From green hydrogen to fire-safe batteries: six MSCA projects awarded to IMDEA Materials

  • IMDEA Materials tripled the average success rate in fellowship applications in the 2025 call, with 30% of the institute’s proposals accepted.
  • This year’s MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship call awarded more than €404 million to 1.610 researchers in disciplines spanning materials science and engineering, social and life sciences, economics and mathematics, among others.

IMDEA Materials has been awarded 6 Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships in the latest call.

The selected fellowships together represent more than €1.2 million in European funding and cover a broad range of advanced materials research, spanning energy, safety, sustainability and biomedical applications.

The 2025 MSCA call assessed more than 16.500 eligible applications, of which 1.610 were selected at a 9.6% success rate.

IMDEA Materials’ success rate of 30% continues the institute’s representation among the leading recipients of MSCA postdoctoral fellowships in Spain, having been awarded 8 in 2024, the third most of any Spanish institution, and 7 in 2023.

The six projects awarded to IMDEA Materials in the 2025 call so far are:

  1. E-PLUS: Single-atom catalysts for electrocatalytic plastic waste upcycling and green hydrogen co-production
  2. GENE4LIB: “Gene editing” molecular design fire-retardant electrolyte for long-term stability of LIBS
  3. CycMag: Enhanced strength and corrosion resistance in Mg alloys via dense ultrafine twins and G.P. zones
  4. Morphogenesis: Self-assembling, self-monitoring, multi-stimuli-responsive implants for the minimally invasive treatment of critical size defects
  5. SAFE-silk: Inspired artificial spider silk with adaptive molecular architecture for fire-safety and mechanical enhancement
  6. THERMAL-BATT: Self-adaptive, fire-safe and sustainable thermal management materials for full-lifecycle safety of battery

In recent years, IMDEA Materials has consolidated an efficient proposal preparation model, maximising the institute’s competitiveness in national and international calls.

The scientific quality and relevance of the proposals submitted is also aligned closely with European priorities and technological challenges.

You can find out more about the results of this year’s call here: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/news/msca-awards-eu4043-million-to-postdoctoral-researchers