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FCT publishes results of the Evaluation of R&D Units

The Evaluation process of the R&D Units in the scope of the Pluriannual Funding Program is complete for 31* of the 32 panels in which the Units are organized. FCT publishes the results proposed within this process(see here) already communicated to the coordinators of the applicant units. 348 R&D units applied for this evaluation process, 62 of which correspond to new units, including 4 that resulted from mergers between existing units, totaling 19,418 integrated researchers. The applications, submitted by February 9, 2018, consisted of the presentation of an activity report for the last 5 years, the research team and a strategic plan for the next 5 years.

This evaluation exercise involved 224 international evaluators of high scientific competence and experience, from 26 countries, 35% women, distributed by 32 panels,(list of panels) who remotely reviewed the applications and carried out visits to all competing R&D units during the period from September 17, 2018 to June 21, 2019. The panels were also supported by 31 external experts from 12 countries.

The results show that 64% of the R&D Units evaluated had a proposed classification by the evaluation panels of Excellent or Very Good: Excellent 31%, Very Good 33%, Good 24%, Weak 11% and Insufficient 1%. The integrated researchers are distributed among the R&D units as follows: 43% in units rated Excellent, 35% Very Good, 17% Good, 5% Weak and 0.2% Insufficient.

As a result of this evaluation, FCT will grant funding to the R&D Units that obtained the classification of Excellent, Very Good and Good. The total funding amounts to 420 M€ for the period 2020-2023. These R&D Units have also been awarded a total of 1,600 new doctorate Studentships which will correspond to an investment of 106 M€.

FCT makes available the List of Proposed Outcomes, the Evaluation Process Coordination Team's preliminary Final Report, and the evaluation reports for each R&D Unit, grouped by panel.(Consult here)

Note: * Visits to the units assessed by the Management panel will be made on a date to be established in the last quarter of 2019.