ITN/ COFUND: What is the appeal procedure in case a researcher wishes to make an appeal against the decision to be excluded from the selection process for a doctoral position?

In a COFUND programme, there should be a clear appeal procedure explained on the programme website, together with the call for candidates.

In case of an ITN project, it depends on the procedures that have been put in place for that in this concrete ITN. The doctoral candidate can contact the selection committee and ask about the existing appeal procedure.

COFUND: Is a researcher, employed through a H2020 MSCA COFUND, entitled to a family allowance if their family status change after they were recruited?

A COFUND project can be designed in many different ways and it is up to the beneficiary to decide how the researchers are funded. If the beneficiary wants to include family allowance after the recruitment, it is OK, but it is not a formal requirement from the EC/ REA. It can of course be evaluated positively from the evaluators as a clear support to offer the best conditions to the fellows. In addition, this would be unlikely, as in H2020 the MSCA rules did not foresee changes in the eligibility for family allowance during the fellowship duration.

COFUND-DP, ITN-EJD: Are double recruitments possible?

Fellows can either be employed by one host and sent to the partner organisations involved or they can be recruited by all partners separately.
The mobility rule is applied to the beneficiary where the fellow was recruited for the first time of the action.

COFUND: Is the letter of committment from a partner organisation sufficient as proof for co-financing?

Yes, the letter of committment is sufficient, no other proof is required. The amount of financial contribution of the partner institution should be specified in the required tables (see Guide for Applicants) and also when describing the budget for further clarity for the evaluators. 

COFUND: Are employment contracts including a probation period considered as permanent?

Yes, as long as it is clear that this does not include a further evaluation step (e.g. you want 10 researchers, appoint 20 and then ask 10 to leave). 

It should also be noted that employment contracts may only cover the period of the actual fellowship duration (so not permanent, but limited in time). 

COFUND: How should a COFUND consortium deal with partners which are providing a top-up for the ESRs hosted?

REA has no objections against partners providing top-ups and says that it is up to the beneficiary to deal with it. 

From a project management point of view it will be important to communicate the salaries clearly from the beginning of the project. A project which offers different salaries at different locations has to justify this well in order to attract researchers to all destinations. 

COFUND/RISE: Would a co-funded fellow be eligible to participate in a RISE project?

A fellow can not benefit from two MSCA.

(REA helpdesk) 

COFUND: Can researchers who are already permanently employed at any of the participating organisations benefit from a COFUND programme?

While in the Guide for Applicants 2016 it was stated that "researchers with a permanent position could benefit from a COFUND programme if moving to another organisation and complying with the mobility rule during, for example, a sabbatical leave" this is not the case anymore in the Guide for applicants 2017, where it says "support can not be awarded to researchers who are already permanently employed at any of the participating organisations." This has been kept consistent in the following calls until the end of Horizon 2020. The rule for Horizon Europe has not yet been estabslished but will be defined in the respective Guide for Applicnants for the respective call. 

All Actions: What are the minimum requirements for the letter of commitment?

Letters of commitment should follow the template/outline given in the respective guide for applicants for each call. Do not forget to have the letters signed and provided with the correct date! 

COFUND: Should the partner organisation (associated partners from Horizon Europe on) provide a letter of committment?

As it is described in the Guide for Applicants:
All partner orgnisations, known at the time of proposal submission, must:
- provide a letter of commitment in Part B of the proposal which explicitly states their precise role in the action and their exact and quantified financial contributions if any.
- be included in the overview of all the identified partner orgasnisations provided in table in part B of the proposal

For the outline of the letter, please refer to the specifications in the Guide for applicants for the respective call. In case of resubmission, check potential changes and ensure the letter refers to the correct call and has the correct date! 

COFUND: Are ESRs enrolled for COFUND DP expected to pay tuition fees?

In H2020 for COFUND the only categories supported are Living allowance and Management costs. The beneficiary will be paid for this categories if they meet the minimum (salary + mobility allowance) threshold. Besides, the beneficiary can pay different allowances, and the experts will take them into account in order to judge the appointment conditions of researchers. For COFUND it is not specified that the researchers cannot pay tuition fees, however you should indicate which is the case and the amount of the fees so that the experts can give a judgement about the appointment conditions of the researcher.

