FCT awards 1450 new Doctoral Research Studentships

FCT released today the provisional results of the Call for PhD Research Studentships 2021. The Call will award 1,450 Studentships, having received 3,381 applications. The approval rate was 49% of the total applications eligible for funding (with a score of 3,000 or more). The total investment of this Call amounts to 109 million euros.

The process of evaluating the applications in this year's Call involved the participation of 403 evaluators, distributed among 36 evaluation panels, who analyzed and classified the applications and proceeded to rank them in the panel.

The number of Studentships to be awarded in each panel was set by decision of the FCT Board of Directors based on the methodology followed in the last three annual Calls , taking into account the demand recorded for each area as well as the scientific policy guidelines for Portugal in the European context contained in the Higher Education, Research and Innovation in Portugal - Perspectives for 2030 Report.

The analysis of the provisional results of the 2021 Call shows that women represented 56.9% of the applicants who achieved priority funding and men 43.1%.

The total number of Studentships to be held in Portugal is 80.7%, 16.8% will be mixed (part in Portugal and part abroad) and 2.5% will be held entirely abroad. Of the selected candidates, 78.5% are Portuguese nationals. In total, candidates from 43 countries have been put forward for funding, with the most notable foreign candidates being those from Brazil (143 Studentships), Italy (37 Studentships), Iran (24 Studentships), Spain (15 Studentships) and India (9 Studentships).

The FCT Doctoral Research Studentships are merit Studentships awarded in all scientific areas and are intended for the development of research work plans to obtain a doctoral degree, through doctoral programs at Portuguese or foreign universities. The selection of candidates takes into account the merit of the candidate, the merit of the work plan and the merit of the host institution and supervisors.

The provisional results of this Call have been communicated to all applicants, who will now have access to the comments justifying the classification given to their application by the evaluation panel. In the event of disagreement with the proposed decision, applicants can present arguments at the prior hearing of interested parties, which will be analyzed by the evaluation panel.

The final results of the Call will be announced by the FCT during the month of October 2021, ensuring that they are announced within a shorter timeframe than legally required. The Studentships contractualization process will begin from the date of communication of the final results.

Approved Studentships will begin on the first day of the month indicated by the candidate in the contract, between September 1, 2021 and August 1, 2022. Where applicable, Studentships will be paid retrospectively.

This evaluation process lasted 4 months (83 working days) between the end of applications and the communication of provisional results. These 1450 new doctoral Studentships are in addition to the 6788 Studentships that are currently underway and funded by FCT.

The Call for doctoral research Studentships is held annually and is part of the FCT's major structuring Calls , the timetable for which is set out until 2022 and published on the website.