An evaluation of research departments by Portugal’s Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) will change the funding level of many labs. Conducted every five years, the FCT’s evaluation of 322 research “units” rated 22%, 26% and 52% of them as fair or poor, good, and very good or better, respectively. Those rated at the lowest level will no longer be funded from 2015 to 2020. “Good” units will receive core funding—€40,000 ($54,000) annually for those with more than 81 research personnel and €5,000 a year for labs with fewer than 40 members. Units rated in the top category may receive up to 10 times more, competing for “strategic funding” in addition to their increased levels of core funding. The FCT will award a total of about €50 million each year, the same amount as in the past few years. Critics of the plan claim bias and a lack of stringency in the FCT’s assessment.

Source: Nature