Regulation for the Evaluation of Units approved

The Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education has approved the Regulation for the Evaluation and Pluriannual Funding of R&D Units for the 2017/2018 FCT evaluation. The regulation will come into force after its publication in Diário da República, and the submission of applications is scheduled for November.

The evaluation of R&D units aims at the development and enhancement of the National Scientific and Technological System in all areas of knowledge, its strengthening and territorial densification. The overall quality rating and the multi-year funding of the R&D units to be determined by this exercise is based on the evaluation of activities carried out since the beginning of January 2013 and the plan to be developed for the 5-year period.

Units with an overall rating of "Excellent", "Very Good", and "Good" can count on funding that covers two tranches:

Base Funding, indexed to the overall classification of the unit and to the weighting of doctoral researchers integrated therein;

Programmatic Funding, attributed by proposal of the respective evaluation panel according to the appreciation of the planned activities and the detection of specific needs and that may include: the co-participation in the salary costs of a pluri-annual plan to hire researchers; the support to a pluri-annual plan of Studentships of doctoral studies; the co-participation in the support to the internationalization of the Unit, namely the participation in European and International infrastructures and networks; other possible support, such as the acquisition of equipment and scientific infrastructures.

The documents supporting the applications will be made available on the FCT website after the publication of the regulations in the Diário da República.