Where do I find the 'Researcher declaration' in Horizon2020 and HorizonEurope?

The ”Researcher Declarations” is even more important in Horizon2020, as reporting is automated (the data from the declarations will be fed directly to the reporting system). TThe RD has to be updated for all cases of leave (e.g. parental or sickness leave) and for secondments. The declarations are done electronically via the SyGMa portal for managing the grant.  

COFUND: Is there a country correction coefficient applied to the EU contribution in COFUND?

No country coefficients apply anymore for COFUND in H2020.

What is COFUND?

By co-funding regional, national or international programmes, COFUND wants to enhance excellence in research training, mobility and career development. Programmes which open up to and provide for international, intersectorial and interdisciplinary research training as well as transnational and cross-sectoral mobility of researchers are the main target for COFUND.
Doctoral programmes as well as Fellowship programmes can be co-funded. The closer they are to the "best practise" of the Marie Sklodovska Curie Actions - taking into regard the EU Principles on Innovative Doctoral Training  and the career development opportunities within the frame of a Marie Sklodovska Curie-Fellowship -  the better.

What is the contribution in COFUND?

The contribution is limited to 10 Mio Euro/beneficiary/call.
For the living allowance of the ESRs, the contribution amounts to 1935 Euros/person/month, for ERs to 2740 Euros/person/month. Institutional unit costs amount to 325 Euros/person/month for the management of the Project.
Please note that for researchers with employment contract the living allowance (salary, social security contribution, taxes and other costs included in the remuneration) can't be lower than 2709 Euros for ESRs and 3836 for ERs. 

COFUD: How long does it take from the moment of writing the proposal until the moment the project can finally start?

Count roughly 14 months.
Stage 1: After the Call for a COFUND has been published, the applicant has about 4 months to prepare and submit a proposal until the deadline
Stage 2 :  A panel of experts will evaluate the proposals (~4 months)
Stage 3 : Applicants whose proposals have been successfully evaluated will be invited to the grant preparation phase
Stage 4:  It will take another 3 months to prepare the contract. 
Stage 5: Start of the COFUND programme. 
The duration of the programmes can vary, normally between 36 and 60 months from the starting date specified in the Grant Agreement, however shorter programmes are possible depending on the specificity of the proposed training. The length of any individual researcher’s appointment must be at least 3 months.

What are the evaluation criteria for COFUND ?

Excellence (50%):
Quality of the selection/recruitment process.
Quality of the research options offered by the programme.
Quality of career guidance and training.

Impact (30%):
Enhancing the potential and future career perspecitves of researchers; strengthening human resources on regional, national and international level.
Aligning practices of participating organisations with the principles set out by the EU for human resources development in research and innovation.
Quality of the proposed measures to exploit and disseminate the results.
Quality of the proposed measures to communicate the results to different target audiences.

Quality and efficiency of the implementation (20%):
Coherence, effectiveness and appropriateness of the work plan.
Appointment conditions of researchers.
Competence of the participant to implement the programme.

Who evaluates the proposal?

You will find details on the evaluation process in the Guide for Applicants. The evaluators are experts (=researchers) in the field. They will be matched to your proposal according to their profile and to your abstract and keywords. They will for sure be in your general research area, but might not be in the exact same field that you are. 

Every proposal is read and evaluated by at least three independent evaluators.

How can I become an evaluator?

Please have a look at the 'Funding & Tender Opportunities' Portal for information on how to become an evaluator:

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/work-as-an-expert

Can you please let me know the outcome of the evaluation?

No. National Contact Points/Programme Committee members do not get the information (neither the Evaluation Summary Reports nor the ranking - 'main list', 'reserve list' etc.) earlier than the coordinators of the projects.
You can find the timeline for each call in the respective Guides for Applicants. Results do not come earlier than announced there, and sometimes a delay of one or two weeks is possible.
If you do not get information on the outcome of your proposal, get in touch with your coordinator (for the Individual Fellowships: This is your future supervisor who is the contact person of the European Commission).