FCT joins the CaixaResearch 2026 Health Research Competition

The deadline for submitting applications for the 2026 edition of the CaixaResearch Health Research Competition is open until 2:00 p.m. (CET) on November 19, 2025. This competition is part of a program of the "la Caixa" Foundation, to which the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) has joined under the existing partnership. Through this program, the Foundation is committed to matching the investment that the "la Caixa" Foundation allocates to selected research projects in Portugal.

For those interested, an information session about this competition is scheduled for October 8, 2025, at 11:00 am (CET), which will take place online with mandatory registration .

The competition is part of the Iberian Initiative for Biomedical Research and Innovation – i4b, to support research projects in biomedicine and health, identifying and promoting initiatives of scientific excellence with potential and impact on society, through the financing of individual or consortium projects in the following thematic areas: neuroscience, oncology, cardiovascular diseases and associated metabolic diseases, infectious diseases, and enabling technologies in the previous thematic areas.

Projects will have a maximum implementation period of three years. Applications may be submitted as: Individual projects, submitted by a single research organization, which may request financial support of up to €500,000; or consortium projects, submitted by a minimum of two and a maximum of five research organizations, which may request financial support of up to €1,000,000. For more information, please visit the competition page .

Since 2018, 234 projects have been supported by the CaixaResearch Health Research Competition, with a total investment of €172.3 million. Of these, 72 projects were led by Portuguese institutions, representing a total of approximately €50 million in support, of which the FCT contributed €16.3 million. The FCT also supported the participation of Portuguese institutions in nine projects led by Spanish institutions, with an investment of €2 million.