FCT Tenure - 1st Edition

FCT-Tenure aims to support scientific employment plans and the development of sustainable scientific careers in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), state laboratories, and other scientific institutions by encouraging the opening of Calls for entry into teaching and research careers and the increasing stabilization of researchers' employment relationships.

It is expected that 1,400 positions will be opened by 2025, of which 1,000 are for Call 1st Call , whose Notice was published on November 2, 2023, and 400 for Call launched in 2025 (2nd Edition).

Yes. The program is intended to be biennial, serving as a new tool to promote the professional stabilization of researchers and their lines of research, as well as to create a more attractive and sustainable career path for researchers in the early stages of their careers.

No. The creation of FCT-Tenure will mean the end of the Institutional CEEC as it was originally conceived, concentrating resources on funding more attractive and sustainable careers, while also avoiding the proliferation of funding instruments.

Yes. Research careers or equivalent careers will be funded for six years, while teaching careers will only be funded for three years.

This corresponds to the institution or institutions where the researcher hired in a permanent position will perform their duties. It should be noted that under the Call , while FCT co-funding lasts, no changes to host institutions will be permitted.

All entities involved in the production, dissemination, and transmission of knowledge, whether national or international, are considered academic, including public and private higher education institutions, R&D units, Associate Laboratories international entities based in Portugal, as well as other private non-profit institutions whose main purpose is R&D activities. Non-academic host institutions are considered to be all entities not included in the academic environment, as characterized above.

Yes.

The evaluation of the program will take into account: i) the number of permanent positions filled; ii) the number of researchers stabilized in the SNCT; iii) the percentage of the execution rate by institutions of the volume of funding allocated to the Program.

The Contracting Institution may only submit one application. However, several FCT-Tenure positions may be requested in the application.

Each position requested must be linked to at least one host institution, which may be the contracting institution itself, and up to three additional institutions.

Although the same Contracting Institution may delegate access to complete the application to several representatives, the first application submission made on myFCT will prevent the submission of other applications by the same Contracting Institution and its representatives.

All fixed-term contracts, whether definite or indefinite, and Studentship contracts are eligible, provided they were entered into after obtaining a doctoral degree and with an institution belonging to the National Science and Technology System.

There is no minimum duration requirement for fixed-term contracts to be eligible for FCT-Tenure co-funding.

No. The FCT-Tenure program treats the integration of PhDs into research or teaching careers equally. While FCT support is in effect, the program requires the same maximum limit of 4 hours per week of teaching time in both careers. In this way, the program considers applications for both careers based on the scientific research activities they have in common, while ensuring a significant level of autonomy in the management of career positions within the strategic plans of each institution after the program's financial support ends.

Yes. Synergies between the contracting institutions and the objectives, strategies, activity plan, and organization of Research Units and Associate Laboratories will be valued in the evaluation. In such cases, the "UI Chair" modality has the advantage, compared to positions not classified as such, that the UI (or LA) itself includes a letter of commitment, proving alignment with the UI or LA strategy. This letter of commitment must be written in English and submitted for each position, and made available to the members of the evaluation panel. In the case of Research Units, these strategic objectives should correspond to the objectives to be submitted in the application for the 2024 R&D Unit Evaluation process. In the case of LAs, it may correspond to the strategy indicated in Call last Call the Attribution of Status and Funding to Associated Laboratories 2020. UI chairs also ensure commitment and shared responsibilities between the contracting institutions and a UI in the design of Calls and respective juries) to be launched under the FCT-tenure program. This assessment is independent of the career (teaching or research) chosen by the contracting institution.

Yes. Synergies between the contracting academic institution and non-academic entities will be valued in the evaluation process through the "Non-Academic Chair" modality, with a view to promoting collaborations and research programs developed in collaboration with the business and social fabric, in a broad sense, which includes companies, public, social, health, and cultural entities. Examples of such entities include companies, hospitals, museums, libraries, and third sector entities. In this case, the non-academic institution will co-finance the doctoral researcher's salary with a minimum of 1/3 of the salary for at least a period of three years. Non-academic chairs funded under the FCT-Tenure program will also be supported through a Studentship in a non-academic environment funded by the FCT. This modality is independent of the career (teaching or research) chosen by the contracting institution.

Yes, provided that the researcher has benefited from a Studentship or a fixed-term contract as a doctoral student at an institution belonging to the National Science and Technology System.