Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (EN)

Call for Applications
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships 2021
30 | June | 2021
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa

The Portuguese Institute of International Relations (IPRI-NOVA) welcomes applications for Marie Curie Fellowships, acting as host institution, from researchers interested in developing their studies in the following main areas — that correspond to our strategic lines of research:

1) Democracy and Citizenship in Europe: the aim is to study the ways European democracies respond and adapt to contemporary challenges of financial globalization, populist mobilization, rising inequality, and technocratic policy-making, both at national and European level. Two main topics are the backbone of this research agenda: i) democratic consolidation and breakdown, which includes research on issues such as public disaffection towards democratic institutions; innovation at constitutional and parliamentary levels; the impact of public policies; the representation capacity of political parties; citizens' preferences; the surge of technocratic, nonelected actors (e.g. ECB, IMF); and the growing mobilization capacity of extremist and xenophobe movements and parties; ii) the quality and depth of democracy, which includes research on issues like the changing representative and policy role of unions and employers organizations; the impact of rising inequalities on citizen voice; policies regarding inclusion towards women, immigrants and senior citizens; tensions between European and domestic representative institutions; types of welfare state retrenchment; variations in forms of associational life; and the crystallization of regional asymmetries within Europe.

2) Europe and the European Union (EU) as a global actor: The trends of the current international context - the globalization process, the impact of the economic and financial crisis and changes in major powers' external strategies - pose significant challenges to Europe as a region and, within it, to the EU and its Member-States. A strategy to overcome the crisis must consider this setting, which requires a three-dimensional analytical input: i) the internal dimension, which intends to develop the adequate conceptual tools that contribute to a better understanding of the EU external role, as well as of European actors' external role, like NATO, Russia and non-EU states; ii) analysis of the EU as a regional actor, notably regarding the objectives and functioning of the various regional policies and the analysis of the Europeanization process in the neighbourhood countries; iii) the global dimension, which intends to evaluate the impact that the current crisis had both in the EU's ambitions to be a global actor (EU common foreign, security and defence policies) and EU's relations with key States, regional and international organisations, as well as the new global and security policies of major European powers (e.g. France, Germany, UK, Russia);

3) European strategies and policy planning: Given the deep and crosscutting impact of the current crisis, the European overcoming strategy should also include a prospective approach of medium and long-term range. It is intended to develop high-level research with two main methodological approaches: i) Foresight, in order to promote a critical debate based on qualitative research and methodologies on various public policy issues, both at national and European level; ii) Policy planning, which intends to develop the adequate conceptual and empirical tools that enable a comprehensive policy planning process in specific political, security, economic and social areas.

4) Theory building: both in International Relations and in Comparative Politics. Regarding its analysis of the recent dramatic and puzzling changes in key political, security, economic and social topics, IPRI-NOVA also aims to develop knowledge at the highest level of abstraction, that is, a return to grand-theory.

We welcome applications in the category of Individual Fellowships, including European Fellowships, Global Fellowships, Career Restart Panel, and Reintegration Panel. Applicants with a relevant track record of securing funding for their research activities are especially welcomed.

To apply, please send us the following documents and information:

Title and summary of the work plan (written in English, according to the guidelines provided in the online form);
A detailed Curriculum vitae;
A motivation letter addressed to the IPRI-NOVA's Director explaining your trajectory in the last five years and explaining the relevance of your achievements (max. 5000 characters);
One copy of a relevant publication.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships are available for experienced researchers, of any nationality, who must have, at the date of the call’s deadline, a doctoral degree or at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience. The scheme particularly supports the return and (re)integration of European researchers from outside Europe and those who have previously worked here, as well as researchers displaced by conflict outside the EU and Horizon 2020 Associated Countries. It also promotes the career restart of individual researchers who show great potential.

Eligible candidates must comply with MSCA mobility rules:

Standard European Fellowships: the researcher cannot have resided or carried out his/her main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the beneficiary for more than 12 months in the three years immediately before the call deadline;
Global Fellowships (includes a research period in a Third Country, followed by a reintegration period at the Host Institution): the researcher cannot have resided or carried out his/her main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the Third Country where the outgoing phase takes place for more than 12 months in the three years immediately before the call deadline;
Career Restart Panel: individual researchers who wish to resume research in Europe after a career break; the researcher cannot have resided or carried out the main activity in the country of the beneficiary for more than three years in the five years immediately before the call deadline;
Reintegration Panel: researchers who wish to return and reintegrate in a longer-term research position in Europe; the researcher cannot have resided or carried out the main activity in the country of the beneficiary for more than three years in the five years immediately before the call deadline.

Please submit your application until 30 June 2021 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.