FCT awards 1366 Doctoral Studentships in 2019 Call

FCT has released the final results of the 2019 Call for PhD Studentships in all scientific areas. A total of 1,366 PhD Studentships were awarded, corresponding to a success rate of 41% of all applicants.

Of the successful candidates, 59% are women and 11% are foreign nationals. Studentships were awarded to candidates from 32 foreign countries, with the largest number of Brazilian candidates, followed by Italians.

The scholarship holders will take part in PhD programs at Portuguese or foreign universities, spread over more than 80 degree-granting institutions. Of the total number of Studentships awarded, 77% refer to work plans carried out entirely in Portugal, 18% are mixed Studentships with work plans to be carried out partly abroad, and 5% refer to work plans carried out entirely abroad.

The applications were analyzed by 36 scientific panels, with three evaluation criteria: i) merit of the candidate; ii) merit of the work plan; and iii) merit of the host conditions. This evaluation involved 365 national experts from the scientific and academic community, 53% of whom were women and affiliated to more than 20 institutions.

The FCT will now contract Studentships with a start date between September 1, 2019 and August 1, 2020. Payments will begin in December and students who have already started their work plan will receive their Studentships with retroactive payments.

In 2019, FCT expects to contract 1,600 doctoral Studentships , including the Studentships in this Call and the Studentships awarded under the Calls doctoral programs, which corresponds to an increase of 16% compared to 2018.

The next Call for PhD Studentships in all scientific areas will be announced at the end of 2019. As with the last three Calls, the application period will take place during the first quarter of 2020, so that the results will be available by the summer.

See the distribution of Studentships by scientific panels of the Call and the annex for more information.