Provisional results of the Call DOCTORATES 4 COVID-19

FCT has announced the provisional results of the DOCTORATES 4 COVID-19 Call for Doctoral Research Studentships , opened in collaboration with the Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation (AICIB) in the context of the pandemic situation caused by the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and under which 50 Studentships will be funded, corresponding to an investment of 3.5 million euros.

The purpose of this Call was to fund doctoral research Studentships aimed at obtaining new knowledge, focused on COVID-19 and the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but with a multidisciplinary approach, involving all scientific areas from engineering to biomedical and social sciences, with complementarity and comprehensiveness, and thus contribute to obtaining new knowledge that will allow us to consolidate more effective ways of dealing with this and other future pandemics.

This research strategy, with a focus on COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-19, is in line with the international strategy, namely that of the European Union, to promote research focused on this problem, thus helping to integrate national projects into international efforts and networks.

The Call received 128 applications, of which 110 were assessed. The 50 Studentships to be awarded correspond to a success rate of 45.5% of the applications assessed. The provisional results of the evaluation show that 70% of the selected candidates are women and 8% are of foreign nationality, with 17% of the work plans being carried out in conjunction with foreign researchers and institutions.

The Studentships to be awarded are distributed among the following areas of intervention of this Call:
- 13 Studentships in "Psychological impact and behavioral changes associated with the pandemic";
- 12 Studentships in "Development of new therapies and new therapeutic approaches, including life support and personal protective equipment to combat the disease";
- 9 Studentships in "Characterization of viral infection mechanisms";
- 5 Studentships in "Innovative approaches, including new methods and new technologies, for diagnosing the disease";
- 4 Studentships in "Prevention strategies and preparation for new epidemics, including vaccines";
- 4 Studentships in "Epidemiology and risk factors for infection and serious illness by the virus";
- 2 Studentships in "Characterization of the host's cellular and serological immune response to virus infection, the impact of age and comorbidities";
- 1 Studentships in "Human-animal interaction, mechanisms of resistance and interspecies transmission of the virus, and the risk of pandemics".

The doctoral programs to be attended by the scholarship holders are from different universities: Universidade do Porto (15 Studentships), Universidade de Coimbra (9 Studentships), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (7 Studentships), Universidade de Lisboa (7 Studentships), Universidade do Minho (5 Studentships), Universidade da Beira Interior (2 Studentships), Universidade de Aveiro (2 Studentships), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2 Studentships) and ISPA - Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Sociais e da Vida (1 Studentship).

The applications were assessed by a scientific panel using a peer review system, with three evaluation criteria: merit of the candidate, merit of the work plan and merit of the host conditions. This evaluation panel included 17 experts from the scientific community, 7 of whom were women.

The FCT's Doctoral Research Studentships are competitively awarded grants to support advanced training in all areas of knowledge to obtain the academic degree of Doctor. These Studentships allow doctoral students to devote themselves exclusively to their research, thus contributing to the country's scientific and technological development. The promotion of research leading to a doctoral degree is one of the pillars of FCT's activities, which, by funding this type of advanced training, contributes to building skills, increasing knowledge and strengthening and rejuvenating the national scientific system.

TheDOCTORATES 4 COVID-19 Call is part of a wide range of support, Calls and other initiatives launched this year by the FCT to combat Covid-19, including: the RESEARCH 4 COVID-19 special support, with two editions; the Gender Research 4 Covid-19 special support; the Call for R&D projects AI 4 COVID-19: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration; the Summer with Science support, in collaboration with the Directorate General for Higher Education (DGES); the Science 4 COVID-19 portal; increasing the capacity of the RCTS - Science, Technology and Society Network, which supports the internet connections of the education and research community; the reinforcement of the capacity of the services that ensure distance learning and teleworking in the academic and scientific community (Colibri, NAU, Educast, Videocast); and the creation of a COVID-19 page on the FCT website, which gathers all the information that is being issued, directly or indirectly related to this pandemic situation.