Announced the results of Call for the attribution of 500 contracts for researchers - Call de Estímulo do Emprego Científico - Individual

The results of the 1st Call Scientific Employment Stimulus - Individual(CEEC Individual 2017) were released today. This Call will award 500 doctoral researcher employment contracts in all scientific areas and in all four contractual categories. FCT is proposing to fund 276 Junior Researcher, 154 Assistant Researcher, 66 Principal Researcher and 4 Coordinating Researcher contracts.

The candidates were selected through an evaluation and ranking process carried out by 25 international panels and coordinated by José Carlos Marques dos Santos. The number of places awarded in each scientific panel is proportional to the number of candidates evaluated, maintaining in all the same rate of funded contracts, 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 Health and Medical Sciences, and 33 in Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences. The distribution of contracts among 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 reveal the country's strong international attractiveness, since 99 researchers - 20% of those selected - are foreigners. 

With the announcement of the results, the period for the prior hearing begins, during which the applicants may present their evaluations. The employment contracts must be signed between the researchers and the host institutions within 90 days after the signature of the program contracts between these institutions and FCT. The Individual CEEC is one of the funding instruments for hiring researchers defined by the Scientific Employment Regulation, launched in 2017 by FCT, following the publication of Decree-Law no. 57/2016. The next edition of Call will run until the end of the year, as provided for in Decree-Law no. 60/2018.

Another avenue created by the Regulation - the Institutional CEEC, the results of the 2018 edition of which were recently released - will enable the hiring of 400 researchers.

In 2018, FCT also supports other Scientific Employment mechanisms, such as the transitory rule of Decree-Law no. 57/2016 , under which about 2,000 employment contracts will be funded. The Calls for the selection of researchers to be hired were opened by the institutions and many are still running. Also the Call of projects in all scientific fields 2017 promotes the hiring of about 1,600 PhD researchers, through Calls that are being opened by the institutions in which the projects are developed. In turn, the funding for R&D Units, in the 2017/2018 Evaluation process, also includes the allocation of 400 employment contracts for researchers. 

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