Flávio Costa, Rita Novo and Sara Pimenta are the most recent PhD research fellows at ciTechCare. The three applications submitted for the award of doctoral research fellowships were approved and will be funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) over the 4 coming years, enabling the fellows to undertake their research activities leading to the academic degree of Doctor.
In the field of Life and Health Sciences, Flávio Costa’s PhD project will take place in a non-academic environment, in collaboration with the University of Coimbra (Center for Innovation in Biomedicine and Biotechnology), under the supervision of Prof. Bruno Manadas, the Local Health Unit of the Leiria Region, EPE, and ciTechCare, under the supervision of Prof. Sónia Gonçalves Pereira and Prof. Cândida Silva. The research project will be entitled From Gut Microbiota to Medicine: Harnessing Primed Bacterial Glutenases for Celiac Disease Treatment.
The non-academic environment fellowship awarded to Rita Novo will support her doctoral project in Food Consumption Sciences and Nutrition, at the Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences of the University of Porto (FCNAUP), under the supervision of Professor Maria João Gregório, PhD. The project will be carried out in collaboration with the Local Health Unit of the Leiria Region, under the guidance of Dr. Ana Raquel Carmona, Specialist in General and Family Medicin and with ciTechCare, under the supervision of Professor Cátia Pontes, PhD.
Sara Pimenta was awarded a non-academic environment fellowship that will enable her to develop her doctoral project in Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, entitled “Developing guidance for PERSon-centred Interventions to SupporT maintenance of pulmonary rehabilitation gains in COPD” – PERSIST. The project will be conducted in collaboration with the Lisbon North University Hospital Center – Pulido Valente Hospital, under the supervision of Professor Fátima Rodrigues, PhD, Pulmonologist at Pulido Valente Hospital and Consultant to the Directorate-General of Health in the field of Respiratory Rehabilitation, and with ciTechCare, under the supervision of Professor Joana Cruz, PhD.
According to the Coordinator of ciTechCare, Professor Maria Guarino, this was “an outstanding result for ciTechCare,” as all the submitted applications were approved and funded, “which represents a 100% success rate in this call.”
On 1 August, FCT published the provisional results of the Call for PhD Research Studentships in all Scientific Domains 2025, which resulted in 1550 new PhD Research Fellowships, from a total of 3435 applications submitted under the General Application Line and 734 applications submitted under the Specific Application Line for Non-Academic Environments.
This year, there was an increase of 100 fellowships compared with the previous call, representing a total investment of €133 million, of which €85.8 million will be allocated to the 1000 fellowships awarded under the General Application Line and €47.2 million to the 550 fellowships awarded under the Non-Academic Environment Application Line, this one fostering greater collaboration between academic institutions and civil society entities.
