FCT — Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia — is Portugal’s national public agency for funding science, technology, and innovation across every scientific domain. It is the country’s primary source of competitive research funding: doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships, individual research-contract funding, project grants, and the multiannual funding that keeps Portugal’s R&D units, associate laboratories, and collaborative laboratories running. If you are working with Portuguese collaborators, advising a researcher applying for a PhD grant in Portugal, or trying to understand how a Portuguese host institution’s core funding works, FCT is the agency behind nearly all of it.
A note on the acronym: “FCT” is also commonly used for the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, Nigeria, which produces unrelated results in general search. This guide covers only the Portuguese science-funding agency, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.
What FCT Is
FCT is a public institute (instituição pública) operating under the Portuguese Ministry for Science, Technology and Higher Education (MCTES — Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior). It began operating in 1997, succeeding the Junta Nacional de Investigação Científica e Tecnológica (JNICT, the National Board for Scientific and Technological Research, 1967–1997) and inheriting functions and tradition from the earlier Instituto Nacional de Investigação Científica (INIC, 1929–1992). FCT is Portugal’s equivalent of a national research council — comparable in function, though not in structure, to the UK’s UKRI, Spain’s Agencia Estatal de Investigación, or Ireland’s Research Ireland: a single national body that funds researchers and research institutions directly through competitive, internationally peer-reviewed calls, rather than research being distributed through university block grants alone.
FCT’s mandate covers the full research lifecycle: funding individual researchers at every career stage (from PhD student through senior investigator), funding the research units and laboratories those researchers work in, funding the national scientific infrastructure and computing resources they depend on, and coordinating Portugal’s participation in EU and international research programmes.
FCT’s Main Funding Programs
FCT organizes its funding into several distinct instruments, each with its own call structure and eligibility rules. The programs below are the ones a research administrator or applicant is most likely to encounter.
Doctoral (PhD) Studentships
FCT’s doctoral grants (Bolsas de Doutoramento, BD) fund individuals pursuing a PhD, either mainly within an academic environment (the general application line) or through research plans carried out wholly or partly in a non-academic host — companies, Collaborative Laboratories, Technology and Innovation Centers, Technology Interface Centers, public administration bodies, or third-sector entities. Studentships run for a minimum of 3 months up to a maximum of 48 months with annual renewal where applicable, and calls are typically opened annually with a defined application window. Eligibility is open beyond Portuguese nationals: EU member-state citizens, third-country nationals, stateless persons, and recognized refugees may apply, subject to the specific call’s terms.
Scientific Employment (CEEC)
FCT’s Scientific Employment Stimulus (Estímulo ao Emprego Científico, CEEC) funds fixed-term and permanent research contracts for PhD holders at Portuguese R&D institutions. It runs on two tracks: an individual line, in which researchers apply directly with a proposed institution and research plan, and an institutional line, in which host institutions apply for a set of contract positions to fill according to their own strategic hiring needs. CEEC is the primary route by which postdoctoral researchers and early- to mid-career PhD holders move into longer-term contracted research positions in Portugal, rather than remaining on a chain of short-term project funding.
R&D Project Grants
FCT funds competitive research projects across all scientific fields through periodic calls, generally reviewed through international panel-based peer review. These calls typically distinguish standard/regular research projects from exploratory projects intended to test earlier-stage or higher-risk ideas before a full proposal. Project grants are awarded to a research team led by a principal investigator, hosted at an eligible R&D unit or associate laboratory, and cover direct research costs (personnel, consumables, travel, equipment) over a fixed multi-year term.
R&D Units, Associate Laboratories, and Collaborative Laboratories
Rather than funding only individual projects, FCT provides multiannual, strategic funding directly to Portugal’s R&D units (the country’s core research-center structure, evaluated and funded on a multi-year cycle), Associate Laboratories (units awarded a distinct, more autonomous statute in recognition of scientific excellence and strategic relevance), and Collaborative Laboratories (CoLABs — structures explicitly designed to bring academic and industry partners together around applied research and innovation). This tier of funding is what keeps Portuguese research centers operating between individual project grants, and it is periodically re-evaluated through FCT-run assessment exercises.
