FCT - CMU Portugal Doctoral Program Scholarships

CMU Portugal Doctoral Program scholarships

During your stay in Portugal, you will receive a full scholarship of up to 2,040 EUR per month, which will be paid for up to 5 years. The funding is provided by the Portuguese “Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia” (FCT), the national research funding organisation, in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, USA. There are two degree programmes. In the Dual Degree programme, you will spend up to 2 years at CMU and up to 3 years at a Portuguese university, and will graduate with two PhD degrees, one from each institution. In the Affiliated Ph.D. programme, you will spend a total of up to 4 years at a Portuguese university, including up to 1 years at CMU, and will be awarded a single doctoral degree from the Portuguese institution. Your tuition fees will be covered. During your stay at CMU, your scholarship will be paid via a separate CMU contract funded by the FCT. You will also receive private accident insurance to cover your research work.

Who can apply

• Degree: You hold a ‘Licenciatura’ (a Portuguese first-cycle degree) or a Master’s degree.
• Field: Your research fits the programme's areas, such as computer science, electrical and computer engineering, machine learning, robotics, human-computer interaction, language technologies, cognitive neuroscience, or engineering and public policy.
• Nationality: Applications are open to people of all nationalities, including EU citizens, nationals of other countries, stateless persons and those with refugee status.
• No earlier FCT Ph.D. funding: You have never received a scholarship for a PhD programme or an in-company PhD programme funded directly by the FCT, and you do not yet hold a PhD.
• Residence (Affiliated Ph.D. only): You live permanently in Portugal and have a supervisor at a Portuguese university as well as a co-supervisor at CMU.

How to apply

To apply for the dual-degree programme, please apply via the page for admission to doctoral studies in the relevant department at CMU and state your interest in the CMU-Portugal dual-degree programme. Application deadlines fall between early and mid-December and vary depending on the department. You will only receive the scholarship if you are admitted by both CMU and a Portuguese partner university. A programme committee will then assess the applications, and you will need at least 3.50 out of 5.00 points to be awarded the scholarship.

How realistic are your chances?

In the 2026/2027 round, up to 10 scholarships were awarded for the ‘Dual Degree’ programme and up to 12 for the ‘Affiliated Ph.D.’ programme, meaning that the number of places available each year is limited.