Fenprof requires “appropriate transparency and funding” for science

A The National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof) today warned of the “underfunding of science”, in view of the recent results of the scientific project contest, and demanded “more public investment” and “appropriate transparency and funding”.

The position expressed by Fenprof in a press release arises days after the provisional results of the 2025 edition of the FCT competition for research and development projects in all scientific fields have been released.

According to the results, published last Wednesday, 720 projects were recommended for funding, of the 4,723 evaluated.

For Fenprof, which represents researchers and university professors, the results “explain the underfunding of science in Portugal”.

According to the results, approval rates varied between 11% for scientific research and technological development projects, and 22% for exploratory research projects.

Fenprof considers that these figures “show the insufficient funding and the enormous waste of resources and working time invested in the preparation of thousands of applications”.

In the note, the trade union structure states that “the State is not compensating for the loss of European funds with national investment” and expresses concern for the “uneven distribution” of funding for research and development projects, stressing that the scientific areas of engineering and medical sciences concentrate almost 45% of approved applications, against less than 6% in humanities.

“ These figures require transparency and adequate funding in all areas,” Fenprof stressed, which “requires more public funding, regular calls, quick decisions, higher success rates.”.

The tender, launched at the end of 2025 by the then Science and Technology Foundation (FCT), had an allocation of EUR 104 million, fully supported by State budget funds.

The results may be contested at the hearing of interested parties.