FAQ.

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General Information

Eligibility

  • Please find the eligibility criteria here.

    If you are unsure about your eligibility please use this tool to calculate.

  • No.

  • Only the main supervisor's consent is required.

  • Yes, your defense must be completed by 28th February. The award date can be later.

  • You must not have lived or worked in Denmark for more than 12 months in the past 3 years before the call deadline.

  • Yes, career breaks (e.g., parental leave, military service) do not count toward the mobility rule and should be included in your CV.

  • No, the fellowship requires full-time work, and you must reside in Denmark, except during approved secondments.

  • Yes, private companies can act as secondment partners.

  • Yes, you may be eligible even though you applied to previous MSCA calls.

Application

  • Please use the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships Handbook if you need help with filling in your application.

  • No, you don’t need a letter of support from a potential secondment partner.

  • It's optional. You can reach out if you have time, but it’s not mandatory and can also be done after the fellowship starts.

  • The project can span multiple themes.

  • Templates are available at:

  • No, but having a secondment partner can strengthen your proposal.

  • No, only a letter from the main SDU supervisor is required. A standard letter on SDU letterhead is sufficient.

  • Yes, a co-supervisor is not mandatory at this stage.

  • The redress process in Gaia provides applicants with the opportunity to challenge evaluation outcomes after both the external evaluation stage and the interview stage.

    The Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) is responsible for handling redress requests. Upon reviewing a request, the QAC may conclude that:

    1. There is not adequate evidence to support the complaint, and no follow-up action is required.

    2. There is evidence to support the complaint, but no follow-up action is required.

    3. There is evidence to support the complaint, and follow-up action is recommended. This may include a re-evaluation of the application by the Independent Evaluation Panel (IEP).

    Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their redress request once the QAC has completed its review.

  • No, only one proposal per individual applicant can be submitted. In case of several proposals involving the same applicant only the last submitted proposal will be considered eligible.

Evaluation and Interview

  • Yes, there will be interviews in Spring ’26 and it will be a remote process.

    • You’re involved in a competing proposal or its preparation.

    • You could benefit if the proposal is accepted or rejected.

    • You’ve been involved in a collaboration with the applicant organisation or SDU in the last three years

    • You’re currently, or were in the past three years, employed by the applicant, associated partners, or SDU.

    • You have a close family or personal relationship with anyone involved in the proposal.

    • You hold a management role at SDU.

    • You’re part of a secondment or non-academic placement in the proposal.

    • You’re a member of an advisory group for Euratom or Horizon Europe related to the call.

    • You work as a National Contact Point (NCP) or for the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN).

    • You’re a member of a Horizon Europe Programme Committee.

    • Any other situation could impact impartiality or appear to do so.

  • Applications are assessed by three external evaluators based on pre-defined criteria (available here). Proposals are ranked accordingly.

  • Evaluators are international experts in relevant fields, selected through an open call and matched to proposals.

  • The interview includes a 25-minute session with a presentation and Q&A. Details will be shared closer to the time.

  • Yes, the interview panel will include an expert in your area of research.

  • Candidates have 10 days to confirm their participation.

All about money

  • The salary is regulated through the MSCA COFUND regulations (p. 131 of 142) and has to be at least 4700 €. Further it needs to be in agreement with the Ministry of Finance and AC (the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations). Please check links for more information on salary (only available in Danish) and taxation.

  • The funds are allocated for the salary of the researcher, research activity and travel expenses for secondments.

    Including mobility costs, long-term leave allowance and special needs allowance.

Secondments and Partnerships

  • No, the partners listed under each theme are suggestions, not limitations.

  • Yes, we are gathering this from partners and will publish it on our website: www.thegaiaproject.eu/news-events.

  • Yes, up to 8 months can be spent at a partner institution abroad.

  • Changes are allowed with valid scientific or logistical justification.

  • Yes, as long as the total secondment period does not exceed 8 months.

  • No documentation is needed at this stage. If you want you can add a letter of intention.

    Additional documentation can be provided at a later stage.

  • No, the secondment partner is not allocated a direct budget or financial share from the project.

  • No, simply mentioning them in your application is sufficient for now.

  • A maximum of 8 months.

  • You can update your secondment partner, provided you justify the change.

  • Yes, if you have a specific secondment in mind, include the timeline in the Gantt chart. Changes are permissible with justification.

Supervision

  • The main supervisor, a senior researcher at SDU (full or associate professor), is responsible for guiding the postdoc's scientific work, supporting their integration into the university, and offering advice on training, skills development, and career growth.

  • You don’t need to include co-supervisor details at this stage.

  • No, you don’t need a letter of support from a co-supervisor.

