Declaration on the Evaluation of R&D Units 2013

Following recent news reports and some comments and opinions received by other media, the FCT reaffirms the following:

- Its full confidence in the robustness of the evaluation of research units currently underway. The evaluation of research units carried out by the FCT in collaboration with the European Science Foundation (ESF) corresponds to a regular evaluation exercise, provided for in the Law and which as planned and publicizedfrom the point of view of both the procedures and the announced timetable;

The ESF reiterates on its website the robustness and high standards of the evaluation exercise.

- The evaluation exercise is carried out with total transparency, rigor, impartiality and in compliance with the best international practices that FCT advocates and that ESF has extensively described and applied in numerous evaluation exercises;

- The Call regulation was subject to public consultation and was widely discussed, incorporating proposals from organizations and members of the scientific community. The evaluation and application guidelines have been public since the beginning of the Call and explain, in detail, the evaluation criteria that have been scrupulously complied with;

- The FCT strongly rejects any direct or indirect interference in the evaluation process, which was closely monitored by the ESF;

- The members of the evaluation panels were selected by the ESF according to the strictest criteria of scientific merit and proven experience in similar evaluation exercises;

- This is the date of the Preliminary Hearing period for the units that do not go on to the second evaluation phase, where unit coordinators can challenge any errors or mistakes that may remain in the consensus reports sent by the evaluation panels;

- FCT is closely monitoring the 2013 Unit Evaluation exercise and has reaffirmed its commitment to collaborating with the units that were not proposed to move on to the second evaluation phase, in order to identify the most appropriate solutions for defining their future strategy.