Sandy Schmidt x Innovayt // MSCA-DN

Have you ever considered coordinating an MSCA Doctoral Network? What about two?

Securing a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Doctoral Network is a major achievement. Securing a second one, while still implementing the first, shows how experience, strategic planning, and the right support can turn one funding success into a long-term European funding strategy. 

In 2022, Professor Sandy Schmidt (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, NL) and colleagues secured €2.6 M in funding for the BiodeCCodiNNg MSCA-DN project, with Innovayt contributing to the proposal preparation process. Building on this success, Schmidt collaborated with Innovayt again in 2024 during the preparation of HaloVerse, a MSCA Joint Doctoral Network, securing additional €3.9M in funding. 

Lessons learned  

The implementation of BiodeCCodiNNg provided valuable practical experience that directly strengthened the development of HaloVerse. Running a Doctoral Network gave the consortium a clearer understanding of what makes a project work in practice – from the timing of training activities and deliverables to the organisation of secondments and partner responsibilities. These lessons helped the team design a second proposal that was not only scientifically ambitious, but well-structured, and easier to implement. For example, experience from the first network highlighted the value of planning secondments and other mobility periods carefully, ensuring that doctoral candidates have enough time to benefit from their host environments while keeping mobility plans aligned with training objectives and partner capacities. The result is a more realistic approach that reduces unnecessary administrative complexity for both candidates and host organisations.  

Once you did the first one, you are more prepared for the second one because you have many documents and files already ready to go.”

                                                                                                                                                        – Professor Schmidt

Schmidt’s experience shows that applying for a second MSCA-DN is not only feasible, but can also be facilitated by the experience, structures and lessons learned from the first network. In this sense, the first project can become a blueprint for a stronger, more ambitious, and more realistic second proposal, while also increasing the consortium visibility and recognition in European research training networks. 

With HaloVerse, it was way more efficient because you just know what needs to be done and when. With the help of Innovayt, you also know exactly what the internal deadlines are, which helped me get started early.”

                                                                                                                                                        – Professor Schmidt

According to Schmidt, Innovayt played an important role in the preparation of both BiodeCCodiNNg and HaloVerse, building strong and convincing cases around each scientific concept. In particular, Innovayt was instrumental in organizing the ideas into cohesive MSCA-DN narratives, as well as streamlining each proposal preparation and consortium coordination. 

Innovayt provided exactly the right balance of strategic guidance and practical support, allowing us to focus on the science while building highly competitive MSCA-DN proposals.”

                                                                                                                                                        – Professor Schmidt