REA Statement on UK-based applicants in 2023 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships calls for proposals in relation to the Seal of Excellence

As suggested by the European Ombudsman in its Decision of 02 May 2025 in case 1804/2024/FA, REA would like to stress the specific situation of United Kingdom (UK) -based applicants in the 2023 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) call for proposals, in particular in relation to the Seal of Excellence. 

UK-based applicants could apply to Horizon Europe calls in 2021, 2022 and 2023 for the corresponding work programmes under the ‘transitional arrangements’ with the UK. Under these arrangements, UK-based applicants were treated as if the UK was an ‘associated country’ to Horizon Europe, subject to the entry into force of the association agreement with the UK by the time of signature of the grant agreement. In practice, this meant that proposals from UK-based applicants were treated as eligible and evaluated. If a proposal was considered for funding, but the UK had not formally joined the Horizon Europe programme for the budgetary year in question by the time of the planned signature of the grant agreement, then the UK participant was no longer eligible to receive EU funding and its participation was either terminated or continued as a non-funded associated partner (possibly with alternative funding from the UK government). For the specific case of mono-beneficiary Postdoctoral Fellowships it meant that the proposal was declared ineligible. 

Information on the transitional arrangements with the UK was publicly available from different sources, and the UK Research Office (UKRO), which host the UK National Contact Point for MSCA, organised a series of information sessions on MSCA calls, where the transitional arrangements were explained to applicants. 

At the end of the negotiations with the EU, the UK associated to the Horizon Europe programme only for calls funded under the 2024 work programme and onwards. This meant that all proposals from UK-based applicants for the 2023 MSCA call, became ineligible for funding. 

The evaluation of proposals for the 2023 MSCA-PF call for proposals had, however, already been completed before the signature of the association agreement with the UK in December 2023. As such, all proposals were declared ineligible after they had already been evaluated. Thus, when REA communicated the evaluation results to applicants in February 2024, it nevertheless decided to provide UK-based applicants with their scores, as this was considered to be in their best interest and might allow them to apply for other funding opportunities, using the report as proof of the quality of their proposal. 

However, while REA could provide the scores and evaluation report to UK-based applicants, it could not award a Seal of Excellence to their proposals. This is because a Seal of Excellence is a benefit under the Horizon Europe programme, which can only be granted to eligible applications. Even without the Seal of excellence, when applying to other funding opportunities, UK-based applicants could rely on the evaluation of their proposal, which received a score equivalent to that required to obtain a Seal of Excellence and explain their specific situation to the funding body.