FCT and ”la Caixa” Foundation support 12 Portuguese health research projects

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the “la Caixa” Foundation have revealed the 12 projects led by Portuguese institutions and researchers that are among the 30 Iberian finalists in Call for Health Research 2021, which will receive €7.9 million in funding. The FCT will fund 5 of these 12 projects with €2.6 million of the total investment. The projects will be developed over the next 3 years.

This Call under the Iberian Initiative for Biomedical Research and Innovation – i4b established between FCT and the “la Caixa” Foundation, which supports research projects in neuroscience, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and oncological diseases, as well as transdisciplinary projects with an emphasis on translational and clinical research. The collaboration with FCT has been in place since the Call was created Call 2018, which has already enabled the joint funding of a total of 29 projects led by Portuguese institutions, promoting collaboration between Iberian research centers and universities, with a total investment of around €22 million.

The 30 projects selected for the 2021 edition aim to combat some of the diseases with the greatest impact on global health and are organized by area: oncology (9 projects), neuroscience (9 projects), cardiovascular and related metabolic diseases (6 projects), and infectious diseases (6 projects). Some of the selected projects will develop enabling biomedical technologies that will help address some of these health challenges. 

The 12 Portuguese projects selected come from research centers and universities in various regions: 6 from the North Region (Porto and Braga), 5 from Lisbon, and 1 from the Central Region (Coimbra). The 2021 edition of CaixaResearch Health Research was the most successful for Portuguese institutions since the Call began.

Next September, the ”la Caixa” Foundation will launch the 2022 edition of Call Health Research Call , and interested researchers will be able to submit their applications. Funding for projects selected under this Call amount to up to €500,000 over three years for projects submitted by a single research organization, and up to €1,000,000, also over three years, for projects submitted by a minimum of two and a maximum of five research organizations.