R&D units under evaluation get first opinions from reviewers

The first phase of the 2013/14 R&D Unit Evaluation Exercise is progressing as planned. The process began with the allocation of external evaluators to each of the 323 applications by the European Science Foundation, an international organization with more than three decades of experience in evaluation processes, with which FCT has established a collaboration agreement for this exercise. Each application was evaluated by two external experts and one member of the evaluation panel (acting as 2nd rapporteur). Applicants now have the opportunity to comment, respond or clarify aspects highlighted by the reviewers.

This is the first time that an Call FCT has a rebuttal phase. It aims to allow greater involvement of the applicants in the evaluation process and, above all, to better inform the decision-making process of the panel members. The evaluation panels will review the expert opinions and the comments of the applicants.

The seven evaluation panels will meet at the end of May to score the applications against the evaluation criteria, and prepare opinions. The panels will also highlight any aspects that they feel should be considered in the second stage of the evaluation exercise. The result of the first stage will be a list of R&D Units that pass to the second stage, and a list with the scores of the units that did not pass. The results are expected in June.

The second phase involves visits to the Units and/or interviews with the coordinators and researchers, the result also being the classification of these units. Long-term funding is associated to the classifications: basic funding for all Units with a classification of Good or above (in any of the phases), plus strategic funding for Units with a classification of Exceptional, Excellent or Very Good. The first results of this evaluation are expected in December 2014.