ERC-Portugal Program

The ERC-Portugal Program includes incentives and services covering the various cycles of national participation in Calls , from the preparation and submission of applications and intermediate evaluation stages (interviews) to incentives and training for future applications and the attraction and retention of researchers with research projects already funded by the ERC, either ongoing or recently completed.

ERC-Portugal is divided, in an integrated and complementary manner, into three main programs:

ERC-PT Pre-Assessment: support service for the national scientific community in preparing proposals to the ERC, through a pre-assessment model and suggestions for improvement, which mirrors the ERC's evaluation criteria and evaluator profiles, available in two formats;
ERC-PT A-Projects: incentive to build capacity for future ERC applications by funding the initial development of research projects that have already been evaluated with top ratings but were not selected for ERC funding;
ERC-PT Careers: attracting and retaining researchers with ERC-funded projects (ongoing or recently completed) to fill permanent positions in institutions within the National Science and Technology System and Higher Education.

ERC-PT Pre-assessment

ERC-PT A-Projects

ERC-PT Careers

Objectives and scope

The European Research Council is a body that aims to fund the highest quality fundamental research in Europe through Calls for proposals aimed at researchers and their teams, supporting frontier and disruptive research in all fields of knowledge, with scientific excellence as the sole evaluation criterion.

Within the framework Calls , research carried out in Portugal secured 1.1% of the funding allocated in the previous H2020 Framework Program, corresponding to approximately €150 million. Although this is an excellent result, when compared to Widening countries with scientific communities similar in size to Portugal's, such as Greece or the Czech Republic, it is still below the performance of countries with around half the number of researchers (measured in FTE) such as Finland, Norway, or Ireland. Similarly, research in Portugal still performs below the European average in terms of the success rates of proposals submitted to the ERC (2013-2023: 7.8% vs. 12.2%), with some differences by scientific field (LS: 10.3% vs. 12.9%; PE: 6.1% vs. 12.3%; SH: 7.1% vs. 11.3%). Also noteworthy are some recent growth indicators, such as the number of projects approved in the Advanced Grant category (2013-2020: 8 vs. 2021-2023: 10) or the evolution of the same number in the SH field, which in the last three years has achieved more than half of the funding in projects than in the previous 14 years (2007-2020: 25 vs. 2021-2023: 13). This overview, in terms of its indicators and trends, represents, on the other hand, significant room for progress and a set of opportunities for Portuguese participation and its scientific community.

It is within this framework, and in collaboration with the national scientific community in developing these margins of progression, that FCT is reconfiguring the ERC-Portugal Program, deepening its innovative design within the European landscape, equipping it with a set of axes and instruments and an integrated architecture, designed to cover the various cycles of national participation in Calls .

ERC-Portugal responds to the following general objectives:

Increasing and strengthening the levels of participation of the national scientific community in a leading body in the European research context, thereby expanding the scope of institutional and geographical participation;
Improvement in the quality of national applications submitted and Portugal's competitiveness in Calls , resulting in an increase in success rates and levels of funding obtained by Portugal through its various instruments;
Creation of mechanisms that contribute to attracting researchers with highly competitive international profiles, while also promoting the stabilization and retention within the SNCT of researchers carrying out their activities in Portugal;
Strengthen or complement existing institutional support processes for preparing ERC applications in various scientific fields, with the highly specialized support of a College of Experienced Evaluators, all former members of ERC panels in various editions, covering all panels and scientific areas;
Add new types of services and dissemination activities made available by FCT to the national scientific community, particularly in the area of peer review;
Deepening and consolidating the levels of collaboration between FCT and the national scientific community through an innovative set of support tools and services made available in an integrated manner;
Contribute to the internationalization process of the national scientific community and SNCT institutions;
Develop a strategiccontinuum between national and European financing instruments;
Promotion of collaborative ecosystems, with an inclusive strategy, including the enhancement and transfer of knowledge at the intersectoral level.

Team

To serve the scientific community in the various areas of the Program, ERC-Portugal has a multidisciplinary team working in the following areas:

Mapping, characterization, analysis, and monitoring of national participation in ERC funding instruments, by scientific field and area, and institutional and geographical distribution.
Scientific support to the national scientific community, through the production of specialized support documents for the submission of applications to the various ERC instruments, both public and restricted, including on new evaluation methodologies to be implemented;
National representation on the ERC Program Committee;
Specialized scientific support in the area of peer review in the context of funding agencies and developments in evaluation processes, also translated into support for the preparation of applications or the organization of workshops and webinars, with the collaboration of the Annual College of Evaluators;
Actions to disseminate and promote ERC instruments and their rules, in the context of the work carried out by the National Contact Points;
Coordination and support for the activities of the Annual College of Evaluators, with a particular focus on the evolution of evaluation processes, including the updating of criteria and procedures implemented by the ERC;
Creation and implementation of a communication strategy, including the provision of updated data mapping and characterizing national participation in ERC instruments, dedicated news on ERC-Portugal program schedules and initiatives, or communication material about the national scientific community and its paths (including narrative formats, storytelling, etc.);
Management and administrative support, including managing and monitoring the submission of applications, eligibility verification and contracting processes, and the granting of funding.