Foundation for Science and Technology reinforces support for research in all areas of knowledge

On December 22, 2023, the Calls for R&D Projects in all Scientific Domains were launched: scientific research and technological development projects (IC&DT) and exploratory projects (PeX). With an overall budget of 140 million euros and expected support for more than 880 research projects, applications for the two Calls are open until February 16, 2024 and adopt, for the first time, the simplified cost methodology.

The 2023Call for scientific research and technological development (IC&DT) projects in all scientific fields will support a universe of more than 480 projects lasting up to 36 months and with maximum funding of 250,000 euros per project. Compared to the 2022 Call , the budget allocation increases from 55 to 120 million euros in 2023 (118% more). This Call is financed by FCT via the State Budget, and co-financed through European funds by COMPETE 2030 and the Regional Operational Programs for the North, Centre, Lisbon, Alentejo and Algarve, promoting synergies between various sources of funding for national scientific research. More information here.

The Call for exploratory projects in all scientific fields - 2023 will support projects lasting 18 months, with maximum funding of 50,000 euros per project. The budget allocation is 20 million euros (with exclusively national funds, provided by FCT) to support a universe of more than 400 projects. More information here.

The process of evaluating R&D Units (UI) will begin in January 2024, and the current funding will be extended to 2024, as approved by the Council of Ministers on December 21, 2023. The budget available for each UI to execute in 2024 will be communicated shortly and will be at least 25% of the funding allocated in the 2020-2023 period, taking into account the amount of balance not executed by December 31, 2023 and/or the amount of reinforcement requested for 2024.

In 2023, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) continued with its mission to promote the advancement of scientific and technological knowledge in Portugal. Calls, programs and initiatives were launched to promote support for research in science, technology and innovation in all areas of knowledge:

• The first edition of RESTART, to support researchers and those returning from parental leave, approved 31 projects in all scientific fields, with overall funding of €1.5 million.
• FCT-Tenure, the new FCT funding instrument for stabilizing researchers in career positions, has been launched. It will run every two years and two editions are already planned. The first edition of FCT-Tenure will co-finance the hiring of up to 1,000 PhD researchers, exclusively for permanent positions, with an additional 400 positions expected to be opened in the 2025 edition.
• The new ERC-Portugal program was launched, already containing two axes - ERC-PT A-Projects and ERC-PT Pre-Assessment - and another axis will be launched in the first quarter of 2024, ERC-PT Careers, covering all phases of European Research Council funding.
• The Call Stimulate Scientific Employment - Institutional (Associate Laboratories) approved 36 applications for funding and awarded 120 contractual positions to doctoral graduates, corresponding to a total financial investment of 41.3 M€.
• The provisional results of the 6th edition of the Call Stimulate Scientific Employment - Individual, in which 400 new work contracts are awarded to researchers with doctorates in all scientific areas and which represent a financial investment of around 126 million euros, are now known.
• The Call for PhD ResearchStudentships in All Scientific Fields 2023 awarded 1488 new PhD research Studentships , 332 of which were in a non-academic environment. The investment associated with these Studentships is 115.3 M€.
• A number of digital services were made available, including a 15-fold increase in the computing capacity directly made available by the FCT to national researchers through two new supercomputers, Deucalion and MareNostrum 5.
• Cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries was strengthened through the Call Doctoral Studentships in all scientific fields within the scope of PALOP Cooperation (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe) and East Timor, which provides for the award of 30 doctoral Studentships designed to support research in these countries.
• As part of the R&D projects, the Calls for the National Study of Gypsy Communities and "The 25th of April and Portuguese Democracy" are underway, with a budget of €200,000 and €500,000, respectively.
• Synergies were deepened with other government areas for the development of R&D activities and the creation of new knowledge, through: i) Call for Studies on Science for Public Policies - Science4Policy, with a budget allocation of 1M€, funded by PlanAPP - the Public Administration Planning, Policy and Foresight Competence Center; ii) Memorandum of Understanding with the Institute for Financial Management and Justice Equipment to support advanced training and the development of research projects of relevance to the area of Justice; iii) Launch of the "Health+Science" program, with a budget allocation of 9.4 million euros to promote scientific and technological cooperation between higher education institutions, research centers and entities under the supervision of the Ministry of Health; iv) Approval of the "Defense+Science" program, with an allocation of 8 million euros to promote scientific research and innovation in the area of national defense.
• In addition to these synergies with other areas of government, in 2023 FCT became, for the first time, a beneficiary of the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), guaranteeing funding of 93 million euros for the Science+Digital and Science+Capacity Building programs.
• Also noteworthy is the effort to simplify administration, both in terms of submitting applications and by adopting a simplified management system once funding has been awarded, which began with the RESTART Programme and was further developed in the two Calls projects in all scientific fields in 2023.
• As part of the new transparency policy, "FCT in numbers" was launched, giving the entire national scientific community access to FCT's databases, which are constantly updated.
• FCT has also aligned its evaluation processes with the best international practices, while promoting more qualitative, robust and integrated evaluation methodologies. Among other changes, we highlight the inclusion of the narrative CV format, for a comprehensive, inclusive and effective assessment of the careers of researchers working in Portugal.