Direção de Projectos (DP)

FCT announced today the provisional results of the Call for the Award of Studentships for Doctoral Research in all Scientific Domains 2023. After 3525 applications were received and analysed, 1450 are now proposed for funding Studentships, corresponding to an overall approval rate of 41%. This is a planned investment of around EUR 115 million, supported by national and EU funds.

The selection of applicants took into account the merit of the applicant, the merit of the work plan and the merit of the hosting conditions. The evaluation process for this edition of the Call involved the participation of 482 evaluators, distributed among 39 evaluation panels, who analysed, classified and ranked the applications in each panel.

In addition to the 36 panels corresponding to the various scientific areas and sub-areas contemplated in the general application line of the Call, intended for applications with research activities developed in an academic environment, this edition also had three panels dedicated to the evaluation of applications with activities proposed in a non-academic environment, whose constitution took into account the scientific areas selected by the applicants. These three panels assessed the applications submitted in the specific application line in a non-academic environment, for research Studentships with work plans taking place in close articulation with non-academic entities, namely, Companies, Collaborative Laboratories, Technology and Innovation Centres, Interface Centres, Public Administration entities, State Laboratories, Hospitals, Museums, Libraries or other third sector entities.

The distribution of the number of Studentships by each panel was fixed by the FCT Board of Directors, taking into account, in general, a rationale proportional to the number of applications submitted. Regarding the specific application line in a non-academic environment, 300 Studentships were considered for funding following the evaluation exercise carried out, as they constituted the best positioned in the classification and ranking list of the 3 evaluation panels, all of which were evaluated with a final classification equal to or greater than three values (3.000).

The analysis of the provisional results of Call 2023 shows that women accounted for 56% of the applicants that reached funding priority and men 44%.

The Studentships whose research will be carried out entirely in Portuguese institutions correspond to 80% of the total, 18% of the Studentships will be mixed (part in Portuguese institutions and part in foreign institutions) and 2% will be carried out entirely in foreign institutions. Of the selected candidates, 76% have Portuguese nationality. In total, candidates from 54 countries are proposed for funding, highlighting among foreign candidates, Brazilian, Iranian, Italian and Spanish nationalities.

The provisional results of this Call have been communicated to all applicants, who now have access to the comments justifying the classification assigned to their application. If applicants disagree with the proposed decision, they may submit a statement at the preliminary hearing of interested parties, until 14/08/2023, which will be analysed by the respective evaluation panel. The final results of the Call will be released by FCT by the end of October 2023.

The contractualization process of Studentships will start from the date of communication of the final results. The approved Studentships will start on the first day of the month to be indicated by the applicant in the contractualization process, between 1 September 2023 and 1 August 2024. Whenever the contractualization takes place after the start of the research work funded by Studentship, there will be a retroactive payment of Studentships.

This evaluation process has so far lasted 82 working days between the end of the applications and the communication of the provisional results.

The Call for research Studentships is held annually and is part of the FCT’s major structuring Calls. For information on other funding opportunities for research Studentships within the scope of FCT collaboration protocols and partnerships with R&D Units and other entities, it is suggested to regularly consult the FCT website and the Euraxess portal.

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