Fulbright and FCT sign cooperation protocols

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and the Fulbright Commission signed, on January 16th, three cooperation protocols that reinforce cooperation and scientific exchange between Portugal and the United States of America (USA).

The Studentships Fulbright will thus be financially supported by FCT already in 2014, both in PhD programs at accredited universities in the USA, as well as allowing PhD Professors and Researchers to teach and/or conduct research projects at universities and research centers in the USA.

FCT funding for the Fulbright PhD Studentships represents €18.500 per grantee (maximum value) for the first year of studies with the possibility of additional funding in the second and third year, for a total of 10 Studentships to be awarded. At Studentships for professors and doctoral researchers, the funding for the three Studentships is equivalent to up to €8.880 depending on the length of stay.

Bringing the two countries closer together, FCT will also fund five Studentships Fulbright for American Professors and Researchers, who will thus be able, for periods of three months, to teach and carry out research projects in Portuguese universities and research centers.

At the protocol signing session, Miguel Seabra, President of FCT, emphasized the impact of the Fulbright Program in the relations between the US and Europe, namely with Portugal. He also highlighted the advantages of this cooperation, which reinforce the quality of the training of Portuguese students in the US, through the support to candidates and access to quality programs that the Fulbright Commission allows. Virginia L. Staab, President of the Fulbright Commission's Board of Directors, focused on the evolution of the Commission that celebrates this year its 54th anniversary, highlighting the role of its partners and the importance of new ideas that continue to allow the Fulbright Commission to grow. 

The Fulbright Commission and its Information Center are now operating at the FCT building, under one of the protocols signed. Also, the Commission's historical archive is now part of the FCT's Historical Archive of Science and Technology (AHCT). In a partnership that also involves the Institute of Contemporary History (Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova), the archive illustrating more than 50 years of exchange and sharing of knowledge with the USA will be treated and made available for study by the scientific community. The archive includes files of Portuguese and American grantees funded with Fulbright support since the 1960s, as well as minutes of meetings of the Commission's Board of Directors.