2026 Call for Seed Grant Proposals

The MIT Portugal Program (MPP) is pleased to announce its 2026 Call for Proposals. The call is now open through May 25, 2026.

Initiatives to be Funded

Types of Proposals

This call will support two types of proposals: 

• Joint Integrated Proposals: submitted by a team jointly led by a PI from any MIT school, department, laboratory, or center and a PI from Portugal. The proposal must clearly describe the collaborative activities to be carried out by both the MIT and Portuguese teams. Funding is awarded to both the MIT PI and the Portuguese PI.
• Seed Proposals: submitted by an MIT Principal Investigator (PI) from any MIT school, department, laboratory, or center. The proposal must include a description of collaboration with a Portuguese researcher but not submitted jointly with a Portuguese collaborator. Funding is awarded only to the MIT PI.

All proposals must involve active collaboration with a Portuguese partner.

Project categories

Applicants may submit proposals in one of the following categories: 

• Research projects in one or more of the following areas: 

1. 1. Chips/Nanotechnology
   2. Energy
   3. AI
   4. Space 
   5. Climate Science & Climate Change
   6. Earth Systems: Oceans to Near Space
   7. Digital Transformation in Manufacturing
   8. Sustainable Cities 

• 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.

Proposal Scope and Funding

The 2026 call supports innovative collaborative projects between MIT and Portuguese institutions. Because funding needs may differ between partners, two proposal structures are available.

Joint Integrated Proposals

Under the Joint Integrated Proposal track, joint Portuguese and MIT teams may submit joint proposals for innovative projects.  These proposals must be jointly led by a PI from MIT and a PI from Portugal. For awarded projects, MIT will provide up to $200,000, including overhead, for one year to the MIT PI, while FCT will provide up to €50,000 for one year to the Portuguese PI.

Seed Proposals

Under the Seed Proposal track, MIT PI’s may submit proposals for innovative projects developed in collaboration with a Portuguese team.  Seed awards provide funding exclusively to the MIT Principal Investigator for a duration of one year, at a level of up to $200,000, including overhead. Proposals requesting higher budgets may be considered with appropriate justification. Although funding is awarded only to MIT, all proposals must demonstrate active and substantive collaboration with Portuguese faculty, students, industry partners, or other institutions. 

For both Seed and Joint Integrated Proposals, applications to continue previously funded projects at MIT that are still active may be considered, provided there is ongoing collaboration with Portuguese partners. These applications may be submitted as new proposals.

For all proposals, active collaboration with a Portuguese partner is required. 

Applicants who need assistance identifying appropriate collaborators are encouraged to contact info@mitportugal.org or mitportugal@mit.edu .

For research proposals, hosting a visiting student or researcher from Portugal at MIT or an MIT student or researcher in Portugal is strongly encouraged; for visits to MIT the Program may  help cover associated fees.

Collaborations aligned with Portuguese research projects participating in European initiatives are also encouraged.

Who can Apply

From MIT: 

A PI from any MIT school, department, laboratory, or center 

From Portugal: 

Any research team led by a holder of a doctoral degree that is employed or has a grant contract from the following Portuguese entities 

• a Higher Education Institution; 
• a State, International, or Associated Laboratory 
• 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 public and private institutions developing or participating in scientific research activities.

Portuguese host institutions must also ensure that their situation is regularized with respect to taxes and social security obligations, as required under the National Regulation on Special Support

How to Apply

The deadline to submit both the Seed proposals and Joint Integrated proposals is May 25, 2026. The Program will evaluate the proposals with the additional involvement of MIT and Portuguese experts and select the awardees. Applicants will be informed of the results by the end of July 2026. 

At MIT, funds for new projects will be available for use from August 1, 2026, or upon the expiration date of the existing grant, if applicable.

For Portuguese PI’s funding will be released by FCT.

Seed applications must include a project proposal and a project budget. Integrated joint applications must include a single integrated project proposal and a separate project budget both for MIT and for Portugal. All proposal and budget templates can be found here . All proposals, including budgets, must be submitted via the submission portal on the MIT Funding Opportunities page by MIT PIs or MIT administrators.  The proposal and budget do not need to be routed via RAS or Kuali Coeus (KC).

Any proposal – or MIT budget-related questions can be raised with mitportugal@mit.edu. Any Portuguese budget-related questions can be raised with info@mitportugal.org. 

At the end of the project, all funded initiatives (both Joint Integrated proposals and Seed Proposals) must submit a single joint scientific report that includes an Executive Summary of up to two pages, summarizing the main achievements, relevance for the MIT Portugal collaboration and key accomplishments/ output indicators. In addition, the Joint Integrated Projects reports must provide a more detailed account of the results and indicators expected for the Portuguese side, including: summary of activities carried out by the MIT and Portuguese teams; main scientific milestones and collaborations; deviations from the original plan (if any) and justifications; research team, identification of both teams and key contributions and student/postdoc involvement, if applicable. Also, for Joint Integrated Projects, the Portuguese PI must submit a final financial execution report to the Portuguese Office/DRI‑FCT, which is required to release the final 20% of the Portuguese funding. All scientific and financial reports must be shared with FCT/DRI.

Evaluation

The following evaluation criteria apply to both the integrated joint proposals and seed proposals:

• Scientific Merit and Originality of Research Relevance of the problem to be addressed and the soundness of scientific approach, originality and innovative character of the research, and strategy to mitigate scientific and technical risk.
  
  
• Quality of the workplan: Quality of the workplan to accomplish the overall objectives of the project, including the coherence and feasibility of the proposed activities and milestones.  The collaboration plan between MIT and Portuguese Team; and adequacy of the budget. 
  
  
• Impact and alignment with MPP objectives: anticipated impact of the work in one or more of the following ways: advancing scientific knowledge, readiness level of a technology, solution for a real-world problem, its ability to promote long-term collaborations between MIT and Portuguese teams, or its potential to benefit Portugal in the areas of the MIT Portugal Program.
  
  
• Team expertise: Strength and complementarity of the teams in tackling the problem; and potential impact of the project on the research trajectories and careers of the PIs

Each evaluation criteria is scored on the following 1 to 4 scale:

1. Exceptional 
2. Very Good 
3. Good 
4. Fair 

The final overall score is as follows:

1. Exceptional – High priority for funding
2. Very Good – Priority for funding
3. Good – Marginal priority for funding
4. Fair – Unlikely to be funded

The final funding decisions for Portuguese teams are issued by FCT, based on the jointly agreed final assessment. MIT communicates the results to the MIT PIs.

Summary schedule:

Please check the FAQ section if you have questions about the seed grants or the process.  (coming soon!)