The Welcome II Programme promotes the mobility of postdoctoral researchers holding the nationality of a EU Member State or of an Associated Country to FP7, living in any Third Country for at least the last 3 years, to join institutions located in Portugal.

The Programme is co-funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology), and the Marie Curie Action Cofund, under the People Programme of the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme.

The applications to the Welcome II Programme will be selected further to the publishing of the call launched by the FCT through open competition and the evaluation by international panels of evaluators.

Chapter I
General definitions

Article 1
Goals

The funding under the present regulations promotes the return of postdoctoral researchers to Portugal and therefore to the European Research Area, through the establishment of Grant Agreements with scientific research public or private institutions in Portugal.

Article 2
Contractor Institutions and Host Institutions

1. Under these regulations, the following institutions are eligible to sign Grant Agreements:
   1. Higher Education Institutions in partnership with R&D institutions funded by FCT, of all areas of research;
   2. Associated Laboratories;
   3. State Laboratories;
   4. Companies, including SMEs, with R&D activities;
   5. Other public and private R&D institutions duly recognized by the FCT.
2. The Contractor Institution (CI) that will sign the Grant Agreement must have juridical personality.
3. The Host Institutions (HI), which may or not be the same as the CIs, are the institutions applying to the call, in liaison with one or more researchers, and they are, from the scientific point of view, responsible for the applications.

Article 3
Applicant’s profile

Researchers under this contract must, at the deadline of the call, fulfil the following conditions:

1. Have the nationality of one of the EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom) or of one of the Associated Countries to FP7 (Croatia, FYROM, Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina);
2. Have been awarded a PhD degree;
3. Have lived and carried out research activity for at least the last 3 years in Third Countries. Third Countries are countries that are neither Member States nor Associated Countries to FP7. Researchers are also considered eligible if they have returned to Europe during the period of 6 months prior to the call deadline, subsequent to the period of residence of 3 years in a Third Country. Exceptionally, for the Call to be open on December 15, 2010, the previous period of 6 months is extended to 9 months.

Article 4
Types of candidates

There are two categories of candidates, based on the researcher’s experience:

1. Researchers holding a PhD (Type A);
2. Researchers with 5 or more years of research experience after obtaining their PhD (Type B).

Article 5
Managing entity

1. The entity responsible for the management of the present Programme is the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).
2. FCT is the sole signatory of the Grant Agreement with the European Commission (EC).

Chapter II
Call for proposals, evaluation and decision

Article 6
Call launch

1. The institution responsible for the call launch is FCT.
2. The period during which the call for applications is open shall be that defined in the official Announcement published by FCT.
3. The call shall be announced on FCT portal, without prejudice to the dissemination through other means deemed appropriate.

Article 7
Admissibility of the proposals

1. The verification of the formal requirements regarding the admissibility of the proposals shall, if not automatically made by the applications portal, be carried out by FCT.
2. The list of eligible and non-eligible proposals will be published on FCT portal.
3. FCT shall notify both applicants and host institutions that submitted non-eligible applications of their exclusion of the selection process, together with information regarding the basis for such decision.

Article 8
Composition of the evaluation panels

1. The evaluation shall be carried out by Evaluation Panels for the different scientific areas, composed of highly recognized experts, whose coordinators shall be appointed by the FCT Board of Directors.
2. Each project shall be evaluated by at least two different evaluators.
3. If no consensus is reached, the panel coordinator may invite a third evaluator.
4. The participation of Portuguese evaluators shall not be higher than a third of the total of evaluators, per panel.
5. Applicants and host institutions shall receive the results of the evaluation within not more than 6 months after the launch of the programme.

Article 9
Ethical issues

1. All research funded under the Welcome II Programme shall comply with national ethical legislation and the ethical rules under FP7.
2. FCT shall make use of the advice of ethical experts, whenever necessary under this call.
3. Proposals that are rejected based on the opinions of the ethical experts shall not be funded.

