Associate Laboratories - Draft Regulations for Granting Status and Allocating Funding

FCT is putting the draft Regulation on the Award of Status and Allocation of Funding to Associate Laboratories out to public consultation(here), for a period of 30 days, from the publication of notice no. 10377-C/2019 in Diário da República 2nd series, no. 177 of June 21, 2019. Within the scope of public participation, and in accordance with the provisions of article 101 of the CPA, interested parties should submit their suggestions to the FCT via the email address avaliacao.las@fct.pt.

Under the legal framework for research and development (R&D) institutions, approved by Decree-Law No. 63/2019 of May 16, 2019, the FCT is responsible for conducting the process of evaluating proposals for the creation and renewal of Associate Laboratories, as well as monitoring them.

An Associate Laboratory is an R&D institution, or a consortium between R&D institutions, that is established to pursue certain national scientific and technological policy objectives. In this context, and within the scope of the strategy to diversify and densify R&D institutions, the Associate Laboratories ' main objective should be to bring together the critical mass needed to pursue specific national scientific and technological policy objectives and further the development and promotion of scientific or technical careers of their own, provided through an indefinite employment contract or an open-ended employment contract, depending on the applicable legal regime. 

The purpose of the draft Regulation on the Award of Status and Funding to Associate Laboratories is to clarify the rules for recognizing or awarding Associate Laboratory status to entities that apply for it, thereby ensuring the transparency and rigor of the process, as well as fair treatment of interested parties. This draft Regulation is drawn up under the provisions of the legal framework for research and development institutions, Decree-Law no. 63/2019, of May 16, 2019.