Most researchers don’t arrive with perfect proposals. They arrive with questions. In Ankara, those questions were welcomed and turned into something sharper.
The MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships (PF) Proposal Writing Training was held in Ankara on 3–4 July 2025, bringing together postdoctoral researchers from across Türkiye. The training provided in-depth knowldege about one of Europe’s most prestigious research programmes, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), and enabled participants to align their own research ideas with the goals of the programme. It invited participants to revisit their own project ideas through the lens of this ambitious European model. At its core, the MSCA framework combines scientific excellence with cross-border mobility. But the camp went a step further. It didn’t simply explain how the programme Works, it revealed the intellectual foundation beneath it. Researchers were shown what makes a proposal successful. They were encouraged to ask what makes it concrete.
The first voices in the room belonged to TÜBİTAK’s MSCA National Contact Points, Şeyma Sayımlar, Burcu Doğan, and Tuğba Arslan Kantarcıoğlu which joined by İhsan Karataylı, Key Expert of the EU-funded Technical Assistance Project. This was followed by an interactive game led by our trainer Juliane Sauer, through which participants personally experienced one of the programme’s core concepts: “researcher mobility.” This interactive game, where each participant selects the country they are in before returning to Türkiye and physically 'settles' in that location, was a unique and memorable way of conceptualizing the idea of international mobility. Throughout the training, the three main evaluation criteria of MSCA PF applications Excellence, Impact, and Implementation were addressed through interactive sessions.
Participants engaged in intensive exercises to refine their research objectives, structure career development plans, conduct risk assessments, and design effective dissemination and communication strategies in line with these criteria.
The technical details of the application process, such as the CV, timeline, and support resources, were addressed in a way that integrated with the project idea's structure. During the training, participants not only focused on preparing a 'submittable' document, but also experienced the process of developing individual project ideas aimed at presenting a convincing researcher identity with its content, language, and rationale, through both theoretical knowledge and practical exercises.
The step taken in Ankara eflects Türkiye’s intent to take on a more visible, more prepared, and more assertive position within the European research map. The MSCA program, an instrument that transforms the scientific ecosystems of countries, has become a threshold where individual talents, which will integrate Europe's scientific production power with Türkiye, are redefined.
