Provisional results of the Call for PhD Research Studentships 2020

FCT has announced the provisional results of the 2020Call for PhD Research Studentships , which will award 1,350 Studentships. This year's Call received 3,797 applications, 400 more than in 2019. The approval rate was 41.6% of all applications eligible for funding (with a score of 3.00 or higher). The total investment approved for this Call amounts to €101,682,000.00 (one hundred and one million, six hundred and eighty-two thousand euros).

This year's Call involved the participation of 407 evaluators, distributed over 36 scientific panels, who analyzed and classified the applications and sorted them into panels. The Call 's Scientific Coordination team defined the number of Studentships to be funded in each panel, taking into account the respective demand and the scientific policy guidelines for Portugal in the European context(Higher Education, Research and Innovation in Portugal - Perspectives for 2030).

A brief analysis of the provisional results of the 2020 Call shows that women accounted for 58.1% of the applicants who received priority funding and men 41.9%. Studentships that will be held entirely in Portugal account for 80.1%, while 17.0% will be mixed (part in Portugal and part abroad) and 2.9% will be held entirely abroad. Of the selected candidates, 80.8% are Portuguese nationals. In total, candidates from 43 countries, including Portugal, are proposed for funding. Among the foreign candidates (19.2% of the total), those from Brazil (115 Studentships), Italy (41 Studentships), Iran (15 Studentships), Spain (12 Studentships) and Germany (10 Studentships) stand out.

The FCT Doctoral Research Studentships are merit Studentships awarded in all scientific areas and are intended for the development of research work plans to obtain a doctoral degree, through doctoral programs at Portuguese or foreign universities. The selection of candidates takes into account the merit of the candidate, the merit of the work plan and the merit of the host institution and supervisors.

The provisional results of this Call have been communicated to all applicants, who will now have access to the comments justifying the classification given to their application by the evaluation panel. In the event of disagreement with the proposed decision, applicants can present arguments at the prior hearing of interested parties, which will be analyzed by the evaluation panel.

The final results of the Call will be announced by the FCT on November 30, after the period for analyzing the prior hearings has ended. The process of contracting Studentships begins on this date, in accordance with the FCT Research Studentships Regulations. As in previous years, it is the grantee who indicates, when the Studentship is contracted, the date for the start of funding for their Studentship, which may be between September 1, 2020 and August 1, 2021, with retroactive payment of Studentships, where applicable.