“RESEARCH 4 COVID-19” Support – Results of the 2nd edition

The FCT announces the results of the second edition of the "RESEARCH 4 COVID-19" grant program, which will fund 55 research projects, representing a total investment of €2 million. Support for these projects comes from national funds through the FCT budget.

The 55 funded projects are distributed across the following areas of research and intervention: 8 projects for prevention; 8 projects for preparation for various stages of the pandemic; 4 projects for studies on health and social vulnerabilities associated with lockdown and lifting of lockdown; 4 projects for epidemiological studies and assessment of infection transmission; 7 projects for early diagnosis methods; 1 project for early detection algorithms; 6 projects for immune response, immunopathology, and immunogenetic factors; 8 projects for new therapies and therapeutic approaches; 6 projects for clinical studies and monitoring of infected individuals and at-risk groups; and 3 projects for medical devices and equipment. The list of supported projects can be found here.

The submission of proposals for the second edition of Research4Covid-19 took place from April 30 to May 15. Of the 495 proposals received, 471 were submitted for evaluation by external experts.

These 55 research projects join the 66 projects funded by the first edition of the "RESEARCH 4 COVID-19" support program.

RESEARCH 4 COVID-19 is an exceptional funding line for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, created by FCT in collaboration with the Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation (AICIB). Its objective is to fund research and development projects and initiatives, already underway or to be developed, that respond to the needs of the National Health Service (SNS) in its intervention to combat the pandemic.

This funding line is part of a varied set of support measures, Calls other initiatives launched this year by FCT in the fight against COVID-19: theCall AI 4 COVID-19 R&D projects: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration;Gender Research 4 Covid-19 support; the Call Doctorates4Covid-19 Studentships ; theScience 4 COVID-19 portal;increasing the capacity of RCTS– Science, Technology, and Society Network, which supports internet connections for the teaching and research community; ostrengthening the capacity of servicesthat ensure distance learning and teleworking in the academic and scientific community (Colibri, NAU, Educast, Videocast); and the creation of aCOVID-19 pageon the FCT website, which brings together all the information that is being issued, directly or indirectly related to this pandemic situation.