Brussels: The MSCA fellowships drew 21,627 applications in the 2026 call, the highest number for any funding action in more than 40 years of EU framework programmes, the Commission said on 1 October 2026. The Commission responded by adding more than €210 million to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, enough to support over 700 additional researchers. The record is good news for European science and a stress test for how it funds careers.
Why MSCA fellowships hit a record
A record number of applicants shows demand. Early-career researchers see the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions as a prestigious route into independent work, with mobility across borders built in. Demand of this size also reflects a crowded academic job market, where fellowships offer one of the few predictable paths after a doctorate.
The report published alongside the figures says Europe must protect scientific excellence while drawing researchers in, and it highlights the Choose Europe initiative as a way to attract top talent. A fellowship call that attracts 21,627 applications suggests the offer is competitive.
What the extra €210 million buys
The top-up of more than €210 million will fund over 700 additional researchers. That is a useful gain, but it is small against the size of the pool. The source material does not say how many fellowships the call funds in total, so the overall success rate cannot be calculated from the public release. Even so, the arithmetic is clear: the top-up adds hundreds of places while thousands of applicants remain unfunded.
The release also does not state which budget the extra money comes from. That detail matters, because a top-up taken from elsewhere in the programme moves funding around rather than adding to it.
There is also a geographic dimension. Fellowships carry researchers between countries, and the host institutions that win the most applicants gain the most from their arrival. If the extra money flows mainly to well-known universities, the scheme could deepen the gap between research hubs and smaller institutions instead of narrowing it.
Oversubscription and the cost of rejection
Oversubscription has a hidden cost. Each application takes weeks of a researcher’s time, plus time from host institutions that help write the proposal. When the success rate falls, that effort is wasted on a larger scale. Strong proposals that miss the cut may never be funded, and some of those researchers may leave Europe.
This is why the Commission’s wider findings matter. The 2026 Science, Research and Innovation Performance report says the EU ranks second worldwide in scientific output and that 57% of its publications involve international collaboration. Europe has the research base. The question is whether it keeps the people who build it.
What the MSCA fellowships signal for 2028–2034
The Commission has proposed a stronger research and innovation budget for 2028–2034. The record call gives that proposal a clear argument: the demand for EU-funded careers exceeds supply. Negotiators in Parliament and the Council will decide whether that argument turns into more money for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.
In my assessment, the lesson is that one-off top-ups cannot substitute for a predictable budget line. Researchers plan careers over years. A stable, larger MSCA allocation would let them plan, and would reduce the need for emergency additions after each oversubscribed call. The record number of MSCA fellowships applications is therefore a budget signal as much as a success story.
