Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education attends FCT 25th anniversary session

The 3rd session of the FCT's 25th Anniversary Commemoration Program, which took place yesterday, March 31, at the University of Coimbra under the theme "Scientific Employment and Scientific Careers", was attended by the new Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato. In what was her first official act after taking office as Minister on March 30, Elvira Fortunato gave the closing speech of the session, in which she congratulated the FCT and praised its role and contribution to science in Portugal over the last 25 years, in which it has been "funding and looking after the interests of scientific research carried out in Portugal". He also said that the aim is to continue to "put the research carried out in Portugal even more at the center of the world, we need to do more and better research".

The event opened with speeches by the rector of the University of Coimbra, Amílcar Falcão, and the President of the FCT, Helena Pereira, who introduced the session and welcomed the participants. The President of the FCT then set the tone for the session with a paper entitled "Scientific employment: characterization and evolution over the last 25 years". In her speech, she stressed the importance of FCT's work over the last 25 years, as "it has been a pillar of our scientific system, especially in building and strengthening the national scientific system". He also said that "it's good to always take stock of the future and launch debates to exchange ideas with our community", which led to the design of the current commemorations program, which will be present in various parts of the country with monthly sessions with the scientific and research community.

The President of FCT also presented theAtlas of Associate Laboratories (Atlas of Associate Laboratories 2022), a publication that brings together information on the 40 institutions or consortia of institutions that have been awarded Associate Laboratory (AL) status. It presents data on the area of activity of the ALs, the work carried out, the number of PhD researchers, among other things, and is available online on the FCT publications page. Helena Pereira concluded her speech with some data on the evolution of scientific employment and scientific careers, the various types of support that FCT has provided over the last 25 years, such as the Doctoral Studentships or the Stimulus to Scientific Employment program, which is implemented through the Calls Stimulus to Scientific Employment - Individual (CEEC Individual) and Stimulus to Scientific Employment - Institutional (CEEC Institutional).

The event continued with three papers dedicated to the theme of the session, presented by Apostolia Karamali, from the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (EU), Mónica Bettencourt Dias, from the Gulbenkian Institute of Science (IGC), and Cláudia Sarrico, from the Higher Education Policy Research Center (CIPES). The second part of the session opened with a round table entitled "Scientific careers", moderated by Tiago Santos Pereira, Senior Researcher at the Center for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra, which included researchers and representatives from the business sector on the panel.

The video of this session is still available for viewing on FCT's YouTube page. The celebrations of FCT's 25th anniversary will continue with more sessions across the country, the next of which will take place in April in Porto, at a venue and date to be announced, and will be on the theme of "Scientific Institutions".

More information on the FCT 25th Anniversary Celebrations Program page.