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  • About
    • Overview
    • People
    • Area Leaders
    • Resources
    • Documents and Reports
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Education
    • Overview
    • 2023 Call for PhD Grants
  • Industry
    • Overview
    • Affiliates
    • Getting Involved
    • Host an MIT Student
  • Innovation
    • MIT Portugal Innovation Workshop 2025
    • MIT Portugal Innovation Workshop Reunion 2025
  • Research
    • Overview
      • Climate Science & Climate Change
      • Earth Systems: Oceans to Near Space
      • Digital Transformation in Manufacturing
      • Sustainable Cities
    • Competitive Calls
      • 2025 Call for Seed Grant Proposals
    • Funded Projects
      • 2024 @PT Call for Exploratory Proposals
      • 2024 Seed Projects
      • Flagship Projects
      • 2021 Exploratory Projects
  • Idea Sprints
  • Annual Conference
    • Annual Conference 2024
  • News + Events
    • Overview
    • News
    • Events
    • Graphic Identity
    • Media Gallery

Research


2025 Call for Seed Grant Proposals

Call Info
FAQ's
Call Info

The MIT Portugal Program is pleased to announce its 2025 call for seed grant proposals from MIT Principal Investigators from any of the Institute’s schools, departments, laboratories, or centers. The call is open now through June 6, 2025.

The MIT Portugal Program (MPP), recently renewed and now in its 4th phase through 2030, is a strategic international partnership between Portuguese universities, research institutions, government, industry partners, and MIT, with the goal of fostering collaborative research. The seed grants are designed to encourage such collaborations and to generate new ideas and advance research both in Portugal and at MIT. The Program has supported over 100 research projects during Phase III of the collaboration. A list of past awards can be found here.

For the 2025 call for proposals, new seed grants for one to two years will be considered, at a funding level up to $200,000 annually (including overhead). Proposals with a higher budget will be considered with appropriate justification.

For the 2025 call for proposals, the Program encourages both:

1. New applications for innovative projects, in collaboration with a Portuguese team, and
2. Renewal applications to allow for the continuation of research projects, with an active Portuguese collaborator, that were funded in 2024 and which grants have not yet expired.

Interested researchers at MIT are encouraged to submit proposals in the following two categories:

1. Research projects in one or more of the following areas:

New research areas in Phase IV:

1. Chips/Nanotechnology
2. Energy
3. AI
4. Space

Research areas continued from Phase III:

5. Climate Science & Climate Change
6. Earth Systems: Oceans to Near Space
7. Digital Transformation in Manufacturing
8. Sustainable Cities

2. Non-research projects to promote engagement and collaboration in topics and activities that may impact Portugal, such as developing a joint course between MIT and a Portuguese university or an Entrepreneurship & Innovation program. If you have questions on whether a non-research project is appropriate, you can raise these with mitportugal@mit.edu.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

Proposals will be accepted from MIT Principal Investigators from any school, department, laboratory, or center.

While this funding is exclusively for MIT Principal Investigators, proposals are expected to include collaboration with Portuguese faculty, students, industry, or other institutions in Portugal. A non-exhaustive overview of Portuguese universities and relevant departments for research areas 1 to 4, as well as Innovation & Entrepreneurship labs, can be found here. If you need help finding contact information, please reach out to mitportugal@mit.edu.

Renewal applications of existing research projects must demonstrate active and meaningful collaboration with Portuguese researchers, industry and/or students.

For all research project applications, proposals that consider hosting a visiting student or researcher from Portugal are strongly encouraged. The Program can help with visiting student slots, if needed, and help cover visiting fees.

Proposals that will collaborate with Portuguese research projects that are part of European initiatives are encouraged.

Budget Allocation


Funding may be used for, but is not limited to, MIT salaries (including summer salaries as well as RA, postdoc, and other salaries), tuition for MIT students, materials & supplies, services, equipment, travel & meeting costs to facilitate collaboration with Portuguese collaborators, and indirect costs. Funding should not be used for salaries for foreign collaborators.

MIT PI’s are strongly encouraged to host a visiting student or researcher from Portugal, as part of the research collaboration, and can apply for additional funding to cover visiting fees.

How to Apply

The deadline to submit proposals is June 6, 2025. Applicants will be informed of the results by end of July 2025. Funds for new projects will be available for use from August 1, 2025. Funds for renewal research projects will be available for use from the expiration date of the existing grant.

Applications must include a project proposal and a project budget, templates can be found here. Please submit the project proposal and project budget via the submission portal on the MIT Funding Opportunities page. Any proposal – or budget-related questions can be raised with mitportugal@mit.edu. The proposal and budget do not need to be routed via RAS or Kuali Coeus (KC).

At the end of the grant period, grantees will be required to submit a brief report to the MIT Portugal Program office highlighting the accomplishments and results of the project, active collaboration with Portuguese researchers, industry and/or students, any publications resulting from the project, as well as a final financial statement. The report could be 2 pages in length or less, and is ideally ready to be used on the MIT Portugal Program website.

