Call of Studentships of FCT PhD 2021 received 3381 applications

The 2021 Call de Studentships de Investigação para Doutoramento da Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), whose applications ran from March 1 to 31, received a total of 3381 applications. The Call provides for the allocation of 1450 Studentships for funding.

The majority of the applicants (82.3%) intend to carry out their study plan in national host institutions, followed by the mixed scheme in national and foreign host institutions (15.3%) and, to a lesser extent, the full accomplishment abroad (2.4%).

Foreign applicants represent 30% and come from a total of 71 countries. The countries with the most applicants to Call are Brazil (48.2%), Italy (9.2%), Iran (7.7%), Spain (4.2%), and India (2.6%).

By gender, women represent 56% of the candidates and men 44%. 

The distribution of applicants by major scientific areas are: Social Sciences - 23.7%, Engineering and Technology Sciences - 23.5%, the Humanities 17.4%, Medical and Health Sciences - 11.5%, Natural Sciences - 11.2%, Exact Sciences 7.5% and Agricultural Sciences 5.3%. (see Table 1)

The submitted applications will be evaluated by 36 Evaluation Panels. The panels with the highest number of applications are: Clinical Medicine and Health Sciences - 5.3%, Arts - 4.9%, and Computer Sciences and Informatics - 4.8%.

The FCT Doctoral Research Studentships are grants awarded competitively to support advanced training in all areas of knowledge for obtaining a doctoral degree. These Studentships allow doctoral students to dedicate themselves exclusively to their research, thus contributing to the scientific and technological development of the country. The FCT currently supports about 6 thousand Studentships for doctoral research.

Table1

Distribution of submitted applications by major scientific area and gender of the applicants

Appendix: Statistical report of the application process of the Call