Article 10
Proposals

1. Proposals must be written in English using the application portal provided online for that purpose, and submitted jointly by the candidates and the institutions that fulfil the requirements set forth in the official Announcement and the Regulations.
2. The researchers must complete a specific section on the portal identifying ethically sensitive issues in their research proposal.
3. The curriculum vitae must be completed using the specific platform indicated in the application portal.
4. All scientific areas are eligible.
5. The researchers must submit projects of their own choice, in view of their career development, that are accepted by the host institution.
6. The candidates shall consider the following documents for the application: Guide for Applicants, Evaluation Guide, Ethics Guide and the provisions regarding Intellectual Property Rights.
7. The institutions mentioned in Article 2, no. 3 shall indicate the host conditions. If the contractor institution is a Higher Education Institution, the institutional part of the proposal must be completed by the R&D host institution.
8. A researcher may only submit one proposal under each call.
9. The Statements of Responsibility, drawn up according to the template to be provided for that purpose at the application portal, must be sent to FCT by registered mail with recorded delivery within 10 days after the call deadline.
10. The Statements of Responsibility must be signed and initialled by the person or persons legally authorized to do so.

Article 11
Supporting Documents

Besides the specific documentation that may be required in the official Announcement of the call and the application portal, the application files must include the documentation mentioned in the following points:

1. Documents certifying that the applicant fulfils the requirements for the submission of the application, laid down in Article 3 (to be submitted online, and, in hard copy, originals or certified copies, in case the application is evaluated favourably);
2. Project (online submission only);
3. Curriculum Vitae of the candidate (online submission only);
4. Letters of recommendation (optional; online submission only);
5. Host conditions (online submission only).

Chapter III
Evaluation Procedure

Article 12
Evaluation Criteria

1. The evaluation and selection of the proposals is the responsibility of FCT and will be supported by highly recognized experts, taking into consideration the selection criteria listed in the following number.
2. During the evaluation of applications, the following criteria shall be taken into account:
   1. Scientific and technological quality of the project;
   2. Merit of the researcher;
   3. Quality of the host institution and capacity to implement the project;
   4. Impact of the project.

Article 13
Approval of the decision

The decision shall be approved by the competent supervising authority.

Chapter IV
General conditions under which funding is granted

Article 14
Grant Agreement

1. The Grant Agreements shall be signed between FCT and the contractor institution.
2. The Grant Agreements shall have a duration of 3 years.

Article 15
Intellectual Property Rights

1. FCT will not claim Intellectual Property Rights.
2. The employment contract that is due to be signed between the researcher and the contractor institution shall include specifications regarding Intellectual Property Rights.

Article 16
Type of employment contract

1. Employment contracts between the Contractor Institutions and the researchers shall be subject to the current employment law as well as to Decree-Law 124/99 of April 20.
2. The researchers shall be hired under the requirement of exclusive dedication.

Article 17
Eligible Costs

1. The funding shall take into account the applicants’ profile defined under Article 4. Thus, candidates of Type A shall receive the amount corresponding to index 195 of the Scientific Research Career remuneration statute and candidates of Type B shall receive the amount corresponding to index 220 of the said statute.
2. Under the Grant Agreements, the following salary costs, effectively born by the Contractor Institutions referred to under Article 2, no. 1, are eligible:
   1. Base salary, vacation and Christmas supplements corresponding to index 195 – Researchers Type A, referred to in Article 4, point a) – and to index 220 – Researchers Type B, referred to in Article 4, point b) – of the Scientific Research Career remuneration statute;
   2. Food subsidy in the amount corresponding to the allowance offered to civil service workers; the calculation is made based on the average number of working days per month and the number of months in which the subsidy is due;
   3. Mandatory social security contributions paid by the employer;
   4. Costs of unemployment compensation, calculated according to the terms of the legislation in force, to be paid by the employer to the contracted researcher when the fixed-term employment contract expires.
3. Additionally, the following categories are eligible:
   1. Travel and mobility allowance in the total amount of 1600€, to be paid once, in the first year;
   2. Research costs: 5000€/year/candidate;
   3. Overheads: 5000€/year/candidate.
4. The amounts paid by the Contractor Institution and those paid by FCT as a result of any sick pay, maternity, paternity and adoption allowances will be settled at the time the compensation, referred to under no. 2 point d), is paid or together with the last payment.

