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Public Announcement:
http://www.fct.pt/apoios/projectos/concursos/index.phtml.en
Scientific areas for the 2014 Call for Projects in all Scientific
Domains?
http://www.fct.pt/apoios/projectos/concursos/2012/docs/Dominios_e_Areas_Cientificas_C2012_EN.pdf
Current Legislation, Regulations and Norms:
Guide for Writing and Submitting Proposals for R&D projects
http://www.fct.pt/apoios/projectos/guioes#todos_candidatura
FAQ’s:
http://www.fct.pt/apoios/projectos/concursos/faq.phtml.en
Glossary and News: Available at the Call for Proposals’ Portal at
https://concursos.fct.pt/projectos/
Guide for Peer Reviewers
http://www.fct.pt/apoios/projectos/guioes.phtml.en#todos_avaliacao
It remains the requirement for a minimum time allocation of 35% for the PI and 15% for all other elements of the research team (sections 2 and 3 of the article 3º of the Regulations).
A project’s scientific field is automatically defined by the principal scientific area and sub-area chosen by the Principal Investigator.
The full list is available at http://www.fct.pt/apoios/projectos/concursos/2012/docs/Dominios_e_Areas_Cientificas_C2012_EN.pdf
Yes, all main contractors and participating institutions will be funded at 100% except for companies, which will be funded at 50%.
Check if your browser is considered obsolete at http://www.fct.pt/navegador.
No, the warnings do not prevent sealing the application. Only errors have that effect.
Curricula, both FCTSIG/cv as well as DeGois, are frozen for application purposes when the call closes. Other application data is frozen when the application is sealed by the Principal Investigator.
Yes, but only until the Call closes.
| Field | Limit |
|---|---|
| 1. Identification of the project - Title PT | 255 |
| 1. Identification of the project - Title EN | 255 |
| 3.1. Summary PT | 5000 |
| 3.1. Summary EN | 5000 |
| 3.2.1. Literature Review | 6000 |
| 3.2.2. Research Plan and Methods | 9000 |
| 3.2.3. Tasks - Description and Expected Results | 4000 |
| 3.2.4.a. Description of the Management Structure | 3000 |
| 3.2.4.b. Description of milestone | 300 |
| 5. Projects Funded – Results | 5000 |
| 6. Predicted Outcomes - Actions to publicize scientific activity | 3000 |
| 8.1. Justification of Human Resources | 600 |
| 8.2. Justification of Travel Expenses | 600 |
| 8.3. Justification of Consultants | 600 |
| 8.4. Justification of acquisitions of goods and services | 600 |
| 8.5. Justification of patents | 600 |
| 8.7. Justification of adaptation of buildings | 600 |
| 8.8.2. List of equipment to be purchased - Justification | 600 |
Yes. Spaces, line endings, etc.
A scan copy of the Declaration of Intent, duly signed and authenticated, must be submitted to the FCT using the URL indicated on the form (no later than 10 working days after the call is closed or the proposal will not be accepted). The Declaration of Intent must be signed by the Principal Investigator, the Principal Contractor, the Research Unit and all Participating Organizations with budget. Please note that the Declarations of Intent must be signed and initialled on every page by the highest governing body of the participating organizations and by the PI.
No. Institutions without an associated budget are not required to sign the Declaration of Intent.
The Declaration of Intent can only be printed out after the proposal has been sealed.
503 904 040
2000 4040 865
The institutions where experiments will be carried out and team members carrying out the experiments (this is not necessarily required of the PI) must be dully certified by DGAV.
It should be sent to FCT the following documents:
This refers to the technical progress reports and final reports which must be submitted in accordance with the respective Regulations.
This refers to financial reports or return of funds transferred to the Principal Contractor in previous projects with the same Principal Investigator.
The starting date indicated in the application is an estimate and may be changed later. According to article 15º of the Regulations governing access to funding for scientific research and technological development projects — 2010 (with 2011 changes), project start date shall be no later than 90 calendar days after the PI and PC have been notified of the funding decision.
The Abstract is a field in which the proponent must show the central
point of the project argument and is intended to promote empathy with
the evaluator in respect to the proposed research ideas and on methods
to be used. Its content is confidential and is designed only to the
FCT, IP and the panel members.
The abstract for publication is intended to be used by the FCT, IP for
public divulgation. Thereby, the PIs should prepare a summary of the
application for this specific purpose, safeguarding issues of
confidentiality and other rights.
You have to access to the link “Organizations that are no listed” in the Section 2 of the application form.
The new institution will be added to the list of choices within two working days after you fill out the institution pre-registration form.
National Principal Contractors or Participating Institutions, as
institutions that may receive funding if and when the project is
approved, must have a NIPC and their
denomination when applying must perfectly match the one associated to
that NIPC.
Foreign Institutions can act as Participating Organizations provided
they do not have a requested budget. The application form will present
the NIF as 0 in this
case. Exceptional circumstances concerning foreign institutions are
regulated by no. 6 of article 2 of the Regulations.
