A new life for research in PORTUGAL

In an effort to become scientifically competitive with the rest of Europe, Portugal has dedicated significant financial and administrative resources to improving its research infrastructure over the past 2 decades—a movement that helped breed five times the number of life science PhDs and boost publication rates 17-fold. In the past 2 years, Portugal’s Foundation for Science and Technology has turned its attention to its postdocs, luring back those who went abroad with the promise of state-of-the-art research facilities and public funding of about 1,000 postdoc fellowships each year.

Leading this initiative as one of the most competitive research centers in Portugal is the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (IGC), which makes its debut at number eight among this year’s top international institutions. The research center, located just outside of Lisbon along the Atlantic coast, hosts 56 postdocs, the majority of whom are Portuguese scientists who left the country to pursue their PhDs. “There was a big effort in the 1990s to send scientists abroad,” says postdoc Tiago Carneiro. “Now these scientists are returning to Portugal with improved work methods” and the desire to continue doing high-quality research, he said.

IGC created a postdoc committee to deal with the influx of researchers. The committee relays concerns about salaries, benefits, and quality of life to the institute’s administrators, and organizes skill-oriented workshops that address everything from statistical analysis for biomedical research to strategies for funding. The committee also plans an annual meeting for postdocs to present their work and network with senior scientists at the institute.