Program to attract and retain researchers with ERC projects already funded (ongoing or recently completed) to take up permanent positions in institutions of the National System of Science and Technology and Higher Education.
In addition to ERC PT - Careersthe ERC-Portugal program includes two more axes: the ERC-PT Pre-assessment and ERC-PT A Projects.
Objectives and Scope
The European Research Council (ERC) annually launches funding opportunities for researchers with high standards and rigor in the evaluation and selection processes. Researchers with funding obtained in these processes, with highly competitive profiles at an international level, offer a unique potential for training the institutions that make up the National Science and Technology System (SNCT) and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
In this context, FCT creates a new program to attract these researchers to permanent positions in research and higher education institutions in Portugal – ERC-PT Careers – financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR). The ERC-Portugal Program fits into the resilience dimension of the PRR, and in particular the “RE-C06-i06 – Science Plus Training” component, contributing to modernizing and deepening the production and transfer of knowledge in all its various cycles.
The program will encourage the development of the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, with a focus on supporting fundamental research, promoting knowledge transfer, or strengthening intersectoral collaboration. It also adds, to the ERC-Portugal program, objectives and financing associated with attracting talent , including attracting more international investment in science, technology and innovation, and strengthening national R&D capacity within the scope of European research and innovation programs . This funding is intended to serve as an incentive for SNCT or HEI institutions to recruit researchers whose projects are recommended for funding by the European Research Council, contributing to modernizing and deepening the production and transfer of knowledge in all its various cycles.
To these attraction objectives, ERC-PT Careers adds a dimension of talent retention , also promoting the stabilization, in permanent positions, of researchers who are already developing their activity in Portugal. The ERC-PT Careers Program will thus contribute to the objective of raising and consolidating the level of excellence of research carried out in Portugal, simultaneously promoting the sustainability of research teams and their responsible researchers. It will also provide the SNCT with greater capacity to achieve the ambitious national objective of doubling, in the period 2021-2027 and compared to 2014-2020, the capture of funding in European Programs, attracting around two billion euros in funding from the European Union in the areas of Research and Innovation.
This Program is also aligned with the May 2021 Council Conclusions on the attractiveness and sustainability of research careers, adopted during the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Characterization and types of financing
ERC-PT Careers will function as a support instrument for national institutions that, cumulatively:
- Recruit, for an indefinite period of time, researchers with national or foreign affiliation responsible for ongoing or recently completed ERC projects;
- In the case of projects in progress, and at the date of submission of the expression of interest, be institutions hosting these projects.
The funding granted by the ERC-PT Careers Program is associated with the implementation phase of the ERC project of the researcher to be recruited, and is also extended to the recruitment of researchers who have completed their ERC projects less than 24 months ago. This promotes a specific modality of this Program – the new ERC-PT Follow-Up – which, under more advantageous conditions, establishes a more attractive parallel with the existing ERC instrument, Proof of Concept . In this way, and in a comprehensive way, the importance of enhancing the research carried out in ERC projects, in their various execution cycles, also including their subsequent phases, and even, when applicable, diversified levels of transfer of information is recognized. knowledge.
The ERC-PT Careers Program has two types of financing:
- ERC-PT Careers ATTRACT: this typology aims to encourage the recruitment, for permanent positions, of researchers with an ERC project in progress, or that was completed less than 2 years ago, who have foreign institutions as a host institution, and that transfer the execution of these projects to SNCT or IES institutions;
- ERC-PT Careers RETAIN: this typology aims to encourage the recruitment, for permanent positions, of Researchers in non-permanent positions in SNCT or HEI institutions and with an active ERC project or one that was completed less than 2 years ago;
A. ERC-PT Careers | ATTRACT
For the ATTRACT typology, financial support aims to cover the costs of the national institution for hosting projects that transition from foreign institutions.
The financing amounts depend on the execution time of the ERC project, between the beginning of the project and the moment in which the Researchers are recruited, for an indefinite period, by an SNCT or HEI institution. Therefore, depending on the time elapsed, the financing amounts are as indicated in the following table:
To calculate these time intervals, the start dates of the ERC project must be used, as indicated in the subsidy agreement, and the date of publication of the national institution's notice for contracting for an indefinite period.
B. ERC-PT Careers | RETAIN
For the RETAIN typology, funding will consist of an incentive to recruit researchers, with national affiliation, responsible for ERC projects underway or completed less than 24 months ago, restricted to the categories of the Scientific Research Career Statute (ECIC), of the Statute of the University Teaching Career (ECDU) or the Career Statute of Teaching Personnel of Polytechnic Higher Education (ECPDESP) indicated in the section “Conditions of access and eligibility” (paragraph d). This financial incentive is calculated as the value equivalent to 2 (two) years of salary costs for hires made under the three career statutes mentioned.
Final Beneficiaries
The following institutions are final beneficiaries:
- Higher education institutions.
- R&D institutions with legal personality.
This category includes non-business entities in the Research and Development (R&D) system, namely:- Higher Education Institutions, their Institutes and R&D Units;
- Associate Laboratories ;
- State Laboratories;
- International laboratories based in Portugal;
- Private non-profit institutions, whose main purpose is R&D activities;
- Collaborative Laboratories;
- Technology and Innovation Centers.
- In the case of R&D Units without legal personality, applications must be submitted by the institution with legal personality, of which they are part, and by the head of the same institution.
Period for submitting applications
The period for submitting applications is open permanently until 5 pm, Lisbon time, on December 31, 2025, or until the maximum program allocation of €11,781,424 is completed, whichever occurs first. Monthly eligibility checks are carried out on submitted expressions of interest.
If the maximum allocation is completed in one of the monthly application selection periods, funding will be allocated applying the criteria of prior submission date.
Contacts
Information on Call should be requested via email: ercpt@fct.pt. The FCT invites institutions interested in benefiting from this support to contact the FCT, (even if) at a preliminary stage of the research contracting process.