FCT PhD Studentships 2027 in Portugal: Monthly Allowance and Tuition Fees, Open to All Nationalities

Opportunity Overview

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal's public research funding agency, runs an annual call for PhD studentships in all fields, which it says takes place every year in March or between March and April. In the 2026 call, applications ran from 2 to 31 March 2026 on the myFCT portal; 1,600 studentships were planned, 600 of them in a non-academic environment (companies and other organisations), the regular line received 3,628 applications and approved 1,000 (28%), provisional results came on 31 July and final results in November 2026. Dates for the 2027 call have not been announced. Portuguese, EU and third-country citizens, stateless persons and refugees may apply, provided they are enrolled in a PhD programme or meet the requirements to enrol, have never held an FCT PhD studentship and do not already hold a doctorate. Permanent residence in Portugal is required only for mixed (Portugal and abroad) or fully-abroad studentships, so a studentship carried out in Portugal is open to applicants living abroad. Winners receive a monthly maintenance allowance indexed to the minimum wage (raised by EUR 50 from 1 January 2026), plus tuition fees, support for training and scientific meetings, personal accident insurance and, where applicable, travel and relocation costs, renewed yearly up to the maximum set in the FCT studentship regulation. Applications are scored on applicant merit (30%), work plan (40%) and hosting conditions (30%), and anything below 3 out of 5 is not funded. You must agree a supervisor and host R&D unit or institution beforehand, which validates the application within 10 working days after the deadline, and have foreign degrees recognised before the deadline.