You have two options: write the name of the foreign institution if you guess that you (and the community in general) do not need to refer often to this institution and the name is sufficiently well known for identification; another option is to fill out the institution pre-registration form. The new institution will be added to the list of choices within two working days after submission of the form.
Yes, foreign institutions can be participating organizations in the project, but only with a zero budget. In situations where there are international agreements or international reciprocity mechanisms duly signed by FCT, authorized by the governing bodies and expressly indicated in the Announcement of the Call for Proposals, foreign institutions may be funded.
When you supply the PI with your FCT Association Key, also supply the DeGois key used, for instance, in the public URL for your DeGois curriculum (it is a 16 digit number, see the image). After introducing the researcher in the team list, the PI can edit the researcher entry to add the DeGois key.
The field Name in publications or Name under which you publish or similar mentioned in the Guide is now available in the FCTSIG/cv curriculum system editing Personal Data. It is used to simplify recognizing the researcher name when an evaluator browses publication databases.
The first FCT public keys included the login followed by 4 characters
from the password. This was a security risk which caused the forceful
expiration of these keys. The researcher should access https://sig.fct.pt/fctsig submit
his/her login credentials and will find the Association Key following
the Login menu item.
In case the login credentials are unavailable, they should be recovered
using https://sig.fct.pt/fctsig/preregisto.asp?action=esqueceu
which requires reintroducing the email used for registration. The
system will automatically send a login and password reminder.
The URL for the original FCT curricula system, FCTSIG/cv, is https://sig.fct.pt/fctsig/cv Curricula in the DeGois platform can also be used. In this case researchers should indicate to the PI not only their FCT Association Key but also the DeGois key.
The CV must be submitted in English with the obvious exceptions: postal addresses, publication titles (original title should be used), etc.
In accordance with the Regulations it is not mandatory for a Researcher to make an application to hold an accumulated percentage of time committed to FCT projects not exceeding 100% at the time of application. Nevertheless, in case the project is proposed for funding and if on its start date holds an accumulated percentage of time committed to FCT projects exceeding 100% (including the new project), then the Declaration of Acceptance will not be made available.
Each researcher can browse the current status according to FCT records by logging in to https://sig.fct.pt/fctsig/.
From a scientific viewpoint the participation of retired researchers as PI or team members of R&D projects does not affect the evaluation of proposals.
No. The grant holder, funded in the frame of research projects ( i.e., the grant is Sim. Caso estejam filiados a instituições estrangeiras e efectuem deslocações no âmbito do projeto, as despesas apenas poderão ser consideradas elegíveis se apresentadas através das instituições nacionais e se realizadas em cumprimento com as disposições legais em vigor.supported by the funds of the project) has a time allocation to the project of 100% (article n.º 5 of Research Grant Holder Statute), thus preventing additional involvement in other projects.
Yes, if the activities in the project fall within the Fellowship Plan of Work and no additional payments are received in the framework of the project.
Yes. If they are affiliated with foreign institutions and travel as part of the project, expenses are only considered eligible if they are submitted through the Portuguese institutions involved and in compliance with the legal provisions in force.
The members of the research team do not necessarily have to be affiliated with the participating organizations, but they must show that suitable conditions available for them to carry out the tasks they are charged with.
Yes. However we emphasize the need for compliance with the rules in “Research Grants in the Framework of R&D Projects”. Moreover, the team member should have full time dedication to the project (100%) and cannot participate in other projects of R&D.
Yes. Doctoral or master’s students who are receiving grants from the FCT can be members of the research team, provided that the subject of their dissertations is appropriate to the subjects of the proposals. Remuneration for members who are receiving an FCT grant is not considered an eligible expense.
It is a value expressed in full months equivalent to the total work of a researcher throughout the project. To calculate this, begin by estimating the percentage of full-time working week for all tasks of a professional nature that is dedicated by the researcher in each of the different stages of the project. Examples:
A Principal Investigator must have a sufficient amount of time dedicated to the project to carry out the proposed activities - no less than 35% of full time. Other members of the research team must also have a sufficient amount of time dedicated to the project in order to carry out the proposed activities, no less than 15%. The sum of the percentages dedicated by each researcher to FCT projects underway may not exceed 100% in the case of full-time researchers and must be commensurately less in other cases.
The convention adopted by the OECD applies here. A full-time week for a researcher is not a fixed number of hours, but rather the total time dedicated by this individual to carrying out all professional activities, research or otherwise, during or outside normal working hours. The percentage of full time set aside for the project should be estimated according to the definition of full time given above.
National or foreigner researcher, without affiliation to the
beneficiary institutions, of recognized international scientific merit
in the areas of study. The need to provide consultancy services should
be fully justified in the application, showing the stages in which they
will be held.
We emphasize that it is not considered consulting service the
presentation of papers at conferences or other scientific meetings.
No, with the exception of Overheads and Adaptation of Buildings and Facilities.
Yes. Portuguese institutions do not need to have an associated budget.
FCT co-funding to companies may not exceed 50% of the total cost of the company’s participation. During the course of the project, the companies involved must submit proof of the total expenses, both those that are funded by FCT and those borne by the company itself.