International Family Support

  • SDU’s International Staff Office offers various resources to help families settle in Odense. They provide personalized welcome meetings and assist with navigating life in Denmark, including finding childcare and schools.

    SDU International Staff Information

  • Odense offers both public and private daycare options. Public daycare is subsidized by the government, and you can enroll your child through "Pladsanvisningen" (Placement Administration). It's recommended to apply early, as there may be waiting lists.

  • Odense International School (OIS) offers an English-language curriculum for students aged 5 to 16 and is a certified Cambridge International Examinations Centre. It caters to expatriate families and provides internationally recognized education.

  • SDU’s International Staff Office provides support to help families settle in Odense, including guidance on schools, childcare, and other relocation assistance.

  • SDU offers various social events, cultural exchanges, and practical support services to help international families settle in Odense. Activities like the International Garden project allow families to engage with the local community through sustainable gardening.

    SDU International Staff Information.

  • Spouses and partners of international staff can benefit from the strong international community in Odense, which offers opportunities for socializing, networking, and integration. SDU’s International Staff Office provides resources to help partners settle in, including information on local events, language courses, and social activities. There are also several expat groups and community events where spouses can connect with others.

    https://www.odense.dk/ico/

Definitions & Glossary

  • Artificial Intelligence

    Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to systems that display intelligent behaviour by analysing their environment and taking actions – with some degree of autonomy – to achieve specific goals. AI-based systems can be purely software-based, acting in the virtual world (e.g. voice assistants, image analysis software, search engines, speech and face recognition systems) or AI can be embedded in hardware devices (e.g. advanced robots, autonomous cars, drones or Internet of Things applications).
    If you plan to make use of Artificial Intelligence in your project, the evaluators will evaluate the technical robustness of the proposed system under the appropriate criterion.

    Critical risk

    A critical risk is a plausible event or issue that could have a high adverse impact on the ability of the project to achieve its objectives. Level of likelihood to occur (Low/medium/high): The likelihood is the estimated probability that the risk will materialise even after taking account of the mitigating measures put in place. Level of severity (Low/medium/high): The relative seriousness of the risk and the significance of its effect.

    Deliverable

    A report that is sent to the Commission or Agency providing information to ensure effective monitoring of the project. There are different types of deliverables (e.g. a report on specific activities or results, data management plans, ethics or security requirements).

    Impacts

    Wider long-term effects on society (including the environment), the economy and science, enabled by the outcomes of R&I investments (long term). Impacts generally occur some time after the end of the project. For this call Impacts refers to subsection 2.3 Example: The deployment of the advanced forecasting system enables each airport to increase maximum passenger capacity by 15% and passenger average throughput by 10%, leading to a 28% reduction in infrastructure expansion costs.

    Milestone

    Control points in the project that help to chart progress. Milestones may correspond to the achievement of a key result, allowing the next phase of the work to begin. They may also be needed at intermediary points so that, if problems have arisen, corrective measures can be taken. A milestone may be a critical decision point in the project where, for example, the consortium must decide which of several technologies to adopt for further development. The achievement of a milestone should be verifiable.

    Objectives

    The goals of the work performed within the project, in terms of its research and innovation content. This will be translated into the project’s results. These may range from tackling specific research questions, demonstrating the feasibility of an innovation, sharing knowledge among stakeholders on specific issues. The nature of the objectives will depend on the type of action, and the scope of the topic.

    Outcomes

    The expected effects, over the medium term, of projects supported under a given topic. The results of a project should contribute to these outcomes, fostered in particular by the dissemination and exploitation measures. This may include the uptake, diffusion, deployment, and/or use of the project’s results by direct target groups. Outcomes generally occur during or shortly after the end of the project. Example: 9 European airports adopt the advanced forecasting system demonstrated during the project.

    Research Output

    Results generated by the action to which access can be given in the form of scientific publications, data or other engineered outcomes and processes such as software, algorithms, protocols and electronic notebooks

    Results

    What is generated during the project implementation. This may include, for example, know-how, innovative solutions, algorithms, proof of feasibility, new business models, policy recommendations, guidelines, prototypes, demonstrators, databases and datasets, trained researchers, new infrastructures, networks, etc. Most project results (inventions, scientific works, etc.) are ‘Intellectual Property’, which may, if appropriate, be protected by formal ‘Intellectual Property Rights’. Example: Successful large-scale demonstrator: trial with 3 airports of an advanced forecasting system for proactive airport passenger flow management.

    Secondment

    A secondment is a temporary transfer to another entity in any sector, anywhere in the world at any time during the action, typically to perform part of the research or to gain experience. Secondments take place for up to 8 months.