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EU Opens €399M Postdoctoral Fellowship Call For 2026

Overview Of A Historic Funding Initiative

The European Commission has announced the 2026 call for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships, allocating €399.05 million to support researchers across Europe and internationally. Designed for PhD graduates, the programme enables participation in advanced research projects abroad, strengthening expertise across disciplines while encouraging cross-sector mobility and collaboration.

Advancing Research Excellence

Selected fellows will work alongside leading scientific teams, contributing to knowledge exchange and reinforcing Europe’s position in global research and innovation. Over the past three decades, more than 150,000 researchers have benefited from the programme, including 23 Nobel laureates. Continued investment reflects its role in supporting long-term career development and strengthening research capacity.

Key Dates And Strategic Context

Applications open on April 16, 2026 and close on September 9, 2026. Within the broader Horizon Europe 2021–2027 framework, funding for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions exceeds €1.25 billion, highlighting sustained commitment to research, innovation, and scientific mobility across the EU.

A Legacy Of Impact And Future Commitments

This year’s call coincides with the 30th anniversary of the programme, marked under the theme “30 Years of Curiosity That Changes the World.” Planned activities will highlight milestones, research outcomes, and personal stories from participants. Contributions from the global Marie Skłodowska-Curie community will include figures such as Hélène Langevin-Joliot, reflecting the programme’s long-standing scientific legacy.

Expanding Opportunities For Researchers

Alongside postdoctoral fellowships, additional funding streams are being rolled out to support different stages of research careers. MSCA Doctoral Networks will run from May 28 to November 24, 2026, with a budget of €593.03 million, focusing on the recruitment and training of doctoral candidates through joint and industrial programmes.

MSCA Choose Europe for Science, scheduled from December 8, 2026, to April 6, 2027, with €51.25 million in funding, aims to improve career conditions and address challenges such as job precarity and talent outflows.

Supporting Collaborative Research And Training

Previously launched initiatives continue to expand programme reach and collaboration. MSCA Staff Exchanges, carrying a budget of €97.92 million, remain open until April 16, 2026 and support international, inter-sectoral, and interdisciplinary cooperation. MSCA COFUND has allocated €105.46 million to strengthen doctoral and postdoctoral training programmes and attract high-skilled researchers.

A Pivotal Initiative In European Research

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions continue to serve as a central mechanism for research training and academic mobility within the European Union. Focus remains on attracting global talent, strengthening collaboration between academia and industry, and advancing a more integrated and competitive European Research Area.

payabl. Launches Click To Pay With Visa To Help Merchants Improve Checkout Conversion And Reduce Fraud

payabl. has launched Click to Pay with Visa, a new card payment experience designed to help merchants reduce checkout friction, improve authorisation rates, and deliver a faster, more secure online payment journey.

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Click to Pay replaces manual card number entry with a token-based checkout experience. Once a customer’s card is enrolled, they can complete purchases in just a few clicks, without re-entering card details. The result is a faster checkout that mirrors the ease of contactless payments in-store, while maintaining strong security standards.

For merchants, the impact is measurable. According to Visa, Click to Pay can deliver up to a 11% uplift in authorisation rates compared to manual card entry, alongside significant fraud reduction through network tokenisation. Faster checkout also helps reduce cart abandonment, particularly on mobile, where typing card details remains a major source of friction.

“With online checkout, every extra step costs conversion,” said Breno Oliveira, Chief Product Officer at payabl. “Visa Click to Pay removes one of the biggest points of friction at the moment of purchase. It helps merchants approve more legitimate transactions, reduce fraud exposure, and give customers the experience they already expect.” 

Visa Click to Pay is available through payabl. checkout, enabling merchants to activate the service without additional integration complexity. The solution works across devices and supports existing security flows, including 3D Secure where required.

“Consumers have come to expect a highly personalised, intuitive, and seamless payment experience, whether they’re buying a coffee, shopping online, or applying for a loan. Visa Click to Pay aims to meet these expectations by removing the need to manually enter card details, thus enhancing both security and the consumer experience in online card payments. With the support of network tokens, Visa Click to Pay enabled a more secure and smoother transaction process, available in many countries around the world. According to European VisaNet data, Visa Click to Pay may allow a 4.5% uplift in merchant sales, meaning a possible annual increase of €51 bn in SMB eCommerce sales in the UK and EU,” said Michael Ioannides, Country Manager, Visa Cyprus.

The launch forms part of payabl.’s broader focus on checkout optimisation, helping merchants improve conversion, approvals, and payment reliability at scale. Click to Pay with Visa is now live for eligible merchants across Europe. 

Checkout expectations are rising across Europe 

Insights from payabl.’s State of European Checkouts report underline why frictionless checkout experiences are becoming a commercial priority. The research found that consumers cite speed (46%), convenience (44%), and security (41%) as the top reasons for choosing a payment method. More than half of consumers (53%) are open to switching to newer payment methods and nearly half (48%) are open to one-click checkouts, provided the solution is backed by a trusted brand such as Visa.

“Checkout is no longer just the final step of a transaction,” said Oliveira. “It is a critical part of the overall customer experience. Our research shows that 43% of European consumers will not return to a site after a poor checkout experience. For merchants across the UK and Europe, that translates directly into lost customers and lost revenue.”

The launch forms part of payabl.’s broader focus on checkout optimisation, helping merchants improve conversion, approvals, and payment reliability at scale. Click to Pay with Visa is now live for eligible merchants across Europe.

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