The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Seal of Excellence is a label of quality and excellence in research. By awarding it, the European Union is saying to its Member States that these are high-quality projects that stand out in international competition, and it is their role to set up a support system for them at national level.

This label is awarded annually to scientific research projects that have undergone a rigorous, transparent selection process and have achieved an above-average result in international competition, a rating of more than 85%.

For a long time, Slovakia did not have a support system in place. However, this year, based on the initiative of the National Horizon Europe Office, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport (MŠVaŠ SR), a system of support for projects with a Seal of Excellence has started to take shape in practice.

For the first time this year, researchers are able to have their EU-approved budgets fully funded through national support scheme.

A new call, with deadline on 1st August 2022, has now been launched by the Agency for the Promotion of Research and Development (APVV) to support applicants in who have been awarded with Seal of Excellence.

It is expected that this scheme will increase the number of applications for MSCA postdoctoral fellowship grants as well as the attractiveness of the Slovak republic for talented researches from abroad. For the future, it is envisaged that the scheme’s funds will be increased by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, which in turn would provide support for even more projects.

Slovakia has been very successful in the latest Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship call. It had the highest success rate in the EU this year, up to 28%, while the average success rate for other EU Member States was 15%.

The awarded grants went to 4 participating sites. At the same time, the fifth project was awarded the MSCA Seal of Excellence.

Published on 10.6.2022, slord