FCT Mobility

The FCT Mobility programme is designed to support the international mobility of researchers. The programme will fund medium and long-term stays for national doctoral researchers in foreign institutions, and for foreign doctoral researchers in national institutions, with a view to carrying out research and/or fieldwork activities.

This programme is an important contribution to promote and strengthen the internationalisation of the national scientific and technological system, which increasingly depends on its international attractiveness and active participation in international collaborative networks. At least 185 mobilities are expected to be supported under this programme, to be contracted by 31 March 2026.

The programme has two modalities: FCT Mobility outgoing (which supports the stay of national researchers in foreign institutions) and FCT Mobility incoming (aimed at hosting researchers affiliated with foreign institutions in Portugal to carry out joint scientific activities).

Researchers affiliated as integrated members of national Research Units or with a contractual relationship with an Associated Laboratory may apply for financial support to carry out scientific research in foreign institutions or to host researchers affiliated with foreign institutions to carry out research in Research Units located in mainland Portugal and in the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira.

Applications can be permanently submitted from 7 November 2024 until 5pm on 31 December 2025 (mainland Portugal time) or until the programme's maximum allocation is reached (whichever comes first).

The proposals must be submitted by filling in a specific form in English, which can be accessed electronically at https://concursosfct.formstack.com/forms/fct_mobility. For more information, see the Call for Proposals.

Proposals will be assessed by a panel of evaluators made up of experts affiliated to foreign institutions, idoneous,  independent, and of recognised merit, to be appointed by the FCT.

There are 4 assessment criteria for each of the modalities:

A) Merit of the applicant researcher

B) Merit of the work plan

C) Impact of the mobility plan on the development and consolidation of the applicant's career

D) Merit of the host conditions (outgoing modality)

E) Merit of the visiting researcher coming to work with the applicant researcher (incoming modality).

The final classification (FC) of the mobility proposal is obtained by:

FC = 0,35 A + 0,25 B + 0,15C + 0,25 (D or E).

The evaluation of the proposals will be ensured at least once every three months, and these dates will be communicated on the FCT website. The provisional results of the call will be announced up to one month after the respective evaluation moments, although the possibility of adopting a faster evaluation procedure for ‘outgoing’ projects with a mobility period of 5 months or less remains open.

Support under this call will be financed by investment RE-C06-i06 - ‘Science Plus Capacity’ of the RRP (Recovery and Resilience Plan). The total budget for this call for proposals is €5,000,000 (five million euros), which corresponds entirely to funds from the RRP.

The maximum funding per financial support is €27,027.00 (twenty-seven thousand and twenty-seven euros).

The support to be granted under this notice is non-refundable. The funding rate is 100 per cent of the investment considered eligible. The funding is transferred in a single instalment at the start of the mobility period.

Considering the available funding and the maximum funding per mobility, the minimum number of mobilities to be supported is expected to be 185 (one hundred and eighty-five), accounted for through contracts made within the RRP's eligibility time horizon. If the funding per mobility is less than €27,027.00 (twenty-seven thousand and twenty-seven euros), mobility plans will be supported until the available sum of €5,000,000.00 (five million euros) is exhausted.

This call for applications is governed by the Call for Proposals Notice, by the Regulamento de Apoios Especiais, approved by Regulation 788/2023 of the 20th of July, in its current wording (Annex B), and by other applicable national and EU legislation.

It is recommended the full reading of all application support documentation made available at www.fct.pt.

Information on the Final Beneficiaries and the implementation of the operations will be reported by the FCT to the Recover Portugal Mission Structure, in accordance with the provisions of Annex III of the financing contract signed between the two organisations for INVESTMENT RE-C06-i06 - ‘Science Plus Capacity Building’. The following RRP Technical Guidelines, available at https://recuperarportugal.gov.pt/orientacoes-tecnicas/, must also be complied with.

Orientação Técnica n. º 3/2023 - General rules for the application of European funds allocated to Portugal through the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).

Orientação Técnica n. º 8/2023 - ARACHE Tool - Mitigating the Risks of Conflicts of Interest, Fraud, Corruption and Double Funding.

Orientação Técnica n. º 11/2023 - Mitigating the Risk of Double Funding - RRP Beneficiaries.

Orientação Técnica n. º 12/2023 - Mitigating the Risk of Conflicts of Interest - RRP Beneficiaries.

Information about the Call for Proposals Notice should be requested via e-mail to: fct.mobility@fct.pt.

Note: No information published on this page replaces or overrides the Call for Proposals Notice.