MSCA Doctoral Networks Budget and 40% Checker
Plan the person-months and unit contributions of a Doctoral Network, and check the 40% country rule on the budget rather than on head count.
Doctoral Network budget and 40% check
The 40% rule is measured on the EU contribution after country coefficients, not on person-months. Opens with the worked network from this page.
No eligibility problem found
- 540 of 540 person-months, largest country share NL at 33.5%.
| Candidate | Recruiting beneficiary | Country | Months | Coefficient | Family | Secondment | EU contribution | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DC1 | €303,120 | |||||||
| DC2 | €279,360 | |||||||
| DC3 | €279,360 | |||||||
| DC4 | €303,120 | |||||||
| DC5 | €279,360 | |||||||
| DC6 | €279,360 | |||||||
| DC7 | €303,120 | |||||||
| DC8 | €279,360 | |||||||
| DC9 | €279,360 | |||||||
| DC10 | €303,120 | |||||||
| DC11 | €279,360 | |||||||
| DC12 | €279,360 | |||||||
| DC13 | €303,120 | |||||||
| DC14 | €279,360 | |||||||
| DC15 | €279,360 | |||||||
| 15 candidates · 8 beneficiaries · max 48 months | 540 | €4,309,200 | ||||||
The 40% check, by country
Money share is what counts. The person-month column is shown beside it because the two diverge as soon as country coefficients differ, and that divergence is what makes proposals ineligible.
| Country | Candidates | EU contribution | Share of money | Share of person-months | Within 40%? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NL | 5 | €1,444,320 | 33.5% | 33.3% | Yes |
| DE | 3 | €861,840 | 20.0% | 20.0% | Yes |
| ES | 3 | €861,840 | 20.0% | 20.0% | Yes |
| IT | 2 | €582,480 | 13.5% | 13.3% | Yes |
| FI | 2 | €558,720 | 13.0% | 13.3% | Yes |
Unit contributions for the 2026 call: living €4,250 before the country coefficient (halved for a fixed-amount fellowship), mobility €710, family €660, research/training/networking €1,600, management and indirect €1,200, all per person-month. Cap 540 person-months and 40.0% of the EU contribution per country. Long-term leave and special needs allowances are requested when they arise and are not modelled here. Check your country coefficient in the work programme before relying on a share close to the cap.
About this tool
An MSCA Doctoral Network is funded from unit contributions per person-month, capped at 540 person-months for the network. The living allowance carries a country correction coefficient, so two candidates with identical contracts cost different amounts depending on where they are recruited.
That is what makes the 40% rule worth calculating rather than estimating. No more than 40% of the EU contribution may go to beneficiaries in one country, and the guide is explicit that the check is made on the budget, not on the person-month count. A consortium can sit comfortably under 40% of its candidates in the Netherlands or Denmark and still be over 40% of the money once coefficients are applied. A proposal that fails the check is ineligible, so it is not a scoring risk but a rejection before evaluation.
The tool shows the money share and the person-month share side by side so the divergence is visible, and also checks the 540 person-month cap, the three-beneficiary and three-country floors, the maximum duration for each mode, and the rule introduced in 2026 that a secondment may not exceed half the recruitment period. It opens with the worked network from the MSCA Doctoral Networks guide. For the cost side of a collaborative Horizon Europe project, see the lump-sum budget builder.