India: MSCAdvocacy and NIT discuss research collaboration under MSCA

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Fellowships are an important element to strengthen the EU-India Strategic Partnership as they offer various opportunities for both collaborative research and mobility of researchers.

While applications from India to the programme are highly successful already, MSCAdvocacy visited the NIT in New Delhi to talk about current opportunities and challenges and how to promote MSCA to further researchers and scientific institutions.

“By continuously raising awareness about the incredible opportunities offered by the MSCA programme, we aim to fully unlock the boundless potential of research”, says André Almeida from the MSCAdvocacy team. “Hence we aim at maintaining close contact to policy makers as well as key decision-makers from academia, public and private sectors in order to understand their current needs within MSCA.”

The team engaged in fruitful discussions with stakeholders from the different sectors, tackling two of MSCAvocacy’s main goals: assessing cooperation trends with local stakeholders and aiding in the creation of cooperation mechanisms for effective international research collaboration, Almeida says.

Image: MSCAdvocacy team meeting with representatives from NIT Delhi.
From left to right: Dr. Manoj Kumar (NIT), Dr. Ajay K. Sharma (NIT), Mariana Neves (MSCAdvocacy/SPI), Dr. Geeta Sikka (NIT), André Almeida (MSCAdvocacy/SPI)

Current funding opportunities for researchers from India

The MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 are open for applications until 13 September 2023! The fellowship programme provides opportunities for Indian researchers to pursue postdoctoral research in Europe, while also allowing European researchers to be hosted in Indian institutes.

Check out all details here.

Background:

EU-India partnership roadmap

At the EU-India Summit on 15 July 2020, the EU-India Strategic Partnership: A Roadmap to 2025 was adopted. The roadmap guides the EU and India on joint actions and further strengthening the EU-India Strategic Partnership over the next five years.

Joint research interests of India and the EU

EU Trade and Technology Council with India

The first Ministerial meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) with India took place in Brussels on 16 May 2023. The EU and India agreed to deepen cooperation in the following areas, which also give an indication for researchers on potential strategic research collaboration under MSCA. Waste water management, marine litter, green hydrogen, as well as E-mobility, battery development and recycling are some of the key sectors where EU and India are fostering partnerships all within the framework of excellent science promoted by MSCA.