The 2026 call is now OPEN until 16 April 2026.
The call selects international consortia of universities, research institutions, businesses, SMEs and other non-academic organisations to exchange their staff for up to 12 months. LAC institutions are eligible to join any consortium to submit a proposal.
What are MSCA Staff Exchanges?
Objective of Staff Exchanges
The SE action funds short-term international and inter-sectoral exchanges of staff members involved in research and innovation activities of participating organisations. The aim is to develop sustainable collaborative projects between different organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors (in particular SMEs), based in Europe and beyond. Exchanged staff benefit from new knowledge, skills, and career development perspectives, while participating organisations increase their research and innovation capacities.
Such projects must explore activities that can be based on previous work but should go beyond and generate or strengthen long-term collaborations.
These exchanges offer researchers and innovators unique opportunities to enlarge their networks, share knowledge, and turn cutting-edge research into innovative products and services.
MSCA Staff Exchanges projects
Staff Exchanges projects can last up to four years. The mobility of seconded staff members can last from one month to one year. Staff involved should return to their sending organisations after the secondment, to pass on the knowledge they gained during their secondments.
Who can participate?
Eligibility to submit a MSCA SE proposal
The MSCA Staff Exchanges call is open to international consortia of universities, research institutions, businesses, SMEs, and other non-academic organisations.
Consortia need to include:
- At least three organisations in three different countries, two of which need to be located in a different EU Member States or countries associated to Horizon Europe
- Above this minimum, the participation of organisations from any country is possible
- If all participating organisations are from the same sector (academic or non-academic), at least one must be from a non-associated Third Country such as all LAC countries
In the case of MSCA SE, only legal entities that are established in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries can be beneficiaries. Organisations from LAC (and from everywhere else) and from any sectors can join any consortium to submit a proposal as associated partners.
Once the projects are approved, who can be seconded?
The seconded individual staff members are selected by their sending organisations to take part in the planned exchanges. They:
- Can be researchers at any career stage, from PhD candidates to postdoctoral researchers, as well as administrative, technical or managerial staff involved in research and innovation activities
- Can be of any nationality
- Should return to their sending organisation after the secondment, to pass on their knowledge and foster collaboration
Funding and financial information
Eligibility to funding
Remember: Organisations from LAC (and from everywhere else) and from any sectors can join any consortium to submit a proposal. They receive and send* staff at no cost.
Within Horizon Europe, LAC countries are considered "non-associated Third Countries". Participants from non-associated non-EU countries can take part in Horizon Europe actions — but not always with funding.
LAC countries with automatic funding
Latin America and the Caribbean, the low- to middle-income countries are automatically eligible for institutional funding by the European Commission. They are: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic)
LAC countries non automatically eligible to funding
In the case of institutions from Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay, they are eligible to participate but they must fund their own mobility or bring their co-funding. They still host visiting researchers from Europe at no cost.
Legal entities established in countries not listed in the Programme Guide will be eligible for funding if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.
Special information for Brazil
Please note: In 2026, Brazil (CONFAP) re-launched a call associated with the MSCA Staff Exchange programme to support Brazilian entities participating in MSCA SE projects: The participating FAPs can provide specific guidelines or directives with instructions for this purpose. Applicants from Brazil should consult their respective State Research Support Foundation (FAP) to check their eligibility.
More at https://bit.ly/MSCASE_CONFAP
How to apply
Access the call HORIZON-MSCA-2026-SE-01-01
Prepare your application
MSCA SE 2026 and Six steps to prepare your application
Support and resources
Guidance documents
- Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions - Work Programme 2026-2027
- Guide for applicants MSCA SE 2026
- How to find partners: https://bit.ly/HE_Partners
- MSCA-Radiance Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Get help - contact points
- MSCA National Contact Point (NCP) in Brazil, Ms. Flavia Cerqueira, CONFAP, internacional.confap@gmail.com
- MSCA National Contact Points (NCPs) in other LAC countries and in Europe https://bit.ly/HorizonEurope_NCP
- Brazil (CONFAP) co-funding call https://news.confap.org.br/lancada-a-chamada-marie-sklodowska-curie-intercambio-de-pessoal-2026/
Learning resources
In-depth information provided by the European Research Executive Agency (REA) about the key features of the Staff Exchanges Action and how to apply to the call for proposals 2025. Watch the MSCA SE info day here
Watch the recordings of EURAXESS LAC and its partner project MSCA-GLOPOL webinars 2026 here. More past events:
- Webinar in Portuguese at USP (2024) where FAPESP explained how to secure co-funding to support participation of São Paulo based institutions in MSCA SE. https://bit.ly/MSCASEnaUSP
- Webinar in Spanish for LAC institutions (October 2023) https://bit.ly/WebinarMSCASE
- The recording of 2022 events in Spanish and Portuguese: http://bit.ly/WebinarsMSCASE22
- Testimonials in Portuguese
- Carlos A. Costa Ribeiro, Full Professor IESP-UERJ, PI of the MSCA SE INCASI 2 project
- Andrea Souto García, from the University of Coruña, and visiting researcher at USP/EACH and UERJ on the same project
Results and impact
RESULTS MSCA Staff Exchanges 2023
More details here
RESULTS MSCA Staff Exchanges 2022
Excellent results for Latin America and the Caribbean, with 6 LAC countries among the top-10 third countries participating in this founding round, one of the calls with the highest third country participation in Horizon Europe.
- 86 participations (vs 51 in the 2021 call)
- 70 different organisations from 13 countries (vs 42 organisations from 11 countries in the 2021 call)
- 27 different projects (vs. 24 in the 2021 call for proposals)
Disclaimer: These statistics are subject to change and will only be confirmed once the grant agreements are signed with all the projects concerned. The final funding decision on some projects is subject to the association of some countries to Horizon Europe.