Article 18
Salaries

The Contractor Institution shall establish the salaries due in the contracts into which it enters; they may not be less than those provided for in the funding granted by FCT.

Article 19
Conditions of payment

1. Processing of the financial support to be provided shall begin once FCT has received the contracts, duly signed by the researchers.
2. The transfer of the salary costs is made monthly.
3. Should the employment contracts be rescinded, the financial support will cease forthwith, and the contractor institution shall return any funds unduly received.
4. The transfer of the overheads and the research costs for the contractor institution is made annually; the first transfer shall be due in the beginning of the project.
5. The institutions shall make proof, on a monthly basis, of payments transferred to the candidates.

Article 20
Obligations of the recipient entities

1. Recipient entities shall be obliged to:
   1. Guarantee the necessary conditions so that the researchers may carry out their activities according to the plans presented in the proposal;
   2. Execute the contract in accordance with the stipulated deadlines and terms and respect all the legal obligations it entails;
   3. Define, together with the candidate, the contractual terms regarding Intellectual Property Rights;
   4. Fulfil the indications and procedures contained in the Ethics Guide;
   5. Notify FCT of any change or occurrence that could call into question the preconditions regarding the realization of the work plan;
   6. Provide to FCT, or to other entities designated by FCT, and to entities charged with monitoring, any information or documents they might request, including an annual report of activities, as well as allow access to the facilities where the contract is carried out;
   7. Create and keep updated a file containing all documents proving the transfer of funding, payments, and fulfillment of contractual obligations;
   8. Participate in the dissemination of the results;
   9. Respect the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers.
2. Recipient entities shall be subject to the audit of proposals and contracts in terms of their material, financial and accounting components, both at the location where the contracts are carried out and with the entity which holds the original documents of the file and documents proving expenses; recipient entities shall cooperate to the best of their ability in these tasks.

Article 21
Obligations of the fellow beneficiaries

Fellow beneficiaries shall be obliged to:

1. Carry out the project within its scheduled time frames;
2. Define, together with the contractor institution, the contractual terms regarding Intellectual Property Rights;
3. Respect the ethical regulations defined by Portuguese legislation and under FP7.

Article 22
Failure to fulfil contractual obligations

Should the researcher fail to fulfil his/her contractual obligations, the contractor institution may rescind the contract under the terms of the law; FCT must be notified immediately if this occurs.

Article 23
Follow-up and monitoring

1. Grant agreements may be the object of follow-up and monitoring by FCT, namely through the use of satisfaction surveys carried out with the contracted researchers and other types of follow-up.
2. Host Institutions shall submit an Activity Report for interim evaluation, using the form provided for that purpose, no later than the end of each contract year.
3. The Activity Report shall describe in detail how the research is proceeding, as well as how the human resources hired have contributed to the results.
4. Host Institutions must also submit a Final Report within sixty days after the contract signed with the researchers expires.

Chapter V
Final provisions

Article 24
Revision

1. These regulations may be subject to revision whenever deemed necessary.
2. All revisions must be approved by the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education.

Article 25
Confidentiality

All information relating to projects, including the information presented in proposals and reports shall be treated by the managing entity as confidential material, without prejudice to the existence of disclosable items, which shall be specifically identified as such.

Article 26
Subsidiary legal provisions

Anything not specifically covered in these regulations shall be governed by the provisions set forth in Portuguese and European legislation dealing with state-run incentive and assistance programs.

Article 27
Entry into Force

These regulations shall enter into force immediately.

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