19 May 2025
REA survey reveals most MSCA fellows pursue R&I career in Europe after their fellowship
A survey by the European Commission's Research Executive Agency (REA) presented on 16 May 2025 reveals that most Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) fellows stay in Europe to pursue a career in research and innovation after their fellowship.
All researchers participating in MSCA projects must complete an evaluation questionnaire, immediately after the fellowship, and a follow-up questionnaire 2 years later. The European Commission regularly publishes the latest results of these 2 questionnaires. The 2025 report focuses more specifically on career paths of former fellows after their participation in MSCA projects. The results are based on responses of fellows who participated in projects funded under Horizon 2020 (2014-2020), as there are still few fellowships completed under Horizon Europe. According to the report, 86% of fellows report a high satisfaction with the quality of MSCA training.
The questionnaires provide figures on employment status of former Innovative Training Networks (ITN i.e. doctoral programmes), COFUND (ie co-funded programmes) and MSCA Individual Fellowship (IF) researchers at the end of their fellowship and 2 years afterwards. Around 57% of former fellows had already found employment at the end of their fellowships. 26% were still in training (e.g. still completing their PhD), 14% unemployed and 9% inactive for other reasons (i.e. career break, parental leave, etc.). 2 years later, the share of former ITN, COFUND and IF fellows in employment is significantly higher with 87% of respondents either employed or self-employed, 5% in education/training and 7% unemployed at the time of completing the follow-up questionnaire.
Most employed former fellows (90%) continue to work in research-related fields after their MSCA project, and most MSCA fellows stay in Europe after the fellowship. 2 years later, 69% of former ITN, COFUND and IF fellows were still working or living within the EU-27, 11% in the United Kingdom, 7% in Horizon 2020 Associated Countries and 13% in non-associated third countries. Among those employed, 72% of ITN, COFUND and IF former fellows work within academia immediately after the fellowship, with a similar figure two years later.
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