Call for PhD Studentships 2024 with 3750 applications

Applications for the 2024 Call for PhD Research Studentships from the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) closed on April 18. A total of 3,750 applications were submitted, an increase of 6.4% on the previous year's edition. Of these, 3,147 were submitted to the general application line and 603 to the specific non-academic application line. The latter line, which has been a focus of FCT in the three most recent editions of the Call, saw an increase of 36.7% in the number of applications submitted compared to the previous edition, which demonstrates the growing interest of applicants in this line of funding. The 2024 edition of this Call aims to award 1,500 Studentships, 450 of which will be in a non-academic environment.

Of the total number of applications submitted, 55% were from women and 45% from men, and the average age of the applicants was 31, which is in line with the trend seen in recent years in FCT-supported Studentships . Among the types of Studentships submitted, 3,133 are Studentships whose programs will be held in Portugal; 535 are mixed Studentships , to be held in Portugal and abroad; and 82 will be held only abroad.

Within the general application line, the scientific area of Social Sciences gathered the most applications (23%), followed by Engineering and Technology (22%), Humanities (19%), Medical and Health Sciences (13%), Natural Sciences (11%), Exact Sciences (8%) and Agricultural Sciences (4%). In terms of specific applications in a non-academic environment, Engineering Sciences and Technology also had the most applicants (39%), followed by Medical and Health Sciences (19%), Social Sciences (10%), Natural Sciences (9%), Humanities (9%), Agricultural Sciences (8%) and Exact Sciences (6%).

In the line of specific applications in a non-academic environment, companies represent around half of the host entities identified, with the other half being made up of other public and private entities, mainly public administration entities, State Laboratories, collaborative laboratories, health-related entities, museums, associations, Technology and Innovation Centers, etc.

The FCT's Doctoral Research Studentships are competitively awarded subsidies to support research work plans in all areas of knowledge, in order to enable candidates to carry out research leading to a doctoral degree, financed by the State Budget and the European Social Fund. These Studentships allow doctoral students to devote themselves exclusively to their research, thus contributing to the country's scientific and technological development. Currently, the FCT has around 7,000 doctoral Studentships underway, and 21,05 new doctoral Studentships were started in 2023.

It is estimated that the provisional results of this Call will be available at the beginning of August 2024, with the definitive results expected to appear during the month of November.

With the Studentships now on Call, the FCT's support will correspond to an estimated annual investment of around 25M€, plus the payment of tuition fees to the institutions that award doctoral degrees, the personal accident insurance that the scholarship holders benefit from, and also the assumption of the costs resulting from contributions to the 1st tier for all scholarship holders who join the voluntary social insurance scheme. Overall, it is estimated that FCT's annual investment in awarding these new Studentships will be around 31 M€.

All the information about the 2024 edition of the FCT Studentships Call is constantly being updated on the respective Call pages: General application line and Specific application line in a non-academic environment.