The following Portuguese organizations can be beneficiaries of the funding provided through this Call:

• Higher Education Institutions, their institutes and R&D units;
• State, international or associated Laboratories with head office in Portugal;
• Non-profit private institutions whose main objective is R&D activities, including Collaborative Laboratories (CoLab) and Centres for Technology and Innovation (CTI);
• Other non-profit private and public institutions developing or participating in scientific research activities.

This Call will only fund resources and activities attributable to research teams of eligible Portuguese beneficiaries (supported entities). Under the UT Austin Portugal Program, UT Austin will grant funding to UT Austin Principal Investigators partnering with eligible Portuguese beneficiaries.

Applications must be presented to FCT, in English, from December 2, 2024 to January 22, 2025, 5 p.m. Lisbon time, using a specific on-line form and submitted through myFCT platform.

The PI and the Portuguese project research team members must have their curriculum vitae completed on the CIÊNCIAVITAE platform.

The Declaration of Commitment from the Proposing Institution will be available on the myFCT platform for agreement by the head of the Proposing Institution, or by someone delegated by them, after the application submission deadline and until February 5, 2025, 5 p.m. Lisbon time.

Applications are composed of the on-line form and the following documents, also submitted electronically:

• "Technical Annex" (according to No. 2.6 of “Terms of Reference for the 2024 Call for Exploratory Research Projects under the UT Austin Portugal Program”)
• A statement from the PI at UT Austin confirming that he/she will be the PI at the American counterpart and that he/she holds a tenure-track faculty appointment at the same university;
  • ​​​​​​​In the case of proposals in the area of Advanced Computing, led by PIs at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), the statement must indicate the PI is a full-time senior researcher with PI status; 
• File with the project timeline and main tasks.

An international panel of independent reviewers, affiliated with foreign institutions, will carry out the evaluation.

The selection and ranking of projects are based on a Project Merit Indicator (MP) using the following criteria, which are described in greater detail in the Guide for Peer Reviewers and in the Terms of Reference for the 2024 Call for Exploratory Research Projects under the UT Austin Portugal Program:

A. Scientific merit (A1) and innovative nature (A2) of the project from an international standpoint and alignment with the objectives of the UT Austin Portugal Program and the scientific area where it falls under – 40%;

B. Scientific merit of the PI and the research team (B1), including the impact of project execution in developing the PI´s career and/or research (B2) – 35%;

C. Feasibility of the workplan and the expected indicators (C1), as well as the budget adequacy (C2) – 25%.

The Merit of the Project (MP) is given by:

MP= 0,40 (0,50A1 + 0,50A2) + 0,35 (0,60B1 + 0,40B2) + 0,25 (0,50C1 + 0,50C2)

The budget allocation for this call is € 400,000 (four-hundred thousand euros), for eligible Portuguese institutions, for projects starting in 2025.

The maximum  funding per project is € 50,000 (fifty thousand euros).

The funding to be granted under this call is non-reimbursable. The projects will be fully financed by National funds through the FCT budget, applying the option of simplified costs in the form of a lump sum.

Regardless of the project’s approved funding amount, the initial advance payment is 75% of the approved funding. The remaining amount, up to the approved funding for each project, is paid upon project completion, through a final reimbursement payment method.

The indirect costs are a fixed rate of 25% of all the estimated direct eligible costs. The expenses for the adaptation of buildings and facilities are limited to a maximum of 10% of the project’s total eligible expenses.

The call is governed by this Announcement, by the Regulation for Projects Exclusively funded by National Funds, approved by Regulation no. 999/2016, of October 31, in its current wording, and by other applicable national and community legislation.

FCT recommends that you read all documentation supporting the application available on the call page in advance.

For inquiries of a scientific nature, please contact the UT Austin Portugal program at research@utaustinportugal.org.

For specific information related to the application submission, please contact concursoprojetos@fct.pt.

None of the information published on this webpage overrides the official Annoucement for Proposal Submissions.