OPEN CALL FOR PROJECTS
This Call is designed to assist teams of researchers from the NSST entities, the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and industry partners in bootstrapping high-impact potential research activities of
strategic relevance for the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program (CMU Portugal). The Call encourages
recent Ph.D. graduates that are faculty at Portuguese Universities or researchers with an appointment in Portuguese research institutions to submit a research proposal.
Considering these goals FCT launches the Exploratory Research Call (ERPs) for funding projects
that aim to stimulate and promote Portugal’s international competitiveness and innovation capacity
in Science and Technology (S&T), in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
Under this Call, the Program is seeking proposals, namely in the area of ICT, focusing on the
opportunities provided by the data economy as a driver of growth and change.
SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS
Applications must be presented to FCT, in English, from October 11 to November 17, 2022, at 17:00 Lisbon time, using a specific on-line form and submitted through myFCT platform.
CRITERIA FOR SUPPORTING PROJECTS
Projects may be presented “individually” (only one beneficiary) or in “co-promotion” (two or more
beneficiaries). Projects in co-promotion must be led by an entity listed in 2.
The submitted proposals must include:
• One or more Portuguese research institutions from different entities as identified in section
2;
• One partner CMU faculty team.
The project consortium may include Collaborative Institutions, that may also invest in the exploratory
project, bringing relevant competencies to the project. However, such entities will not be funded by
this Call.
This Call will fund only resources and activities in Portuguese beneficiaries.
The project shall have a maximum duration of 12 months, renewable for a maximum of 3 months,
in duly justified cases.
FORM OF SUPPORT AND FUNDING RATE
The funding to be granted under this ACP shall be non-reimbursable in accordance with number 1
of Article 7 of the FCT Projects Regulations. National funds will fund the projects through the FCT
budget.
BUDGET ALLOCATION
The budget allocation for this call is EUR 400.000, for projects starting in 2023. The maximum budget
for Portuguese research institutions in each ERP cannot exceed:
• 70.000 euros for consortia with more than one Portuguese research institution;
• 50.000 euros for projects with a single Portuguese research institution.
Depending on the proposals’ quality, up to 8 (eight) new awards are expected to be financed.
However, the actual number of exploratory projects funded will depend on the quality of the
submitted proposals and funding available.
The participating researchers from Carnegie Mellon University will be funded independently by the
CMU Portugal Program at Carnegie Mellon University. The CMU Portugal Program will fund the
participating CMU research teams’ activities at Carnegie Mellon University at a level similar to the
Portuguese team.
More information available in:
