2023 Call for PhD Studentships – Specific Line of Application in a Non-academic Environment

Within the scope of the pursuit of a public policy for advanced training based on research with social relevance, the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT) opens a Call for granting PhD studentships complying with the provisions of the FCT Regulation for Studentships and Fellowships (RBI) and the Research Fellowship Holder Statute, according to the respective current versions. In addition to the applications in all scientific areas and with research work to be carried out in scientific and academic institutions, to be submitted in the regular line of application (for further details, consult the page dedicated to this line of funding), this call opens a specific line of application for PhD studentships in which work plans are partially carried out in one or more non-academic entities. In 2023, FCT will thus reinforce the connection between work plans developed in an academic environment and the business and social network, in a broad sense, which includes companies, public, social, health, cultural or other interface institutions.

PhD studentships in this specific line of application are aimed at applicants enrolled, or that comply with the requirements to enrol for PhD studies, and who wish to carry out research towards this degree, in which the work plans are developed during a considerable period of the studentship in non-academic entities; a length of stay of at least 12 months (consecutive or interpolated) in the same non-academic host institution with activity in Portugal must be ensured.

The Call is open from March 1st to 5:00 pm (Lisbon time) March 31st, 2023.

Applications, and the respective supporting documents described in the RBI and in this Notice of the Call, must be submitted online using exclusively the available application form at: https://myfct.fct.pt, selecting the specific line of application in a non-academic environment and clicking on “start application”. Applications, or any additional information, submitted by other means will not be accepted.

Portuguese citizens, citizens of EU member states and citizens from third-party states, stateless citizens and citizens beneficiaries of political refugee status can apply.

To apply, applicants need to:

• Be a citizen permanently and usually living in Portugal in case the work plan will be carried out entirely or partially at foreign institutions (both in Portugal and abroad or entirely abroad); this requirement applies to both national and foreign citizens.
• Not have held any prior PhD or PhD in Industry studentship directly funded by FCT, of any duration;
• Not to hold a doctoral degree.

The remaining admissibility requirements must be consulted in point 4 of the Notice of the Call, noting that point 4.3 refers to additional application’s admissibility requirements in this specific line in a non-academic environment.

Evaluation of applications is performed by evaluation panels comprising experts with recognized experience and scientific merit. Applications are graded from zero (0.00, minimum) to five (5.00, maximum) in three evaluation criteria:

A. Merit of the Applicant;

B. Merit of the Work Plan;

C. Merit of the Hosting Conditions.

The relative weights of three criteria are 30%, 40%, 30%, respectively.

The merit of the applicant is evaluated based on two sub-criteria: academic career, with a relative weight of 50% and personal curriculum, also with a relative weight of 50%.

Applicant’s personal curriculum is analysed in an integrated manner, considering a global view of scientific and professional achievements.

Assessment of the work plan and of the host institution conditions is based on a duly substantiated assessment decision by the review panel. In this application line, the expected contribution of the non-academic entities in the work plan execution, as well as the relevance of the work plan to the objectives and activity areas of those entities, shall be considered in sub-criterion C3 – Framing of the non-academic entity(ies) in the context of the work plan, which will have a minimum relative weigh of 50% within the scope of criterion C – Merit of the Hosting Conditions.

Applications will be ranked according to the weighted average of the score obtained in the three evaluation criteria, and in the following order of precedence, for tie-breaking purposes: criterion C (Merit of the Hosting Conditions), criterion B (Merit of the Work Plan) and criterion A (Merit of the Applicant).

Applicants whose application is scored with a final grade lower than 3.000 are not eligible for studentship granting.

The procedures regarding the evaluation of applications must be consulted in the Evaluation Guide.

Selected applicants will have monthly allowances and supplementary support, according to the established in the Regulation (RBI), which may include tuition fees, support for complementary training activities or presentation of work at scientific meetings, personal accident insurance and, when applicable, travel and relocation costs.

The studentships granted in this call will be financed by FCT using the State Budget fund and, whenever eligible, using the European Social Fund (ESF), under the Programa Demografia, Qualificações e Inclusão (PDQI), according to the respective requirements.

Information about the call, namely questions related to the application procedure or the application form, may be requested through the e-mail address: info.bolsas@fct.pt.

For questions related to the creation and management of CVs, CIÊNCIAVITAE platform has a helpdesk available through the email: info@cienciavitae.pt.