FCT awards 1,550 new Studentships for Doctorates

The FCT today announced the provisional results of Call the Award of Studentships Doctorates 2025. A total of 4,169 applications were received, of which 4,117 were accepted for evaluation, with 1,550 Studentships proposed for funding, corresponding to an overall approval rate of 37% of the applications submitted.

In this Call, 1,000 Studentships are awarded Studentships the general academic context application line and 550 in the specific non-academic environment application line, which supports doctorates developed in close collaboration between academia and other entities, such as companies, public administration entities, social, health, and cultural sectors, interface institutions, among others. Compared to Call (2024), 22% more Studentships are awarded Studentships specific non-academic environment line, in line with the 21.7% increase in the number of applications for this type of Studentships.

The total investment planned for this Call around €133 million, supported by funds from the State Budget and, where eligible, by revenue from the European Social Fund, through the Demography, Qualifications, and Inclusion Program (PDQI).

In this edition, the process of contracting Studentships be handled by the contracting institutions—institutions belonging to the National Scientific and Technological System (SCTN)—which had to associate themselves with the applications for their validation.

The evaluation process involved the participation of 537 evaluators, distributed across 38 evaluation panels, who analyzed, classified, and ranked the applications in each panel. Of the total number of panels, 33 corresponded to the various scientific areas and sub-areas covered by Call general Call for Call, aimed at applications involving research activities carried out in an academic environment, and five covered the scientific areas covered by applications in a non-academic environment.

The distribution of the number of Studentships panel was determined based on a ratio proportional to the number of applications submitted in each panel, in any of the application categories.

Studentships research will be carried out entirely in Portuguese institutions account for 83% of the total, 16% of Studentships mixed (part in Portuguese institutions and part in foreign institutions) and only 1% will be carried out entirely in foreign institutions.

Of the selected candidates, 76% are Portuguese nationals. In total, candidates from 46 countries have been proposed for funding, with Brazilian, Italian, Iranian, Chinese, and Spanish nationals standing out among the foreign candidates.

Of the candidates who achieved the minimum merit threshold for funding, women accounted for 58% and men for 42%, similar to the previous edition of this Call.

In the general application line, 25% of Studentships in the field of Social Sciences, 21% in Engineering and Technology Sciences, and 18% in the Humanities, with the remaining scientific fields represented by percentages below 13%. In the specific application line in a non-academic environment, 38% of Studentships within the areas of Engineering and Technology Sciences, 21% in the areas of Medical and Health Sciences, 13% in Social Sciences, with the remaining scientific areas represented by percentages below 9%.

The provisional results of Call communicated to all applicants, who now have access to the comments justifying the rating assigned to their application. If they disagree with the proposed decision, they may submit a statement at a preliminary hearing of interested parties, by the deadline indicated on the page for each line of Call, which will be analyzed by the respective evaluation panel. The final results of Call announced by FCT by the beginning of November 2025.

Studentships will begin on the first day of the month indicated by the candidate in the contract, between September 1, 2025, and August 1, 2026. Whenever the contract is signed after the start of the research work funded by Studentship, Studentships will be paid retroactively.

The Call PhD Studentships is held annually and is part of the FCT's major Calls . For information on other funding opportunities for PhD Studentships , within the scope of FCT collaboration protocols and partnerships with R&D units and other entities, or other funding alternatives for advanced training, such as the Doutor AP initiative aimed at strengthening internal skills in public administration, we suggest regularly consulting the FCT website and the Euraxess portal.