Evaluation and Multiannual Financing of Academic Clinical Centers 2022

The Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation (AICIB) has communicated the provisional results of the first evaluation and multi-annual funding of the Clinical Academic Centers (CAC) to all applicants.

The external evaluation of the CACs is coordinated by the FCT, which has delegated it to the AICIB together with the Central Administration of the Health System, I.P. (ACSS), in close coordination with the Agency for the Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES), the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) and after hearing the National Council of Clinical Academic Centers (CNCAC).

The application submission period ran from January 10 to April 11 of this year, in accordance with the terms of Notice of the Call Call. Twelve applications from the respective CACs were submitted and accepted for funding, with seven applications provisionally selected, representing a total investment of 1.4 million euros, supported by national funds from the FCT budget. The provisional list of projects recommended for funding under the Call is available here.

An independent evaluation panel, made up of five (5) evaluators of internationally recognized merit and competence, was responsible for evaluating the applications and drawing up the overall rating and funding proposal. Each proposal was evaluated and rated based on 3 criteria: a) merit of the institutional articulation; b) value of the collaboration; and c) collaborative organization, and it was proposed to fund the applications that obtained an overall rating equal to or higher than "sufficient" (2.5 points), on a scale of 0 to 5, as provided for in the Evaluation Guide.

The evaluation process involved an analysis of the applications, a public presentation of the CACs followed by a discussion with the evaluation panel and a face-to-face evaluation, with the evaluation panel visiting each CAC during the months of September and October.

The prior hearing period is currently underway, as enshrined in the Code of Administrative Procedure in force, and provided for in Article 16(1) of Regulation 735/2021, which establishes the terms of the external evaluation of clinical academic centers.