FCT released provisional results of Call

Today, August 14, FCT announced the provisional results of Call . This is FCT's first funding instrument to support the hiring of researchers exclusively in career positions.

The potential impact of this new program designed by FCT led to the decision, in the current legislative session, to increase the number of available positions by 10%. A total of 1,100 permanent positions were thus defined.

With a total budgeted investment of €197 million, FCT-Tenure benefits from State Budget funds, as well as from the RE-C06-i06 – Science Plus Training investment, financed by the PRR.

A total of 115 institutions from the national scientific and technological system applied for co-financing for 2,211 positions. Each institution was invited to submit its scientific and innovation strategy for the coming years, as well as the justification for each profile and scientific areas to be strengthened and/or developed with the contracts to be concluded.

Of the total number of positions provisionally selected for funding, 988 are for the categories of assistant researcher, assistant professor, and adjunct professor, 105 for the categories of associate professor and principal investigator, and 7 for the categories of coordinating researcher and full professor. The universe of positions recommended for funding includes 702 positions in the research career and 398 in the teaching career. Of these, 34% fall within the Exact Sciences and Engineering, 36% within the Life Sciences, and 30% within the Social Sciences and Humanities.

Through the FCT-Tenure program, a total of 71 contracting institutions will benefit from funding, including universities, polytechnic institutes, research units, Associate Laboratories, state laboratories, public administration entities, and other non-academic entities. Overall, the positions proposed for funding also involved the establishment of a variety of partnerships in various configurations, with around three hundred scientific institutions and non-academic entities.

Of the 1,100 positions provisionally selected for funding, 811 were submitted under the "Chairs" category (Research Unit Chairs and Non-Academic Chairs), explicitly emphasizing strategic partnerships and synergies between the contracting institution and other institutions, which include the sharing of responsibilities and scientific objectives between different institutions and entities.

The evaluation process for this edition of Call the participation of 208 international evaluators from 25 different countries, distributed across a coordination and evaluation panel for institutional strategy and 12 scientific evaluation panels for each of the 2,211 positions.

The details of each application's results can be consulted by each institution on the myFCT platform, with the period for submitting preliminary hearings running until September 12. After the preliminary hearings have been analyzed, the final results will be publicly announced, with the 1,100 permanent positions to be co-financed by the FCT.

This program will finance the integration of researchers, both in research and teaching careers, through Calls . The FCT will co-finance two-thirds of the salary costs in the first three years for both careers and one-third in the second three-year period, if the hiring is done within the scope of a research career or equivalent, regardless of the category in which the researcher is hired.

FCT-Tenure marks the beginning of a new model of scientific employment funding by FCT. Respecting and promoting the strategic autonomy of institutions, it seeks to create a career perspective for researchers, valuing both research and teaching careers in the research activities that support them. The program replaces the FCT's model of funding senior researchers with fixed-term contracts with their stabilization in career positions, allowing the usual Call Stimulating Scientific Employment to focus on the early stages of careers.

The new scientific employment model and the FCT-Tenure program are also aligned with the principles underlying the proposal for the new Scientific Research Career Statute (ECIC), currently under discussion for submission to the Portuguese Parliament, contributing to more sustainable and attractive career models at all stages of a scientific research career.