FCT has released the provisional results of Call 2023 Exploratory Call

On August 2, FCT announced the provisional results of Call Exploratory Projects in all scientific fields for 2023, corresponding to an investment of around €20 million, supported by national funds through the FCT budget.

This Call support at least 400 exploratory research projects (PEX), lasting 18 months, with a maximum funding of €50,000 per project, with an initial advance payment of 75% of the amount awarded.

The provisional success rate of Call 22% based on the number of applications accepted.

The PEX projects recommended for funding are distributed across the following scientific fields: Medical and Health Sciences – 22.1%, Engineering Sciences and Technologies – 17%, Natural Sciences – 15.5%, Social Sciences – 16.3%, Exact Sciences – 12.8%, Agricultural Sciences – 7.8%, and Humanities – 8.5%.

The principal investigators leading the funded projects are mostly women, representing 55% of the total. And of the total number of researchers, 16% are foreigners, from 21 nationalities, working in research centers in Portugal and leading 64 of the selected projects.

This Call several new features compared to previous ones:

1. For the first time, funded projects will benefit from the new lump sum model, representing a significant simplification of administrative procedures.
2. The narrative CV system was also adopted for the first time to enable a more qualitative and comprehensive assessment of the diversity of researchers' career paths.
3. Funded projects may also benefit from computing time on the Deucalion or MareNostrum 5 supercomputers, without requiring additional scientific evaluation.

Applications were accepted between December 22, 2023, and March 1, 2024. A Notice of the Call of 1,890 applications were submitted, of which 1,791 were accepted for evaluation, in accordance with the terms of Call Notice of the Call Call

The applications were evaluated by 33 evaluation panels from different scientific fields, with 364 evaluators affiliated with foreign institutions from 40 countries participating in this process.

The details of each application's results can be consulted by the Principal Investigator on the myFCT platform. Applicants who disagree with the proposed decision may submit their comments at a preliminary hearing of interested parties. After analysis, the final set of projects to be funded will be announced.