A report funded by the European Commission highlights the impact Marie Currie Fellowships have on researchers long-term careers. The findings were that completing a Marie Curie Fellowship has a definite beneficial impact on a researchers career prospects. The report compared the career paths of Marie Curie Fellows funded under FP4, FP5, and FP6 to a control group.

The Marie Curie fellows reported that the fellowship contributed significantly to other career drivers such as access to high quality research, facility and labs, enlarging professional networks and improving interdisciplinary skills.

It was found that the Marie Curie Fellowships could improve immediate employability slightly better than other types of fellowships.

The study also showed that all other factors considered, the Marie Curie Fellows publications were more often cited that the control groups and were more frequently published in influential scientific journals.

Marie Curie Fellowships are available under the Horizon 2020. There is a call currently open with a deadline date of 11 September. It is open to all research areas, even though they say scientific researchers in the guidance notes. Fellows can be based in a European country or be seconded to a country outside of Europe for 12 months. For more information see http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/research/2014/03/18/marie-sklodowska-curie-actions-msca-individual-fellowships-call/

View Marie Curie report summary here: http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/pdf/mca/marie_curie_researchers_and_their_long-term_career_development_-_executive_summary_en.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none