It is some form of support granted by the State (or through state resources) to a company, whose value does not surpass a limit defined in EC regulations or a national legal diploma, during a period of three years starting on the date of the first incentive, independently of the form or objective. This type of support, due to its small amount, is not considered to be incompatible with European Union norms on competition, hence no notification to the European Commission is needed.
The amounts for the Contibution to Voluntary Social Security are available on the official website http://www4.seg-social.pt/.
Expenses related to voluntary social security contributions of individual grant recipients can be included under Human Resources provided that these are duly justified.
As a rule, project funding does not cover the cost of salaries or
bonuses. In special cases, salary costs may be included under Human
Resources, provided that these are duly justified in the proposal. It
must be shown that the recipient organizations have no other
alternatives at their disposal in terms of specialized human resources
capable of carrying out the proposed work.
The beneficiaries cannot be affiliated with the public administration
and the expenses resulting from contract signed are only considered
eligible for the period of execution of the project and at the amounts
corresponding to the % of full time at which the worker is hired.
The Human Resources item is designed to give preference to funding of individual grants through opening public calls for applications according to the Norms for the award of grants in research projects, for the purpose of involving young researchers in training.
As provided in the Section 6.1 of the Norms for the Award Grants in Research Projects may be included Contribution to Voluntary Social Security, Personal Accident Insurance, single travel allowance and single installation allowance.
Yes, provided that the same eligibility rules as those that apply to the rest of the team members are observed and that there is no double coverage of expenses included in the individual grant.
All travel expenses and accommodation are eligible under the project. They should be submitted through the host national institutions in compliance with the legal provisions in force.
Given the importance of the Curriculum Vitæ (CV) in evaluating the
execution of the project and the research team, consultants should
submit their CVs online.
As an alternative to online submission, a public access URL where the consultant’s CV can be
viewed should be indicated.
The consultant should register to FCTSIG and access https://sig.fct.pt/fctsig/cv to
register or update the CV.
The association key should be indicated in the field on the application
form for justification of consultants (point 4.3).
Only eligible expenses related to acquisition of services from foreign institutions are considered admissible.
Yes, if the tasks they perform are essential to carrying out the project and provided that the research team does not have the specialized skills needed to carry out these tasks. These expenses should be included under Acquisition of Services.
According to the Regulations, expenses incurred to acquire goods and services are considered eligible. Therefore, a service performed at the institutions of origin of foreign researchers can be contracted.
According to the Regulations, institutional overheads arising from the execution of the project are considered eligible up to a maximum of 20% of the total eligible direct costs, i.e. the types described in the Regulations and in the Announcement of the Call for Proposals.
Yes, but only under Overheads.
FCT supports MathJax in its
application and evaluation web applications. MathJax allows most mathematical notation
constructs used at the research level and a subset of chemical formulas
as supported by the LaTeX package
mhchem. The latter requires the command
\(\include(mhchem)\) in each field. For other types of
formulas use a graphical annex.
Some forms now have stricter checking of URLs and we plan to extend that checking to all similar locations. We suggest you to browse http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/html/topics/urlencoding.htm
Use the web server in your school or center to create a controlled access area with login and password, or with a URL unlikely to be guessed and inside a directory that cannot be listed, and indicate the url (and eventually the login and password) when submitting your application. If you choose controlled access then create a document named authentication.pdf with that information. The evaluation panel will receive instructions to access authentication.pdf and to refrain from distributing the material except for the purpose of this evaluation.
The goal of this section is to describe the group’s previous work, any alternative methodologies competing with those proposed in the current project and to justify the need for the proposed innovation. The literature review should by critical, i.e. simply referring to a previous work without commenting on the contribution the work brings to the approach proposed for this project or without mentioning its limitations is neither significant nor useful. Previous results of the PI and the research team are evaluated positively. The reviewers look at this section to evaluate the PI’s vision and knowledge regarding the state of the art and the reason why the PI believes that the methodologies proposed will produce the best results. The PI must convince the reviewers that he/she and the project research team have suitable background and awareness of the open problems in the research area in question.
It is the date on which it has been reached a certain goal or completed a stage. The timing starts at the beginning of the project. The number of milestones is limited to six.
Include the references cited in the technical and scientific description of the proposal, using a cross-referencing method chosen by the PI. Include the title, the authors’ names in the order that they appear in the publication, the name of the book or periodical, volume number, page numbers and year of publication. If the publications are available online, include the corresponding URL.
Yes, unless an appeal is pending. This fact should be signaled under
the section 3.5 Project Resubmission.
Please notice that there is no automatic procedure for that purpose.
The practical way to recycle pieces of a previous application is to
open two different browsers, for instance Internet Explorer and
Firefox, an application in each, and copy from one to the other.
The information should be limited to projects which have been approved through peer-review and that have been completed, are underway or are pending that have been led by the PI of the current proposal. The most relevant projects initiated within the last 5 years should be mentioned, regardless of the source of funding.
Revision date: November 25th, 2014
