We had no previous successful applications in the research center and I did not personally know anyone that had won an MSCA (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions) postdoctoral fellowship. I started by asking previous winners for guidance based on their published abstracts from the EU portal (Tip #1). I was surprised by how many replies I got, and I was soon meeting with a dozen of them, some of which kindly shared their winning proposals with me. This was a tipping point as it helped me understand the importance of structure, content balance, and importance of interdisciplinarity for this type of grant (Tip #2). They also emphasised that a key aspect of the proposal is to show that you are exactly the right person for the specific project based on your expertise, institution/research group that you will be working on, and the training that you could access to advance your future career (Tip #3). At that point, I was ready to start writing this proposal. However, the situation suddenly changed.

I was forced to change my initial idea for the project after a couple months working on it. I realised that the environmental data I wanted to use was lacking a key temporal characteristic. Learning from this, I believe conducting preliminary analyses early on is fundamental to understand the feasibility of an idea (Tip #4), as well as, seeking input from others early in the process (Tip #5).

In the following days, I presented a new project idea to both my supervisor (Dr. Luisa Zuccolo) and the Health data Science centre’s project manager (Dr. Giulia Mangiameli), and we agreed that it was worth the try despite the time constrains. The second round of proposal writing was easier despite still being stressful and challenging. We worked together with Luisa complementing each other’s skills and disciplinary background to craft this interdisciplinary project that combines data science, environmental science, perinatal epidemiology, and public health. After feedback a feedback session with my collegues the proposal was ready for submission (Tip #6).

Bonus tips from Dr. Carlos Jiménez

Carlos Jiménez is a postdoctoral fellow in Magda Bienko’s lab at Human Technopole, who developing proteomic-based tools to study spatial otganization in the cell nucleus. Check his MSCA project called PRUNE!

Writing a MSCA postdoctoral fellowship is a challenging and exhausting task, but also a priceless training for any future grant application. Indeed, I think that applying for this kind of fellowships is the best way to start a postdoc position after your PhD, even if you do not succeed, because it makes you get in touch with knowledge and concepts that may be necessary in your new position, catch up with the state-of-the-art in your field, and, most importantly, conceptualize and design the objectives and methodology of your research project for the following years.

My advice is to focus on the soundness of your research project before anything else: be sure to have clear and consistent objectives, to understand them, and provide a detailed methodology that proves how feasible they are. If you can, look for advice from MSCA alumni you have contact with, and carefully read and follow the suggestions from the handbook provided by the MSCA-NET. Finally, and speaking from my experience, if you fail in your first attempt, and you have the chance to reapply the following year, do not give up, use all what you learnt and the feedback from the evaluators, and try again: the chances are much higher in a second round.

Article about MSCA postdoctoral applications

Baumert P, Cenni F, Antonkine ML (2022) Ten simple rules for a successful EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral (MSCA) fellowship application. PLoS Comput Biol 18(8): e1010371. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010371

Chapter 1: Nanotechnology

Fresh out of school, I wanted to study life sciences in University but I was unsure of which one to choose. I was a good student in school but not an excellent one, which made difficult getting into medicine in Barcelona. When trying to select the next best option, I stumbled upon Nanotechnology (what a cool name I thought!). Nanotechnology involves studying and manipulating materials at the nanoscale, combining my favourite subjects of physics, chemistry, biology, and math to create advanced technologies in various fields. I ended up enjoying this degree, and I would do it again in a heartbeat, for both the degree and the people I met along the way.

The most valuable takeaway from this degree was learning to solve complex problems within interdisciplinary teams. I gained the ability to understand colleagues from diverse backgrounds, even without mastering a single discipline – just their interactions. However, I felt I lacked experience in optimizing parameters, making data-driven decisions, and working with large datasets to model outcomes.

Chapter 2: Data modelling

I decided to take a couple of classes on environmental modelling during my Erasmus in Ghent to overcome my lack of data modelling skills and … I loved it! We were able to simplify a system and even do some predictions at the click of a button. No need to process 100 samples to find a good enough reagent while wearing a lab coat or these funny plastic gloves. I was in for a treat. I rapidly start catching up with coding in R and enrolled in data modelling master’s also in Barcelona. I was the only one from Nanotechnology that had chosen this route as most of my friends decided to do material sciences, biomedicine, biotechnology or take a gap year.

During my master’s thesis, I had the chance to work with one of the top Climate and Health teams at ISGlobal in Barcelona. My supervisors, Xavier Rodó and Silvia Borràs, were incredibly passionate about research, and the enthusiasm was contagious. We investigated whether the composition of air masses could be linked to a rise in Kawasaki Disease cases in Japan. That’s when it clicked – I knew I wanted to do everything I could to pursue a career in research.

Chapter 3: Computer Science

When I first applied for a PhD position in Dublin through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN), I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first interview didn’t go well as I struggled with the statistical questions, and nerves got the best of me. I left feeling disappointed, convinced I had missed my chance. But then something unexpected happened. One of the interviewers, Declan O’Sullivan, saw potential in me and suggested I apply for another position in Dublin. This position was in health data linkage using Semantic Web technologies, a field I knew nothing about.

People always say that choosing the right PhD supervisor is just as important as choosing the topic itself. I knew he was one of the good ones after having a Skype chat together. This was one of the best decisions I ever made!

The ITN provided me the opportunity to work with leading research teams in the health domain: epidemiology (Climate and Health group in ISGlobal Barcelona), rare disease research (Rare Kidney Disease group in Trinity College Dublin), health data governance (European Institute for Innovation through Health Data in Belgium), health data linkage (ADAPT centre in Trinity College Dublin). Even though COVID forced us to work remotely for most of my PhD, I still enjoyed being part of a network of PhD researchers, each tackling vasculitis from a different discipline or perspective.

Chapter 4: Health Data Science

After my PhD, I joined the Human Technopole in Milan (Italy) as a postdoc, working on child and maternal health with Luisa Zuccolo’s group. In the next posts, I’ll share more about this chapter, including how I went on to secure a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship within a few months of joining in.