2008 Call for Research Proposals

The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) announces a competition for financing for Scientific Research and Technology Development Projects in specified themes as indicated by each of the four focus areas for the MIT Portugal Program: Bio Engineering Systems; Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing; Sustainable Energy Systems; Transportation Systems

Conditions for application:

Research teams applying for this funding must include at least two Portuguese research groups, with the support of at least one company and the designated responsible persons within each Focus Area at MIT. These are the only people within the Focus Areas at MIT from whom letters of support for proposals can be accepted.

All applications must respect completely the terms of reference defined by each focus area, and announced on this website. All applications need to involve PhD and Master’s students from MPP, as well as integrate Bachelor’s students to Portuguese research centers and/or companies. Proposers must have recognized CV in relevant fields for executing the proposed projects.

Candidacies must be presented electronically in English through the official FCT website.

Note: Priority will be given to proposals that include real participation and financial support from industry partners, as well as proposals intended to stimulate or already associated with R&D Projects at the EU level.

Financing:

The maximum duration for funding is three years and covers personnel contracts, travel, general costs, equipment and consumables. There is a 25% cap on equipment costs. Projects are financed by the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education of Portugal (MCTES) funds and may be co-financed by European Union community funding sources.

Evaluation and Selection:

Research proposals and applications will be evaluated by international experts. A final decision is subject to validation by External Evaluation Committee of the MIT Portugal Program.

Evaluation Criteria:

1) Relevance of project to Focus Area terms of reference
2) Scientific merit, relevance, expected outcomes
3) Scientific merit/productivity of teams
4) Capacity to integrate in Portuguese research centers and/or companies: -Postdocs -PhD students involved in MPP or to be involved -Bachelor’s/Master’s students
5) Level of institutional involvement and private co-financing; executability of project and budget reasonableness
6) Commitment to complementary co-financing of at least one invited full professorship, in collaboration with Portuguese universities, according to the FCT regulations currently in effect.

Regulations: 

The regulations for this competition and candidacy form are available.  Descriptions of ongoing research projects of the MIT Portugal Program are available by Focus Area.

Please see our list of Frequently Asked Questions.