RESTART Programme

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), along with its commitment to promote the advancement of scientific and technological knowledge, based on high international standards of quality and competitiveness, intends to promote gender equality in R&D activities and careers, inseparable from equal opportunities for the entire national scientific community. With this goal, the FCT launches the RESTART programme.

In the careers of researchers, and with greater incidence on researchers in the early stages of their careers, parenthood creates additional challenges, with impacts ranging from scientific production to the management of teams and projects, to the attraction of funding, and may influence career horizons and the planning of research paths.

Contributing to enable a competitive return to research activities under new circumstances, RESTART will support female and male researchers in the pursuit and development of an original and innovative research idea, with the possibility of associating other human and/or material resources to it, according to the funding made available and the execution time foreseen.

National, foreign, and stateless researchers who meet the following requirements at the deadline for submission of applications may apply, with the commitment of the host institution:

1. hold a doctoral degree;
2. be a doctoral integrated member of an R&D Unit, or have a contractual link with a State Laboratory;
3. have taken parental leave, including adoption leave, of 120 days or more, or have taken shared parental leave, including adoption leave, of 72 days or more, within the last 12 months.

The time spans referred to in point iii., and which appear in section 2 of the Notice of the Call (Aviso de Abertura), have as reference the opening date of Call (February 15, 2023).

In the case of researchers holding a research fellowship (“bolsa”), they may submit as proof of parental leave a declaration from the hiring institution stating the suspension of the research activities funded by the respective fellowship, for a period equivalent to that referred to in iii). For fellowships whose hiring institution is, or has been, FCT, and in order to simplify the application submission process, the submission of this statement may be replaced by simply indicating the reference of the respective FCT fellowship.

Applications whose recipient researcher is PI or Co-PI of ongoing projects funded by FCT, as of September 1, 2023, will not be eligible.

In order not to exclude any potential candidate for the RESTART Programme in what regards the number of parental leave days eligibility condition, we invite you to send us any doubts that still subsist to the email restart@fct.pt. In your message, you can also request a phone or video-call with a FCT staff person.

Applications must be submitted by filling out, in English, a specific form that will be avilable electronically on the myFCT portal.

The evaluation criteria for the RESTART program will be the following

i) Scientific quality, innovative nature and feasibility of the proposed research plan,

ii) Merit of the applicant and adequacy of the profile to the proposed research plan,

and  iii) Impact of the research project execution on the researcher’s career development.

Proposals will be supported with a maximum duration of 18 months of development and a maximum limit of 50.000 euros of funding per project. For this call, a total budget of 1,25 million euros is predicted.

R&D Units financed by the FCT’s Pluriannual Funding Programme, State Laboratories, and Associated Laboratories with approved statute.

In case of host institutions without legal personality, the beneficiary entity will be the institution with legal personality in which they are integrated.

For a set of frequently asked questions and eligibility scenarios about this program, please refer to the FAQ page of RESTART Programme.