Summary schedule:

June 6, 2025

Proposal and budget submission deadline

End of July 2025

Announcement of funded projects

August 1, 2025

Funds available for use for new projects

Expiration date of existing grant

Funds available for use for renewal projects


Please check the FAQ section if you have questions about the seed grants or the process. 

FAQ's

In what areas can I submit a proposal?

For the 2025 Call for Proposals, the MIT Portugal Program (MPP) is seeking innovative proposals in one or more of the following categories:

1. Research projects in one or more of the following areas:

New research areas in Phase IV:

1. Chips/Nanotechnology
2. Energy
3. AI
4. Space

Research areas continued from Phase III:

5. Climate Science & Climate Change
6. Earth Systems: Oceans to Near Space
7. Digital Transformation in Manufacturing
8. Sustainable Cities

2. Non-research projects to promote engagement and collaboration in topics and activities that may impact Portugal, such as developing a joint course between MIT and a Portuguese university or an Entrepreneurship & Innovation program. If you have questions on whether a non-research project is appropriate, you can raise these with mitportugal@mit.edu.

Can I submit a proposal if I currently have an active award or in the past have received an award from the MIT Portugal Program?
  • If you received an award from the MIT Portugal Program in the past, and that award has expired, you can submit a new proposal under this call for proposals. 
  • If you currently have an active MIT Portugal Program seed grant that was awarded in 2024, you can submit a proposal to allow for the continuation of this research project provided it can be demonstrated that your research project includes meaningful collaboration with colleague(s) in Portugal.
Do I need a collaborator in Portugal to submit a proposal under this call?

Proposals are expected to include collaboration with faculty, industry, and researchers from Portuguese universities and other research institutions in Portugal.  

A non-exhaustive overview of Portuguese universities and relevant departments for research areas 1 to 4, as well as Innovation & Entrepreneurship labs, can be found here. If you need help finding contact information, please reach out to mitportugal@mit.edu.

What if I submitted an exploratory proposal together with my Portuguese collaborator?

The Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) has not made a final selection of projects to fund yet. We encourage you to submit a seed proposal under this call for MIT funds. If the exploratory proposal submitted by the Portuguese team with FCT  is selected for funding in Portugal, MPP will fund the MIT PI for his/her portion of the research under the exploratory proposal. 

What is the timeline for submissions and announcements?

Proposal submission deadline                      June 6, 2025 (11:59pm ET)
Announcement of funded projects                 End of July 2025
Funds available for use for new projects        August 1, 2025
Funds available for use for renewal projects  End of existing grant

 

Should I submit a budget for direct costs or total proposal cost (including EB, F&A, etc.)

Please submit a budget for total proposal costs, including all applicable overhead costs at the current research rates for FY 2026 listed below.

Research F&A Rate                   59.0 %
Employee Benefits Rate            23.7 %
Vacation accrual Rate                9.10 %

What can the funding be used for?

Funding may be used for, but is not limited to, MIT salaries (including summer salaries as well as RA, postdoc, and other salaries), tuition for MIT students, materials & supplies, services, equipment, travel & meeting costs to facilitate collaboration with Portugal, and indirect costs. 

Funding should not be used for salaries for foreign collaborators.

Visiting students

Proposals that consider hosting a visiting student or researcher from Portugal are strongly encouraged. The Program can help with visiting student slots (if your department doesn’t have visiting student slots available), and help cover visiting fees. 

This additional funding to cover visiting fees can be requested separately during the grant period and does not need to be requested in the proposal stage.

 

What is the amount to be awarded?

Seed grants will be awarded in amounts up to $200,000 annually, including overhead, for a 1 to 2 year grant period. Proposals with a higher budget will be considered if appropriate justification for a higher budget is provided. 

For renewal applications, the Program will take into account the estimated remaining funds by the end of the original grant period.

Meeting / workshop requests

Grantees may be asked to participate in activities with Portugal or the MIT Portugal Program, such as workshop requests and the MIT Portugal Annual Conference, typically held in the fall in Portugal.

Should the proposal be routed via Kuali Coeus (KC) at this stage?

No, the proposal should not be routed via KC. 

Can I submit more than 1 proposal?

Although you can submit more than 1 proposal, we strongly encourage you to only submit a single proposal that you are most excited about, as only one will be funded.

How do I submit a proposal?

Please submit the project proposal and project budget via MIT Funding Opportunities by June 6, 2025, 11:59pm ET. Any area- or budget-related questions can be raised with mitportugal@mit.edu. 

For all other questions not addressed above please contact the MIT Portugal Program at mitportugal@mit.edu.

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MIT Portugal Program
Universidade do Minho
Campus de Azurém,
4804 – 533 Guimarães
Portugal
info@mitportugal.org

MIT Portugal Program
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Building 33-326 
Cambridge, MA 02139
mitportugal@mit.edu

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