (650€/month). In order to go to Berlin, I will need to add the Research, training & networking budget (800€/monh) and my university in Sweden will even need to add money (!?). Could any current MSCA fellow at Humboldt University inform whether their costs at HU are that high? if so, how their Grant covers it !?! ...and if not, could anyone figure out any logic in this amount request as a secondment... Thanks in advance, Laia

3 Comments

Brian Cahill

Feb 07, 2016

Hi Laia,

Please check with the HU Berlin to find out exactly what they mean. They clearly must have misunderstood something.

Check out the budget for H2020 Fellows and compare Individual Fellowships with ITNs - Table 1 on Page 67 of this pdf: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2016_2017/main/h2020-wp1617-msca_en.pdf. The "Research, training and networking costs" for ITN fellowships are 1800€ per person per month. If they presume you have the same budget as ITN fellowships, they are clearly very mistaken. Find out if the HU Berlin want to transfer the money for "Research, training and networking costs", so that they can administer this budget for you in a way that lets you spend the budget yourself or if the administration thinks they can take it as overhead.

Most urgently, call your project officer in Brussels by telephone and assess your options. The HU is so wrong that the PO can only correct their faulty thinking. My bottom line would be not a cent more than the management overhead in the project grant (transferred from the Swedish university and not your research, training and networking budget). The chances of your university in Sweden adding any money to subsidise the HU Berlin are very low.

By the way, the German chapter is planning a seminar for researchers from the Humanities and Social Sciences at the Freie Universität Berlin that will probably take place in June. Hopefully you will solve this problem and be in Berlin to take part.

Warm regards,

Brian

Laia Colomer Solsona

Feb 07, 2016

Thanks Brian.

That must be the reason: they had confused programs. I will check that with them first before calling my PO.

I will certainly attend the seminar at Freie Universität. When are the dates?

Best, Laia

Brian Cahill

Feb 08, 2016

Hi Laia,

We have the support of the Dahlem Research School to hold the seminar at the FU Berlin but are still working through the program and final dates.

Our other seminar at EMBL Heidelberg is due to take place on May 2nd. The agenda is beginning to take shape and should be ready in the next weeks. The focus of that one will be more towards careers in the natural sciences.

Regards,

Brian