What is it for?
MSCA Staff Exchanges are multi-beneficiary projects based on short-term international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary exchanges of research staff between beneficiaries. These exchanges are intended to both to increase the skills and knowledge of staff and to improve the research and innovation capacity of beneficiaries through the transfer of the knowledge gained by their researchers. Staff Exchanges are intended to foster ongoing collaborative projects between beneficiaries in academic and non-academic sectors within Europe and outside.

Who can apply?
Many different types of organisation can apply, from universities to SMEs to large commercial companies. At minimum, a consortium must consist of three independent organisations from three different EU Member States or Associated Countries, of which two must be established in a different Member State or Associated Country. It is possible to include organisations from any country above this minimum.

Which staff can participate the exchanges?
Staff Exchanges support the movement between partners of staff at any career stage. The definition of staff includes Imperial PhD students in this case.

Researchers of any nationality can be recruited.

Staff must have been active in research or related activities for at least one month prior to starting their exchange, and they must return to their home organisation afterwards to facilitate transfer of knowledge.

It is possible to exchange technical or managerial staff who work in research-related positions if it can be justified in the proposal.

What does the funding cover?
Researchers – a top-up allowance for each month that they are on an exchange at another beneficiary. This is intended to cover additional costs of living away from home and is additional to their salary, which their employing beneficiary pays throughout.
Institution – includes Research Costs for all project-related activities (secondment and other project travel, purchase of consumables, software, subscriptions, etc.) and a contribution to the beneficiary for overheads. A separate cost category for Management is available for running the consortium, part of which is usually used by the Coordinator to appoint a Project Manager.

A Staff Exchange project can have a duration up to 48 months, and a maximum of 360 person-months of exchanges can be funded during that period.

What activities are typically included?
The project itself should form a high-quality, original Research and Innovation project which advances the state of the art. Exchanges, as well as other networking activities such as conferences, are envisaged to form part of a concrete and coherent plan with all activities demonstrating a clear contribution to the scientific goals of the project.

How to apply
A consortium is set up by researchers from several organisations, with one organisation designated the Coordinator which is responsible for submission of the application and overall management of the project if it is funded.

This is a multi-partner collaborative project grant and as such, anyone intending lead Imperial’s section of the project must ensure that they meet Imperial’s rules on eligibility as a Principal Investigator (PI).

PIs should let their Department’s research manager or research facilitator and Faculty Research Services Manager know if they intend to participate. Any Imperial PI who wishes to coordinate a Staff Exchanges application must also get approval from their Faculty prior to submission.