Research Infrastructure and Computing Resources
FCT maintains and funds the Portuguese Roadmap of Research Infrastructures of Strategic Relevance, supporting large-scale scientific equipment and facilities, and separately provides access to national computing resources for projects across all scientific domains — the technological backbone that individual project grants assume is available rather than fund directly.
ERC-Portugal and International Program Coordination
FCT runs an ERC-Portugal support programme that assists Portuguese-based researchers and institutions through the full cycle of European Research Council applications, and more broadly acts as Portugal’s national coordination point for participation in EU framework programmes. Portuguese researchers applying to Horizon Europe instruments, including Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, typically do so alongside — not instead of — FCT’s own national funding lines, and a Portuguese host institution’s Data Management Plan obligations under an EU grant sit on top of, not in place of, any FCT-specific reporting requirements.
Application Cycles and Timing
FCT does not run a single continuous rolling call across all instruments. Instead, each program has its own periodic call structure: doctoral studentship calls have historically opened annually (commonly in the first half of the calendar year, with a defined multi-week submission window), CEEC calls open periodically for both the individual and institutional lines, and R&D project-grant calls are announced separately, often on a roughly annual or biennial cadence depending on the scientific area and available budget. Because call timing shifts year to year, always confirm current deadlines directly on FCT’s own site (fct.pt) rather than relying on a prior year’s calendar — this is the single most common planning error international applicants and their sponsored-programs offices make.
Eligibility for International and Non-Portuguese Researchers
Most FCT individual-researcher programs (doctoral studentships, CEEC) are open to non-Portuguese applicants, including EU/EEA citizens, third-country nationals, stateless individuals, and holders of recognized refugee status, provided the specific call’s eligibility terms are met and, typically, the research is hosted at an eligible Portuguese institution. Institutional-line funding (R&D unit funding, institutional CEEC contracts, infrastructure funding) is awarded to the Portuguese host institution itself, with the institution then responsible for recruitment. A research administrator advising a foreign investigator or student should check the specific call notice (aviso de abertura) for that cycle’s exact nationality, residency, and prior-affiliation rules, since these vary by programme and by year.
How FCT Fits Into the Portuguese Research System
FCT sits under MCTES alongside — but distinct from — Portugal’s universities and polytechnics, which are the institutions that actually host the researchers, students, and R&D units FCT funds. FCT does not itself employ researchers or run laboratories; it is a funding and evaluation body. For a research administrator, the practical relationship to understand is: FCT sets the competitive calls, evaluation criteria, and multiannual strategic funding envelopes; the host institution (university, associate laboratory, or CoLAB) manages the award, employs the researcher, and administers the funds locally, generally under its own institutional financial and ethics procedures layered on top of FCT’s own terms and conditions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is FCT the same as the Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria?
No. This is an acronym collision, not a related organization. The Federal Capital Territory is the administrative district containing Abuja, Nigeria. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia is Portugal’s national science-funding public institute. If a search result for “FCT” discusses Abuja, urban planning, or Nigerian federal administration, it is not the funding body covered in this guide.
Can researchers outside Portugal apply for FCT funding?
Yes, for the individual-applicant programs (doctoral studentships and the individual CEEC line), subject to each call’s specific eligibility terms and, generally, a requirement that the research be hosted at an eligible Portuguese institution. Institutional funding lines are awarded to Portuguese institutions rather than to individual foreign applicants directly.
What is the difference between FCT project funding and R&D unit funding?
Project grants fund a specific, time-limited research project led by a principal investigator. R&D unit, Associate Laboratory, and CoLAB funding is multiannual and strategic — it funds the ongoing operation of a research center as a whole, evaluated on a multi-year cycle, independent of any single project’s funding term.
Does FCT fund research outside Portugal?
FCT’s core national programs fund research hosted at eligible Portuguese institutions. Its role in international collaboration is primarily through coordinating Portuguese participation in multinational programs — Horizon Europe, ERC-Portugal support, and bilateral/multilateral science cooperation agreements — rather than funding foreign-hosted projects directly under its national lines.
Where can I find current FCT call deadlines?
Directly on FCT’s own site, fct.pt (English-language pages available), under its funding programs and open-calls sections. Call windows and cadence shift year to year, so a prior year’s deadline should never be assumed to repeat.
