Call "DOCTORATES 4 COVID-19" received 128 applications

The DOCTORATES 4 Covid-19Call for PhD research Studentships , promoted by the FCT in collaboration with the Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation (AICIB), received a total of 128 applications.

This Call, whose applications closed on May 14, was launched in the context of the pandemic situation caused by the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, and is aimed at obtaining new knowledge that will enable the creation of skills to respond to this and future pandemics, and that will translate into efficient prevention measures, better health care and effective support for citizens.

By gender, the candidates are divided into 65% women and 35% men.

Of the total number of applications, 87.5% correspond to Studentships in Portugal and 12.5% to Studentships to be carried out in national and foreign host institutions, known as mixed Studentships .

Foreign applicants account for 20% of all applications, coming from 7 countries. The countries with the most Call candidates are Brazil (15) and Italy (5).

This Call is part of a wide range of support, Calls and other initiatives launched this year by the FCT to combat Covid-19: the RESEARCH 4 COVID-19 support; the Call for R&D projects AI 4 COVID-19: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration; the Gender Research 4 COVID-19 support; the Science 4 COVID-19 portal, the increase in the capacity of the RCTS - Science, Technology and Society Network, which supports the internet connections of the teaching and research community; the reinforcement of the capacity of the services that ensure distance learning and teleworking in the academic and scientific community (Colibri, NAU, Educast, Videocast); and the creation of a COVID-19 page on the FCT website, which gathers all the information that is being issued, directly or indirectly related to this pandemic situation.

The FCT's Doctoral Research Studentships are competitively awarded grants to support advanced training in all areas of knowledge to obtain the academic degree of Doctor. These Studentships allow doctoral students to dedicate themselves exclusively to their research, thus contributing to the country's scientific and technological development.