Call for PhD Research Studentships - 2020

The media coverage of certain statements about the FCT Call for PhD Research Studentships - 2020, made by one of the candidates, has triggered a very significant number of contacts with the FCT in recent days from other candidates for this Call, scholarship holders and other people requesting clarification on this situation. In this context, FCT is issuing the following clarification note on the process of the Call for PhD Research Studentships - 2020, thus responding to everyone simultaneously.

   Clarification note

The Call for PhD Research Studentships - 2020 is running smoothly at FCT. This year, at the beginning of the process, and for the benefit of applicants due to the difficulties caused by the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic, the application submission period was extended by one month, closing on April 28, 2020. FCT has thus responded to the many requests from applicants for this extension, due to constraints in completing their processes, namely in terms of time and access to the necessary documentation for applications.

Since then, the process has been taking place within the legal deadlines and in accordance with the Notice of the Call Call, in a similar way to what happens every year with this Call. Despite the one-month extension of the application period, FCT is making every effort to make up for this time and present the results to the applicants within the deadlines that have governed this Call in previous years. The final results of the Call are usually published by the end of November, after the deadline laid down in the FCT Research Studentships Regulations for the decision to be taken, following analysis of the applicants' comments at the prior hearing of interested parties. (More information on the Call page)

This year, FCT'sCall for PhD Research Studentships received a total of 3797 applications, with 1,350 Studentships expected to be awarded. FCT currently supports a total of around 5,000 PhD Studentships . These are merit Studentships awarded competitively and designed to support advanced training in all areas of knowledge and with a view to the successful candidates obtaining a doctoral degree. Studentships allow doctoral students to devote themselves exclusively to their research, thus contributing to the country's scientific and technological development. Studentships have a monthly value of €1,064.00 for work plans carried out in Portugal and €1,865.00 for work plans carried out abroad; the maximum duration of Studentships is 48 months.

Despite all the constraints caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected all sectors of society, FCT has spared no effort to meet its annual science funding schedule. In addition to ensuring normal compliance with the deadlines for the various Calls that FCT opens every year, this year we have supported even more initiatives by launching several exceptional funding lines, aimed at developing Portuguese science in the fight against Covid-19. The following initiatives stand out: special support Gender Research 4 Covid-19; special support RESEARCH 4 COVID-19 (with two editions); Call for R&D projects AI 4 COVID-19: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration; support for Summer with Science, in collaboration with the Directorate General for Higher Education (DGES); the Science 4 COVID-19 portal; increasing the capacity of the RCTS - Science, Technology and Society Network, which supports the internet connections of the teaching and research community; strengthening the capacity of the services that ensure distance learning and teleworking in the academic and scientific community (Colibri, NAU, Educast, Videocast). All these initiatives are disclosed in COVID-19 on the FCT website, which gathers all the information that is being issued by the FCT, related directly or indirectly to this pandemic situation.