Open to all fields of research, the Marie-Skłodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) are a well-defined, 2-year-career stage. Funded by the European Union, the fellowships enhance the creative and innovative potential of excellent postdoctoral researchers who wish to acquire new skills through advanced training and international mobility.
While the increasing competitiveness of the programme is not surprising, the 2025 call exceeded expectations with a record number of 17 066 applications, the highest number ever submitted for any funding action in the 40-year history of the EU research and innovation framework programmes. Reflecting this increase in demand, the success rate dropped from ~ 15% to just 9.6%.
Continuing previous years’ success and despite the current low success rate, the University of Vienna was awarded 17 fellowships, with 4 applicants on the reserve list. Not only is the University of Vienna the most successful Austrian organisation for hosting Postdoctoral Fellowships with 88 projects awarded thus far under the current funding programme Horizon Europe (2021 - 2027), but it ranks 12th among European Universities for the number of projects awarded in 2025. Two of the awarded fellowships were not accepted by the applicants, as they had received other funding for their project.
The dedicated support programme for MSCA-PF applicants run by the Research Services and Career Development - EU and International Programmes Unit continues to guide applicants and assist them in preparing the best possible proposal. With an average cut-off score for funding (across 16 panels) of 96.8 /97% versus 92 – 94 % in the previous 2 years, the expert advice and feedback are a crucial component of the University’s success. This is also reflected in the scores for the unsuccessful projects. From 123 applicants over half (67) will receive the Seal of Excellence (scores > 85%) and 58 applicants achieved scores over 90%, and we also extend our congratulations to the applicants for these excellent results!
The 2025 call also saw Austria move into 10th spot in the ranking of successful proposals by country, to which the University of Vienna contributed 1/3 of the positive results.
The new post-docs represent 16 different nationalities from Europe, Asia, Australia and North America.
The new fellows are*:
- Akkad Alhussein, Faculty of Philological and Cultural Studies
- Samuël Borza, Faculty of Mathematics
- Diksha Diksha, Faculty of Chemistry
- Radosveta Gencheva, Faculty of Life Sciences
- Markus Hansen, Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies
- Yujia Luo, Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science
- Efthimios Maheras, Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies
- Karim Mosani, Faculty of Mathematics
- Andreia Peixoto, Faculty of Life Sciences
- Pavel Pokhilko, Faculty of Chemistry
- Aila Santi, Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies
- Katharine Schulmann, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Johan Warodell, Faculty of Philological and Cultural Studies
*one additional fellowship was awarded to the Faculty of Philological and Cultural Studies
For the seventh year, the Research Services and Career Development at the University of Vienna will be running an Expression of Interest programme to attract excellent postdoctoral researchers worldwide who are interested in applying for a MSCA-PF with the University of Vienna. The EoI, combined with the extensive support services provided to applicants by the DLE Research Services and Career Development has resulted in not only an increase in the number of applicants with the University, but also an increase in the success rates.
The 2026 Expression of Interest programme will open shortly.
