October 18, 2022. The UT Austin Portugal Program is a partnership between the Foundation for Science and Technology and the University of Texas – Austin
The UT Austin Portugal Program will support eight research projects that boost and promote competitiveness and innovation in the fields of Advanced Computing, Emerging Cancer Therapies and Medical Physics, Nanomaterials for New Markets and Space-Earth Interactions. More specifically, the Program will provide €400K to finance Portuguese research institutions. The period for the submission of applications closes on November 17.
The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) is running a call to finance exploratory research projects within the scope of the UT Austin Portugal Program. The goal is to support joint research initiatives between teams from non-enterprise entities part of the national S&T system and the University of Texas at Austin.
“We are looking for disruptive, high-risk scientific projects, with a high potential for progress and impact, involving the participation of at least one Portuguese entity and a partner of the University of Texas in Austin,” said Andreia Passos, Executive Director of the UT Austin Portugal Program.
According to Andreia Passos, some of the eligible topics include the development of models, programming languages or algorithms, in the case of the Advanced Computing area. Concerning the Space-Earth Interaction field, it focuses on remote ocean sensing research using satellites, deep sea exploration, or computer science and engineering for the next generation of spacecrafts. Regarding Medical Physics, this dimension comprehends topics on emerging cancer therapies, namely proton therapies. As to Nanomaterials, the call will analyse applications that focus, for instance, on the development of nanomaterials for different dimensions, like space, information technologies or energy.
The call is open to Higher Education Institutions, their institutes and R&D units; state or international laboratories based in Portugal; private non-profit institutions whose main goal is the development of R&D activities; other public and private non-profit institutions that advance or participate in scientific research activities. The call will support exploratory projects, namely individual or joint ventures, for a maximum period of 12 months; the funding shall not exceed €50K per project. The approved projects will benefit from national funding, via the FCT budget. The budget allocation of the Program at UT Austin will ensure the participation of US research teams, with funding amounts equivalent to those of the R&D teams in Portugal.
More information about the call here.
This year, the UT Austin Portugal Program celebrates its 15th anniversary; in order to observe this milestone, the Program will organise its Annual Conference tomorrow, October 19. This year, the event will promote the discussion around issues related to Scientific Diplomacy and how this type of international partnerships can contribute to it. Elvira Fortunato, Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Madalena Alves, President of FCT, and José Manuel Mendonça, Director of the Program in Portugal and Chairman of INESC TEC’s Board of Directors will attend the event. The Conference will take place at CIIMAR, with a live stream on the YouTube channel of the UT Austin Portugal Program.
For further inquiries:
Elsa Carvalho
Communication UT Austin Portugal
elsa.carvalho@inesctec.pt
M +351 934 224 331
https://utaustinportugal.org/
