Direção de Projectos (DP)

Yesterday, August 1st, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) released the provisional results of Call for the Award of Studentships for Doctoral Research 2024. After 3,750 applications were received and analyzed, 1,500 have now been proposed for funding Studentships, which corresponds to an overall approval rate of 40%. Of these, the proposal for 450 Studentships in a non-academic environment stands out. It was in this area that there was the biggest increase in applications – 603 received – showing the growing commitment to carrying out research in a context of close interconnection between academia and other sectors of life in society.

The total investment planned for Call is around 124 million euros. Studentships will be financed from the state budget with EU PT2030 co-funding.

The selection of candidates took into account the merit of the candidate, the merit of the work plan and the merit of the host conditions. The evaluation process for this edition of Call involved the participation of 479 evaluators, distributed among 36 evaluation panels, who analyzed, classified and sorted the applications in each panel.

Of the total number of panels, 33 corresponded to the various scientific areas and sub-areas covered by the general application line of Call, aimed at applications with research activities carried out in an academic environment, and three covered the scientific areas covered by applications in a non-academic environment. In this case, the respective work plans will take place in close coordination with Companies, Collaborative Laboratories, Technology and Innovation Centers, Interface Centers, Public Administration entities, State Laboratories, Hospitals, Museums, Libraries or other third sector entities.

The distribution of the number of Studentships per panel was fixed taking into account the number of applications submitted in each panel, in any of the application lines.

The Studentships with research carried out entirely in Portuguese institutions account for 82% of the total. 17% of Studentships will be mixed (part in Portuguese institutions and part in foreign institutions) and only 1% will be carried out entirely in foreign institutions. Of the selected candidates, 80% are Portuguese nationals. In total, candidates from 48 countries have applied for funding, including Brazilian, Italian, Iranian, Spanish and German nationals.

Of the applicants who received priority funding, women accounted for 56% and men 44%, as in the previous edition of this Call.

In the general application line, 23% of Studentships are in the Social Sciences, 21% in the Engineering and Technology Sciences and 19% in the Humanities, with the remaining scientific areas represented with percentages of less than 13%. In the line of specific applications in a non-academic environment, 45% of Studentships are in the areas of Engineering and Exact Sciences, 36% in Natural and Life Sciences and around 18% in Social Sciences and Humanities.

The provisional results of this Call have been communicated to all applicants, who now have access to the comments justifying the classification given to their application. If they disagree with the proposed decision, they can present their opinion at the prior hearing of interested parties, until August 16, 2024, which will be analyzed by the respective evaluation panel. The final results of Call will be published by FCT by the beginning of November 2024.

The contractualization process for Studentships begins on the date the final results are announced. The approved Studentships will start on the first day of the month indicated by the candidate in the contractualization process, between September 1, 2024 and August 1, 2025. Whenever contractualization takes place after the research work funded by Studentship has begun, Studentships will be paid retroactively.

This evaluation process has so far lasted 71 working days between the end of the applications and the communication of the provisional results, below the time limit set for this phase, which is 90 working days.

Studentships The Call for doctoral research is published annually and is part of the FCT’s major structuring Calls . For more information on other funding opportunities for Studentships doctoral research, within the scope of FCT collaboration protocols and partnerships with R&D Units and other entities, we suggest that you consult the FCT website and the Euraxess portal regularly.

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