Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - FCT PhD scholarships

FCT PhD scholarship

You receive a monthly living allowance of about 1,310 EUR while you work towards a doctoral degree. The scholarship runs for a maximum of 4 years (48 months) and is renewed each year. On top of the monthly payment, it covers your tuition fees. It also supports training activities and attendance at scientific conferences, and includes personal accident insurance. Travel and installation allowances apply in some cases. The money comes from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT), Portugal's national science funding agency. You can do your research in Portugal, partly abroad, or entirely abroad.

Who can apply

• Degree level: You are enrolled in a PhD programme, or you meet the requirements to enrol in one.
• Not yet a doctor: You do not already hold a doctoral degree.
• No earlier FCT funding: You have never held a PhD or PhD-in-Industry scholarship funded directly by FCT, no matter how short.
• Field of study: Open to all scientific areas.
• Where you study: You can base your research at any academic institution in Portugal or abroad. This includes public and private universities, research units and non-profit research bodies.
• Nationality: Open to all nationalities. This includes citizens of Portugal, other EU countries and non-EU countries, as well as stateless persons and recognised political refugees.
• Residence: If your research takes place partly or fully abroad, you must live permanently or usually in Portugal. This applies to Portuguese and foreign applicants alike.

How to apply

You apply online through the myFCT portal and select the regular line of application. The 2026 window runs from 2 March to 31 March 2026, 17:00 Lisbon time. Your host institution must then confirm your application within 10 working days, or it is excluded. Expert panels then score the applicants, work plan and host conditions, with final results in early November.

How realistic are your chances?

For 2026, FCT plans to award 1,600 scholarships (600 of them in non-academic settings) against 3,628 applications. That is roughly a 1-in-4 success rate, so a strong academic record and a convincing research plan matter.

If you are weighing other options alongside this FCT scholarship, you will find further funding opportunities in our guide Scholarships in Portugal.