
FCT has published the opening notice for the seventh edition of the CEEC Individual. The competition will run from 30 September, when the application and evaluation guidelines should be released. The main updates in this edition are that there are no applications for the Principal Investigator category and the contract will be for a maximum period of 3 consecutive or interpolated years up to a maximum of 6 years.
Deadline: 29 November 2024
Categories:
a) Junior researcher – holders of a doctorate degree for 5 years or less, counted at the closing date of the application submission period, with reduced post-doctoral research experience in the scientific area to which they are applying.
b) Assistant researcher – PhD holders at the closing date of the application submission period, with a relevant curriculum in the scientific area to which they are applying.
The following suspensions or interruptions in research activity may be taken into account when counting time after obtaining the doctoral degree, provided they are duly documented:
i) Due to maternity (reduction of 18 months for each child before or after obtaining the degree);
ii) For paternity reasons (reduction in parental leave time for each child before or after obtaining the degree;
iii) Due to prolonged illness (more than 90 days; reduction in the number of years after obtaining the degree).
Duration of the contract:
Following the launch of the new FCT-Tenure programme, the FCT is avoiding the promotion of direct funding for long-term fixed-term contracts.
In this edition, the contract will be for a maximum of 3 consecutive or interpolated years up to a maximum of 6 years. The researcher will be able to take advantage of periods at institutions outside the host institution, namely national or foreign academic or non-academic institutions, or take advantage of other sources of funding at the same host institution.
Application:
Each application must be accompanied by the following mandatory elements:
a) Certificate of completion of the doctorate, or, if this is not possible, a declaration from the institution that awarded the degree attesting to the fact that it was obtained and the respective date. The presentation of the doctoral certificate during the contractualisation phase will be mandatory. In the case of a doctorate obtained abroad, the candidate must submit a copy of the recognition of the doctorate degree in Portugal when submitting the application. Failure to submit the degree recognition will result in the application being admitted conditionally, and it will be mandatory to submit the document at the contractualisation stage;
b) Scientific and curricular career, highlighting the main activities and results obtained in the last 5 years or less in the case of junior researchers;
c) Career development plan, framing this application and emphasising its impact on career objectives and the scientific goals to be achieved;
d) Curriculum vitae;
e) Research plan, defining and contextualising the scientific objectives and questions, activities to be carried out, expected results and identifying the mission and scientific challenge to be framed within the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals;
f) A summary of the hosting conditions and how the candidate considers that the proposed research plan fits into the strategy of the associated host institution.
After submission, the host institution’s declaration of acceptance must be submitted by the institution on the platform when the association is made with the application. This document considers:
i) the technical and logistical conditions made available by the host institution necessary for the candidate to carry out their activities under the scientific research plan;
ii) the guarantee of their scientific and technical autonomy to carry out the research plan;
iii) whether the candidate has any relationship with the host institution, namely an employment contract and, if applicable, its type and duration
Disclosure of results:
Provisional results are released within 6 months of the closing date of the call for tenders (i.e. May 2025). However, contractualisation can take more than a year. As an example, in the previous edition (2023), the provisional results were released 7 months after the closing date, the final results were released a year later and contracts are still waiting to be signed.
Assessment:
The assessment of the candidate for each of the doctoral researcher levels focuses on two assessment criteria: (A) merit of the candidate and (B) merit of the research plan.
Only applications with a final classification equal to or higher than 7 (seven) on a scale of 1 (one) to 10 (ten) will be considered eligible for funding.
Candidates who obtained a final classification of less than 5 (five) in their application in the 6th edition of the Stimulus to Individual Scientific Employment competition will not be eligible to apply in this edition.
Supporting material:
CESAM is preparing documentation to support applications and will release more specific information when the call opens and the guidelines are disclosed.
The full call for proposals can be found here. The application and evaluation guidelines, as well as the panels from last year’s edition, can be found here.