Fellowship Diaries #1: Why I'm Documenting My MSCA Journey in Public

Most fellowship applications are written in private, submitted in silence, and never spoken of again unless they succeed. I want to do the opposite. This is the first entry in Fellowship Diaries — a public log of my preparation for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) postdoctoral fellowship.

Why write it down where anyone can read it

Three reasons.

First, it forces clarity. The MSCA is scored on three axes — Excellence, Impact, and Implementation — and a proposal only works when you can state, in plain language, what your scientific problem is, why it matters to Europe, and exactly how you’ll deliver. Writing for a reader who is not in my sub-field is the fastest way to find the sentences that don’t yet make sense. My Research Vision page was the first product of that discipline; this series is the running commentary.

Second, the process is opaque, and it shouldn’t be. When I was a student, the mechanics of European fellowships felt like a locked room — supervisors, host institutions, work packages, secondments, the strange arithmetic of the evaluation form. Every early-career researcher I know has re-learned the same lessons from scratch. If documenting mine saves someone a wasted month, that’s worth more than the small risk of showing my working.

Third, science communication is itself part of the score. MSCA reviewers look for researchers who engage the public and the next generation. A blog that explains, honestly, how a real proposal comes together is not a distraction from the application — it’s evidence for it.

What this series will cover

Over the coming entries I plan to write about:

• Choosing a host and a research problem that genuinely fit — not just chasing a famous name.
• Turning a research vision into work packages with deliverables and a timeline a reviewer can score.
• Framing mobility and impact — how my India → Israel → industry path becomes a strength rather than a footnote.
• The honest parts: rejections, rewrites, and the things I’d do differently.

If you’re on the same road

Whether you’re a Master’s student wondering what a postdoc fellowship even is, or a fellow researcher drafting your own MSCA, I’d like this to be useful to you. If a specific part of the process would help you to see worked through, tell me — I’ll write about it.

The next entry will be about the hardest and most underrated decision in the whole process: choosing the right host institution.

Curious? Don't let the doubt die.

Young researchers — if anything here raised a question, send it to me. I answer every serious doubt.