Overview
The MSCA Doctoral Networks 2026 call is open to international consortia building doctoral training programs, with an indicative €593.034 million budget and a 24 November 2026, 17:00 CET deadline.
Complete research opportunity details
MSCA Doctoral Networks fund partnerships that implement doctoral programs involving universities, research institutions and infrastructures, companies including SMEs, and other socio-economic actors across Europe and beyond. The 2026 call opened 28 May 2026 and is expected to fund more than 130 projects and the training and skills development of about 1,950 doctoral candidates. Proposals may cover all scientific fields and can take the form of standard Doctoral Networks, Industrial Doctorates or Joint Doctorates. The call has an indicative budget of €593.034 million. This is an institutional/consortium funding call; individual doctoral candidates are recruited later through open, transparent and merit-based vacancies that must state the gross salary.
Eligibility requirements
The applicant unit is a consortium of eligible organisations rather than an individual prospective PhD student. Participating organisations can include higher-education institutions, research institutions and infrastructures, private-sector organisations including SMEs, and public-sector or other socio-economic actors from different countries. The program allows participation of organisations from third countries. Full consortium composition and topic-specific conditions must be checked in the official Funding & Tenders call documents.
Tips for this phd opportunity
Practical Job and Scholarship guidance. These tips do not replace official rules or create new eligibility requirements.
- Build the consortium against the full call eligibility and composition rules before submission.
- Use the EU Funding & Tenders electronic submission service.
- Plan doctoral recruitment as an open, transparent and merit-based process if the proposal is funded.
- Match your research background to the project, laboratory, supervisor and required methods rather than applying only from the title.
- Prepare a focused academic CV, transcripts, publications and research statement or proposal when requested by the official call.
- Confirm funding duration, stipend/salary, tuition coverage, start date and eligibility for international applicants.
- Contact a supervisor before applying only when the official instructions recommend or require it.
Verification notes
Verified against the current European Commission MSCA Doctoral Networks 2026 page and funding index. HORIZON-MSCA-2026-DN-01 is open and closes 24 November 2026 at 17:00 CET, normalized to 16:00 UTC. The €593.034 million amount is the indicative total call budget, not a per-project or per-student award. The record clearly identifies this as a consortium proposal call rather than a direct student application.
Job and Scholarship is the discovery and verification layer. Confirm eligibility, dates, salary/funding and application instructions on the original source before submitting anything.
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