3525 applications submitted to the FCT Call for PhD Studentships

The FCT Call of 2023 for the attribution of Studentships for PhD Research, which closed last Friday, 31 March, received 3525 applications. Of these, 3084 applications were submitted to the Regular Line of Application and 441 to the Specific Line of Application in a Non-academic Environment. This Call aims to grant 1450 Studentships and FCT expects to announce the provisional results of the evaluation of the applications next July.

Of the total number of applications submitted to the Call, 56% were submitted by women and 44% by men. Among the types of Studentships submitted, 2885 are Studentships whose programmes will be carried out in Portugal; 559 are mixed Studentships, with work plans to be carried out in Portugal and abroad; and 81 are Studentships to be carried out only abroad.

Within the regular line of application, the Social Sciences were the scientific area that gathered the most applications (24%), followed by Engineering and Technology Sciences (22%), Humanities (18%), Medical and Health Sciences (13%), Natural Sciences (11%), Exact Sciences (8%), and Agricultural Sciences (4%).

Within the specific line of application in a non-academic environment, Engineering and Technology Sciences attracted the most applicants (31%), followed by Social Sciences (17%), Medical and Health Sciences (17%), Agricultural Sciences (10%), Humanities (9%), Natural Sciences (9%), and Exact Sciences (6%).

In the specific line of application in a non-academic environment, and with regard to the characterisation of the non-academic entities which, in partnership with universities and research units, will host the applications submitted, 48% are companies, and 52% are distributed among museums, hospital centers, third sector entities, city councils, and other public institutions, showing the diversity of scientific paths and institutional configurations promoted under this FCT funding line, as well as the variety of institutions interested in hosting researchers and work plans with a high scientific and innovation profile. It should also be noted that all applications in a non-academic environment present at least one academic host institution, as well as an intersectoral orientation team, promoting greater proximity and more opportunities for collaboration between R&D institutions and the diversity of institutional contexts and activities with which their scientific areas relate.

The FCT Studentships for Research are competitively awarded grants to support advanced training in all areas of knowledge to obtain the academic degree of Doctor. These Studentships allow PhD students to dedicate themselves exclusively to their research, thus contributing to the scientific and technological development of the country. Currently, FCT has more than 7000 ongoing Studentships programmes, and in 2022, 2446 new Studentships programmes were initiaded.

In 2022, FCT support in the area of advanced training corresponded to an annual investment of about 110 M€. In addition to this funding, tuition fees are paid directly to the higher education institutions and the personal accident insurance that the grant recipients benefit from, which together represent an annual funding of approximately 17 M€.

All information about the FCT Call for PhD Studentships 2023 is published on the following call pages: Regular Line of Application and Specific Line of Application in a Non-academic Environment.