3rd edition of the Call Advanced Computing Projects

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through its FCCN unit, will open applications for the 3rd edition of the Call for Advanced Computing Projects on October 25th. This Call aims to consolidate and strengthen the national technological and scientific system through Advanced Computing resources for Research and Innovation in collaboration with four operational centers - the Minho Advanced Computing Centre (MACC), the University of Coimbra's Advanced Computing Laboratory (LCA-UC), the University of Évora's High Performance Computing (HPC-UÉ) and the National Distributed Computing Infrastructure (INCD).

The Call is for 36 million CPU core.hours or vCPU.hours on platforms of the National Network for Advanced Computing (RNCA). Applications will be accepted in all scientific areas using High Performance Computing (HPC) and/or scientific Cloud or Virtual Research Environments (VRE) in three different types: Experimental Access (A0), Preparatory or Development Access (A1) and Project or Regular Access (A2). Each of these types has a maximum number of hours of use and project duration.

For Project Access (A2), applications will be open until December 15, 2022. The remaining two accesses, A0 and A1, will be available in several batches of submissions until May 31, 2023 or until the available resources are exhausted.

The Call for Advanced Computing Projects seeks to encourage the use of HPC and Scientific Cloud or VRE computing resources to obtain new knowledge that will enable scientific and technological progress in all areas of knowledge. These resources could be useful for simulations in areas as diverse as climate or molecular modeling, artificial intelligence and the study of complex problems in the creation of new materials or the improvement of industrial production lines. This edition features a new access mode - Virtual Research Environments (VRE) - which aims to respond to the need for collaboration between researchers from one or more organizations through cloud computing.

The previous editions have so far made more than 70 million CPU core.hours or vCPU.hours available on RNCA platforms. There have been more than 30 scientific publications and 60 Master's or PhD theses associated with projects approved under these Calls.

All the information about the Call - types, deadlines and application process - can be found on the FCT website and on the RNCA website.

An online information session about the Call will be held on November 3, 2022 at 11:30 a.m. You can register here.