The FCT's response to COVID 19

The year 2020 was marked worldwide by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which we continue to fight in 2021. From the outset, knowledge and science were placed at the forefront of the response to the pandemic, with a widespread conviction from all sectors of society that only with more knowledge and science could solutions be found.

In Portugal, there has been an extraordinary mobilization of the scientific community and public and private R&D institutions, with the development of initiatives that have resulted in resources and people being made available to carry out diagnostic tests, in the search for new therapies to treat patients and in the development of innovative solutions for protection and treatment equipment. The educational community has also quickly adapted to remote learning.

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), within the scope of its powers and competencies, immediately sought to set in motion all the mechanisms at its disposal to be part of this collective effort to combat COVID 19. Throughout the year, in its capacity as a science funding agency, it developed and promoted initiatives to support the scientific community. In general, this support was aimed at research geared towards responses to the epidemic, leveraging existing scientific capacity, advanced doctoral training to create medium-term skills in the field of virology and epidemiology and strengthening the capacity for distance working in academic and scientific circles and making R&D information on the pandemic available.

The FCT also reinforced all the technological capacity installed to support the scientific and teaching community managed by its National Scientific Computing Unit (FCCN), which made it possible to ensure that the entire digital communication network infrastructure worked, even during the pressure experienced during the lockdown period.

In total, the FCT has invested around 13 million euros in this framework of extraordinary support for the scientific community in the fight against COVID-19, which consisted of the initiatives summarized below:

1) Funding research initiatives

a) "Research4Covid-19" - special support for rapid implementation projects for innovative solutions in response to COVID-19. Approved 121 proposals with total funding of 3.8 million euros. Support with the collaboration of AICIB - Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation;

b) "GenderResearch4Covid-19" - special support to stimulate the production and dissemination of knowledge on the gender impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 15 proposals were approved with total funding of half a million euros. Support in conjunction with the Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality and with the support of the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality;

c) "AI4Covid-19" - Call for R&D projects in data processing and artificial intelligence in the Public Administration in the context of the pandemic. 12 projects were approved with total funding of 2.9 million euros;

2) Advanced training at doctoral level

"Doctorates4Covid-19" - Call for PhD research Studentships aimed at studying SARS-Cov2 and Covid-19. 50 Studentships have been approved, for a total investment of 3.5 million euros;

3) Improving working conditions in academic and scientific circles

a) "Summer with Science" - an initiative to stimulate "Summer Schools" in Polytechnics and Universities, with face-to-face research activities. Support in collaboration with the Directorate General for Higher Education (DGES). 80 proposals approved, with 1,078 Studentships awarded for research initiation or research. Investments of 2.2 million euros;

b) Science, Technology and Society Network (RCTS) and Gigapix - reinforcement of RCTS, which supports the Internet connections of the teaching and research community, and GigaPIX, an infrastructure that acts as a neutral point for exchanging Internet traffic in Portugal, which made it possible to ensure exponential traffic during the lockdown period. Infrastructures managed by the FCCN;

c) Colibri Platform - made it possible to respond to the needs of distance learning and work in higher education and research, which in the lockdown period (March and June 2020) saw an increase in use of more than 2,800%.

d) eduVPN service - digital services and tools to support teaching and science within the scope of the GÉANT network, to which the FCCN unit belongs: educast portal for recording, editing and sharing educational videos; Videocast for transmitting video via the Internet; and filesender for secure file sharing;

e) NAU - platform reinforced training and qualification with free courses to train teleworkers and how to deal with the pandemic situation. Managed by the FCCN unit.

4) R&D information on the pandemic

"Science4Covid-19" - a portal to mobilize scientific communities in joint R&D projects and activities aimed at combating COVID-19. 118 ideas and actions registered. In collaboration with AICIB.

The success of these initiatives has been possible thanks to the extraordinary motivation of scientists and the entire educational community, as well as their ability to mobilize and collaborate between scientific areas and sectors. Today we are faced with other complex global problems, such as climate change or demographic challenges, which require multidisciplinary intervention and cooperation between science and two sectors that are deeply involved in society: public administration and business. If this pandemic has clearly shown this complexity and the limits of our knowledge, it has also shown that the answers found were only possible because there was already a strong scientific structure in Portugal, with a lot of accumulated competence in the areas of research and innovation.