Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for award of the MULTIPLY fellowship…

1. You must be an experienced researcher,

i.e. at the Reference Date the applicant MUST fulfil the criteria of being an ‘Experienced Researcher’ as per MSCA definition:

Experienced Researchers

 – Shall at the Reference Date, be in possession of a doctoral degree; and

if the applicant does not have a doctoral degree, they shall have at least four years of full-time research experience.

Reference date

For Call 7 the applicable Reference Date will be August 1 2020 (subject to the ranking list being finalised before this date).

To be eligible for funding, you have to demonstrate that you comply with both eligibility and mobility criteria on the Reference Date.

We understand it might be difficult to know for certain whether you will comply with both eligibility and mobility criteria at a future ‘Reference Date’. MULTIPLY therefore asks applicants to make an informed assumption.

In the unlikely event of a delay in establishing the ranking list the applicable Reference Date may need to be revised (delayed).

Full-time research experience

The duration of your full-time equivalent research experience is measured from the date when a you obtained the degree which would formally entitle you to embark on a doctorate, either in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country in which the you are hoping to be recruited or seconded, irrespective of whether or not a doctorate is or was ever envisaged.

Find more details here – Eligible researchers.

2. You must meet the mobility criterion,

i.e., you must not have resided or carried out your main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of your host organization for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the reference date. Compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account.

The following mobility routes can be envisaged:

  • Intra-European mobility – You are currently living in an EU Member State/Associated Country, and are considering moving to a host institution in another EU Member State/Associated Country.
  • Incoming mobility – You are not a resident of an EU Member State/Associated country, and are moving to a host situated in one.
  • Outgoing mobility – You are currently a long term resident researcher* of an EU Member State/Associated country, and are moving to a host that is not in either. If you are considering to avail this option, please get in touch with us for further details.

*A long term resident researcher are considered researchers who have spent a period of at least 5 consecutive years on full-time research activity in an EU country or an associated country.

For further details, see Mobility criteria.

3. You must produce a letter of Confirmation of Infrastructural resources from your host organization.

In contrast to other Marie S.-Curie actions (MSCA) like the MSCA-Individual fellowships, where the fellow is fully funded by the European Commission (EC), in the COFUND scheme, the EC makes not full, but partial contribution towards fellowship costs. The rest has to be topped up by the host. This is thus the co-funding aspect, where existing funds of the partner organizations can be supplemented by the EC contribution.

The EC contribution towards MULTIPLY COFUND is EUR 35400 per fellow per year. The host has to match this funding with about EUR 35400 per fellow year. The total funding will then be used towards living allowances, mobility allowances, travel, research for the fellow,  &  management overheads, and other compulsory employer’s expenses.

Thus, another way of looking at it is as follows – MULTIPLY is a Programme that can double your money, but you have to provide co-funding to take advantage of this.

Additionally, the host organization must have adequate resources and infrastructure to facilitate successful execution of your project. To this end, the above Letter will provide sufficient feedback on the extent and alignment of available resources at the host organization with the project proposed by you.

At the time of application, you must then produce this Letter from your host organization, guaranteeing that they would be co-funding and supplementing the EC contribution towards the fellow as mentioned above.

Also, see the section on How to Apply, which has more information about this aspect.