Additional funding mechanism to support higher education institutions announced by the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education

On Wednesday, January 10, the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education (MCTES) announced the creation of a funding mechanism to support the hiring of PhDs for scientific research careers in public higher education institutions (HEIs), with an allocation of €20 million. Despite the early interruption of the current legislative session, the urgency of implementing a program to support scientific employment remained, and following the approval of the State Budget for 2024, the Government is already discussing the criteria for allocating this funding with public higher education institutions.

The distribution of the amounts earmarked to support the hiring of researchers will be allocated to public HEIs, to reinforce their budget allocations for 2024, and exclusively for the permanent hiring of researchers. The amount per HEI will be proportional to the number of researchers hired by them, including those contracts through private law subsidiaries established or participated in by the HEI in question, under Decree-Law No. 57/2016, of August 29, in its current wording, under program contracts with the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), whose contracts expire in 2024, 2025, and 2026. All Calls research careers whose procedures—through the publication of the respective notices—have begun between July 31, 2023, and the end of the first half of 2024 are eligible for funding. In the case of contracts that began before January 1, 2024, funding will only be provided from that date onwards.

This funding mechanism is in addition to other instruments for funding the integration of researchers into permanent careers in higher education institutions, complementing the FCT-Tenure program, whose Notice of the Call first edition was published in November 2023, with the aim of supporting the hiring of 1,000 researchers and PhD professors in 2024, exclusively for permanent positions. These measures pursue the goal of promoting job stability for PhDs, enshrining the objectives that led to the adoption of the Agenda for Decent Work and the Valorization of Young People in the Labor Market, namely to combat job insecurity in its various forms, as well as to promote the growing integration of researchers in higher education institutions, fulfilling the commitments set out in the Government's program, which include measures to enhance the value of scientific employment, including strengthening the employment contract regime as a rule for PhD researchers.

For the full text of the MCTES statement, please refer to the link.