Results of the Call for Exploratory Projects of the UT Austin Portugal Program

FCT has announced the results of the Call for Exploratory Projects under the UT Austin Portugal Program, with 8 projects being recommended for funding from a pool of 44 applications submitted. The funding awarded to each project is between 49,000 and 50,000 euros, resulting in a total investment of 398,779.54 euros from the FCT budget.

The Call aims to support exploratory, disruptive projects with the potential for high impact and relevance in the scientific and technological field developed by teams of researchers from Portuguese universities and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). The projects recommended for funding this year will carry out research in the areas of Advanced Computing, Medical Physics for Emerging Cancer Therapies, Space-Earth Interactions and Nanomaterials for New Markets, with special emphasis on the latter, which is the focus of 5 of the 8 projects.

The UT Austin-Portugal Program is part of a network of international cooperation programs between Portugal and institutions in various countries under the goPORTUGAL - Global Partnerships in Science and Technology initiative, promoted by FCT. It includes partnerships with other leading universities in the USA, such as Carnagie Mellon, MIT and Harvard Medical School, but also with institutions in other countries, such as Imperial College London and Fraunhofer. Cooperation with international institutions under this initiative makes it possible to enhance the internationalization of scientific and technological research, boosting innovation in research and the mobility of researchers and creating opportunities for the emergence and growth of new science and technology-based companies.