Research Executive Agency have sent communications to project coordinators with reassurances that any impact on projects caused by cancelling, postponing or changing travel plans will be treated with a flexible approach.
Impacted parties should contact their project officer to report changes in circumstance and to discuss required mitigation. Before you contact your project officer, please discuss the matter with your European Business Development Officers by sending an email to Europe-rg@abdn.ac.uk. REA has the right to apply the rules of force majeure foreseen in the grant agreement if duly justified and can extend projects, under exceptional circumstances, if necessary.
Their intention is to consider circumstances on a case by case basis. If individuals have concerns regarding specific projects then they should contact their European Advisor who can help them connect with relevant colleagues in the respective agencies.
The European Commission have updated their guidance for Marie Curie projects here: https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/news/coronavirus-extensions-msca-projects_en
The guidance is that beneficiaries are strongly encouraged to continue running their projects, even if the research training activities cannot be implemented as planned. Recruiting institutions are encouraged to shift project tasks to allow for work to continue. For instance, activities requiring a physical presence (e.g. experiments/lab work) may be postponed until the confinement measures are over.
Researchers are encouraged to telework or to use other forms of remote working (the corresponding costs are considered eligible). Marie Curie researchers can work during the confinement period on project-related tasks that can be done remotely (e.g. desk research, publication(s), reports and/or patent applications, virtual training).
Suspension of projects, or changes to part-time working arrangements can be accepted only if the researcher has explicitly agreed these measures and with any resulting temporary suspension/reduction of the salary, and as long as the researcher’s contract is extended accordingly to allow him/her to finalise the work. Part-time arrangements could for example allow fellows to work on other facilities such as health agencies and hospitals and apply their expertise in COVID-19-related matters.
In addition, the unit-cost funding system of MSCA IF provides sufficient flexibility to cater for this exceptional situation. For example:
- Periods in which a researcher is absent for 30 consecutive days or less (for reasons other than normal annual leave) may still be charged to the IF project, i.e. the costs remain eligible.
- Unspent institutional unit costs can be used to maintain the salary of the researchers during suspension periods. Recruiting institutions may also cover these expenses from dedicated national or own resources.