Visiting professorships

The creation of Guest Professorships aims to attract high-level international researchers to Portugal and to support higher education institutions in their efforts to internationalize and establish partnerships with other entities.
This program was announced on May 12, 2008 as part of the Science 2008 initiative. The following documents are available:

Notice;
Regulations.

Application guide for institutions

Given the foreseeable variety of proposals to be received by the Invited Chairs program, FCT has chosen not to provide a rigid application form, but rather to indicate a set of rules for organizing the application described in this document. FCT reserves the right to request more specific forms in the future.

Evaluation period

Call is open permanently in accordance with Article 5 of the Regulation.

Proposing institution submitting the application

Each application must have a clearly defined proposing institution (necessarily a university higher education institution, Article 4) with legal personality and which submits the application. This will be the institution with which the FCT will establish a dialog during the application phase, asking for any clarifications.

Physical support for the application

Application documents should be sent by email to catedras@fct.pt.

Documents with signatures must be submitted digitally. Otherwise, if the application is selected, its final approval will depend on the submission of the original.

Document format

For maximum compatibility all documents in the application must be submitted in PDF format. Exceptions may be made for

spreadsheets, which, for ease of simulation by the FCT, should also be submitted in MS Excel format.
graphic or multimedia documents used in project descriptions or CVs.

Contact person responsible for the application

Each application must clearly identify the person who will be responsible for all contacts with the FCT, hereinafter referred to as the contact person, who must be someone who can be easily contacted. This does not necessarily have to be the head of the proposing institution, nor does it have to be the scientific head of the application. Email, telephone and fax should be provided.

FCT strongly recommends that the aforementioned email automatically produces copies for all the people involved in the application at decision-making level.

Documentation structure

The documentation to be sent will include:

Identification document of the applicant institution including the contact person ifit is the same for all applications.
Formal letter of support for the application(s) signed (electronically) by the head of the institution.
Document describing the application for Guest Chair.

Identification of the applicant institution submitting the application

The identification document of the applicant institution submitting the application must identify it in a succinct but unambiguous way, taking advantage of any information that the FCT may already hold. It should include the contact person and the NIB to be used for transferring funds if they are common to all applications and the list of proposed applications.

In the event that the proposing institution is not a university institution already identified with the FCT, and only in this case, detailed data must be provided on headquarters and address, governing bodies, management contacts, VAT number, etc.

Application description

Documents to include:

List of beneficiary institutions, including other participating institutions, with contact details, responsible persons and contact personfor the application if specific.
Document of acceptance of participation in the application by each institution involved.
Definition of the objectives to be achieved with the creation of the chair, including the mobilization of international partnerships, cooperation networks, projects, other research initiatives, collaboration in doctoral programmes, strengthening critical masses of quality, etc. (Articles 3, 6 and 7)
Definition of the chair's scientific profile. If a name is proposed, include the respective curriculum and project. (Article 6)
Conditions for integration into university research and higher education institutions and, where appropriate, including the distribution of time between various institutions, periods abroad and in Portugal. (Articles 6 and 7)
Co-financing conditions and proposed budget including estimates of the various types of expenditure envisaged throughout the duration of the contract and the funding requested from the FCT. (Articles 7, 10, 11 and 12)
Proposed timetable for the recruitment process.