CEEC Individual: Results have been published

Theresults of Call 1st Call Scientific Employment Stimulus – Individual (CEEC Individual 2017) were announced today. In this Call ,500doctoral researcher employment contracts Call awarded in all scientific areas and in the four contractual categories. The FCT is proposing to fund276Junior Researcher contracts,154Assistant Researcher contracts,66Principal Researchercontracts, and4Coordinating Researcher contracts.

Candidates were selected through an evaluation and classification process carried out by 25 international panels and coordinated by José Carlos Marques dos Santos. The number of places allocated in each scientific panel is proportional to the number of candidates evaluated, maintaining the same rate of funded contracts in all panels, which corresponds to approximately 12% of the candidates evaluated. A total of 172 contracts were awarded in Natural Sciences, 95 in Engineering and Technology, 71 in Humanities and Arts, 67 in Social Sciences, 62 in Medical and Health Sciences, and 33 in Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences. The distribution of contracts across the different categories also took into account the respective number of applications.

Of the 500 researchers now selected,52% are women. The results of Call also Call thecountry's stronginternational appeal, as 99 researchers—20% of those selected—are foreigners. 

With the announcement of the results, the preliminary hearing period begins, during which candidates can contest their evaluation.Employment contractsmust be signed between researchers and host institutions within 90 days of the signing of program contracts between the latter and the FCT. The Individual CEEC is one of the instruments for financing the hiring of researchers defined bythe Scientific Employment Regulation, launched in 2017 by the FCT, following the publication ofDecree-Law No. 57/2016. The next edition of Call until the end of the year, as provided for inDecree-Law No. 60/2018.

Another pathway created by the Regulation—theInstitutional CEEC, whose 2018 results were recently announced—will enable the hiring of 400 researchers.

In 2018, FCT also supports other scientific employment mechanisms, such as thetransitional provisionof Decree-Law No. 57/2016, under which approximately 2,000 employment contracts will be financed. Calls the selection of researchers to be hired have been opened by institutions and many are still ongoing. The 2017Call projectsin all scientific fields also promotes the hiring of around 1,600 PhD researchers through Calls are being opened by the institutions where the projects are being developed. For its part, funding for R&D units in the2017/2018 evaluationprocess also includes the award of 400 employment contracts for researchers. 

In all cases, the contract is signed between the host institution and the postdoctoral researcher and is funded by FCT. In total, FCT expects to fund almost 5,000 contracts under the initiatives underway in 2018.