2021 Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (HE-MSCA-PF-2021)

[ririanna]

I think you would have to be a vat-grown genetically engineered Brussels super bureaucrat to be able to write a successful proposal on your own these days. There are so many little weird idiosyncrasies and details you need to account for, which you would only really know about if you attended NCP seminars or followed the Net4Mobility MSCA survival guide.

Did everyone do this? Would be interesting to see what success rates are like for those that did/didn't

[Abz]

I think you would have to be a vat-grown genetically engineered Brussels super bureaucrat to be able to write a successful proposal on your own these days. There are so many little weird idiosyncrasies and details you need to account for, which you would only really know about if you attended NCP seminars or followed the Net4Mobility MSCA survival guide.

I hope that's not the case, otherwise I'll have no chances... Done none of those...

It is difficult to know what the evaluators will pick up on. If they like the idea, they often ignore small issues with the project proposal. If they don't like the idea, they will list all sort of problems to reduce the mark. I had an application submitted twice: first it got 82.5 second time 80.2. The second application was far better in terms of organisation and presentation, but was awarded a lower score, and hardly any meaningful comments. I know the review process can be very unfair, but still looking forward to the comments for my new project proposal

[UKR]

First time I spent two weeks and no support then got 74.

Second time I spent 5 months and got full supports of several people and still got 84.4.

Third time (Now) I spent around 5 months and 5 people reviewed and provided comments. It was revised several times. I was told not funded.

I think you would have to be a vat-grown genetically engineered Brussels super bureaucrat to be able to write a successful proposal on your own these days. There are so many little weird idiosyncrasies and details you need to account for, which you would only really know about if you attended NCP seminars or followed the Net4Mobility MSCA survival guide.

I hope that's not the case, otherwise I'll have no chances... Done none of those...

It is difficult to know what the evaluators will pick up on. If they like the idea, they often ignore small issues with the project proposal. If they don't like the idea, they will list all sort of problems to reduce the mark. I had an application submitted twice: first it got 82.5 second time 80.2. The second application was far better in terms of organisation and presentation, but was awarded a lower score, and hardly any meaningful comments. I know the review process can be very unfair, but still looking forward to the comments for my new project proposal

[Sleek_IF]

First time I spent two weeks and no support then got 74.

Second time I spent 5 months and got full supports of several people and still got 84.4.

Third time (Now) I spent around 5 months and 5 people reviewed and provided comments. It was revised several times. I was told not funded.

I hope that's not the case, otherwise I'll have no chances... Done none of those...

It is difficult to know what the evaluators will pick up on. If they like the idea, they often ignore small issues with the project proposal. If they don't like the idea, they will list all sort of problems to reduce the mark. I had an application submitted twice: first it got 82.5 second time 80.2. The second application was far better in terms of organisation and presentation, but was awarded a lower score, and hardly any meaningful comments. I know the review process can be very unfair, but still looking forward to the comments for my new project proposal

The competition is indeed very intense!

[Abz]

New idea or same idea for the 3rd time? Each time a new group of reviewers will evaluate and say something different. For my new project, my supervisor was very helpful and commented twice and NCP reviewed it as well.

First time I spent two weeks and no support then got 74.

Second time I spent 5 months and got full supports of several people and still got 84.4.

Third time (Now) I spent around 5 months and 5 people reviewed and provided comments. It was revised several times. I was told not funded.

I hope that's not the case, otherwise I'll have no chances... Done none of those...

It is difficult to know what the evaluators will pick up on. If they like the idea, they often ignore small issues with the project proposal. If they don't like the idea, they will list all sort of problems to reduce the mark. I had an application submitted twice: first it got 82.5 second time 80.2. The second application was far better in terms of organisation and presentation, but was awarded a lower score, and hardly any meaningful comments. I know the review process can be very unfair, but still looking forward to the comments for my new project proposal

[UKR]

Very true. Depends who will review. This year I reviewed few but I cants say which call. In some cases three reviewers gave totally different comments. The hard point is to reach to an agreement. Some good proposal fail to get funding by even if one reviewer does not want to change the score given. That will reduce the overall score if the supervisor of the three reviewers do not see point to ask for a new reviewer. We cant expect that all people are doing fair job.

First time I spent two weeks and no support then got 74.

Second time I spent 5 months and got full supports of several people and still got 84.4.

Third time (Now) I spent around 5 months and 5 people reviewed and provided comments. It was revised several times. I was told not funded.

It is difficult to know what the evaluators will pick up on. If they like the idea, they often ignore small issues with the project proposal. If they don't like the idea, they will list all sort of problems to reduce the mark. I had an application submitted twice: first it got 82.5 second time 80.2. The second application was far better in terms of organisation and presentation, but was awarded a lower score, and hardly any meaningful comments. I know the review process can be very unfair, but still looking forward to the comments for my new project proposal

The competition is indeed very intense!

[UKR]

I changed the hosts and topics every time.

New idea or same idea for the 3rd time? Each time a new group of reviewers will evaluate and say something different. For my new project, my supervisor was very helpful and commented twice and NCP reviewed it as well.

First time I spent two weeks and no support then got 74.

Second time I spent 5 months and got full supports of several people and still got 84.4.

Third time (Now) I spent around 5 months and 5 people reviewed and provided comments. It was revised several times. I was told not funded.

It is difficult to know what the evaluators will pick up on. If they like the idea, they often ignore small issues with the project proposal. If they don't like the idea, they will list all sort of problems to reduce the mark. I had an application submitted twice: first it got 82.5 second time 80.2. The second application was far better in terms of organisation and presentation, but was awarded a lower score, and hardly any meaningful comments. I know the review process can be very unfair, but still looking forward to the comments for my new project proposal

[AnotherCandidate]

First application in my case, I was received by 2 persons, watched the NCP mettings replays on YouTube and had access to a former successful proposal written in my lab. I wrote my proposal in the last moment, I began 1 month prior the deadline.

[Sleek_IF]

I changed the hosts and topics every time.

New idea or same idea for the 3rd time? Each time a new group of reviewers will evaluate and say something different. For my new project, my supervisor was very helpful and commented twice and NCP reviewed it as well.

First time I spent two weeks and no support then got 74.

Second time I spent 5 months and got full supports of several people and still got 84.4.

Third time (Now) I spent around 5 months and 5 people reviewed and provided comments. It was revised several times. I was told not funded.

Wow..! That's a lot of efforts. To find a host is not a walk in the park. So, for you to get a different one each is indeed a lot of work. To be honest, this discussion is very crucial. I am happy that a few people are contributing and sharing their experiences.

[michelef]

First application in my case, I was received by 2 persons, watched the NCP mettings replays on YouTube and had access to a former successful proposal written in my lab. I wrote my proposal in the last moment, I began 1 month prior the deadline.

I agree with people saying that having the proposal reviewed extensively before submission is very useful, if not essential, considering the level of perfection needed to be competitive... But I wanted to add that reviews and suggestions have to be taken with a grain of salt. When I applied in 2018 I got my proposal reviewed by the NCP, and I had to completely disregard the revision because it was apparently based on an outdated template. Following the NCP's suggestions would have meant an automatic fail. The few suggestions received by my Girlfriend's supervisor this year were sometimes pure nonsense, contradictory, or outright impossible to implement. So in my experience getting many reviews could also be dangerous if you don't first understand how to write the msca proposal... so many reviews don't automatically mean a more competitive proposal