Applications for the Study Programme

Background

Looking at the most disruptive inventions of the past, we see that the founder of General Electric was Thomas Edison, who also invented the electric light bulb. Alexander Bell invented the telephone and founded the Bell Telephone Company (now AT&T), and Marconi, the inventor of the radio, founded Wireless Telegraph & Signal in the United Kingdom. These are examples of innovators' ideas that create the firm and were very successful. They also show the success as a huge increase in the size, the number of “good jobs”, and the value created by those firms. The perception that start-ups are related to new products or new processes and that, at least a percentage of those, should grow and lead to a dynamic and healthy firm demographics is natural. 

The Foundation invites proposals that analyse firm demographics in Portugal, namely the constraints on the very large number of firms and how those constrain productivity.

Scope

• Why do we have such a large number of micro businesses in Portugal? Identification (and measures?) of the causes of the "growing pains" in Portuguese firms.
• Analyse the evolution of those costs over the last two decades and how they compare to those of countries where the average firm size has increased, and micro firms have converged towards highly efficient models. 
• What is the importance of streamlining the rules and judicial processes for eliminating inefficient companies? 
• How to ensure that the dynamism of young entrepreneurs translates into good management and increased size without jeopardizing innovation?
• How to redesign policies and/or regulations that prevent or help the healthy growth of micro-enterprises?
• To characterise the cost, in terms of productivity and employment, derived from the size of Portuguese companies. Building counterfactuals that consider professional management, the introduction of AI, and the potential for entering new markets.
• How does small size condition the creation of "good jobs" in the most labor-intensive sectors of the Portuguese economy?

Expected contribution

Os projetos financiados deverão articular investigação teórica e empírica inovadora com recomendações de política pública concretas, orientadas para o aumento da dimensão das empresas em Portugal.

Online Information Session with Isabel Horta Correia

November 18, 4:00 PM–5:30 PM

If you would like to receive an invitation to the session, please send an email to estudos@ffms.pt.

Background

One of the most significant constraints on Portugal's future prosperity is its demographic trajectory. The country's fertility rate has remained below 1.5 children per woman for several decades, raising serious concerns about the long-term sustainability of its population. At the same time, continued gains in life expectancy are increasing the share of older people in the population, accelerating population ageing.

The economic implications of these trends are profound. As smaller cohorts enter the labour market, labour supply will contract, exacerbating workforce shortages and constraining the economy's growth potential. At the same time, an ageing population will increase demand for healthcare and long-term care services while placing additional pressure on pension systems, creating growing fiscal challenges for the welfare state.

Strengthening Portugal's economic prospects therefore requires policies that reinforce the demographic foundations of growth. In the short to medium term, this means harnessing the contribution of migration to alleviate labour shortages and support economic activity. Over the longer term, it requires identifying effective policies to support family formation and raise fertility, thereby improving the country's demographic sustainability and expanding its future productive capacity.

The Foundation invites proposals that identify evidence-based policies to strengthen Portugal's demographic sustainability by supporting family formation and fertility, harnessing the economic potential of migration, and ensuring that public services and social infrastructure can adapt to changing demographic patterns.

Scope

Proposals are expected to address the following issues, without necessarily covering all of them, considering Portugal in comparative perspective:

• Assess the extent to which existing family, labour market, housing, and social protection policies shape fertility decisions and reproductive behaviour in Portugal, identifying the institutional and economic barriers to family formation and childbearing.
• Analyse international evidence on policies that have successfully supported fertility and assess their relevance and applicability to the Portuguese context.
• Evaluate the potential contribution of projected migration flows to meeting labour demand in the coming decades, particularly in sectors facing persistent workforce shortages, such as healthcare, education, and care services.

• Evaluate the implications of current and projected migration flows for the demand for public services and infrastructure, particularly in the areas of education, healthcare, housing, and social services.

   

Expected contribution

Funded projects should combine innovative empirical research with actionable policy recommendations aimed at strengthening Portugal's long-term demographic sustainability. 

Online Information Session with Amílcar Moreira

November 25, 4:00 PM–5:30 PM

If you would like to receive an invitation to the session, please send an email to studies@ffms.pt.

There are currently no closed calls. The calls presently available are the first under the 2027-2029 Study Programme.

The Foundation adopts a management model based on the autonomy and accountability of the teams. The research team is primarily responsible for managing the awarded budget. Entrusting this responsibility to the researchers affords them autonomy in deciding how to distribute funds, thereby reducing the project’s administrative burden and allowing researchers to focus their resources and time on carrying out the research and producing reliable findings.

Each project is supervised by a project manager and a scientific adviser. They monitor the progress of the work and support the team in addressing any scientific or operational difficulties.

This support includes regular meetings focused on progress made, next steps and any challenges, which the Foundation will help to solve, wherever possible. The Foundation’s team also supervises content intended for publication, helping to ensure its scientific rigour, clarity of presentation and accessibility to non-specialist audiences.

Similarly, the Foundation regularly organises workshops with external experts, inviting them to analyse and give feedback on interim versions of the studies. These sessions help teams to design high-quality research proposals. The Foundation covers all costs associated with these workshops, including the experts’ fees.

In addition to the budget allocated to the team, the Foundation directly covers various additional costs associated with the study. This includes linguistic editing, translation, typesetting and graphic design for a Foundation book publishing the study’s findings, as well as interim workshops, scientific reviews and dissemination activities. Upon request by the research team, the Foundation may also support the publication of results with international scientific publishers under an open-access scheme, alongside a Portuguese-language version to be published by the Foundation.

Each study receives a communication and dissemination strategy tailored to its characteristics, findings and target audiences. The Foundation is responsible for designing, implementing and covering all other costs of this strategy, seeking to bring the knowledge produced to public decision-makers, the scientific community, the media and society at large.

Dissemination initiatives may include contacts with journalists, meetings with decision-makers and other relevant stakeholders, public events, participation in podcasts and dissemination through the Foundation’s own channels. Researchers are expected to actively participate in the communication and public dissemination of study results and may be invited to contribute to interviews, debates, and other outreach initiatives.

The Foundation also monitors media coverage, audience figures and the digital reach of publications, sharing this data with the research teams to assess the reach and societal impact of their studies.

The Foundation’s application process for studies includes two annual rounds of calls. Each round launches two calls on different topics, corresponding to key research questions within two of the priority areas of the Study Programme. Calls are expected to be announced two to three months before the application deadline. Research teams must apply during the relevant call period by preparing and submitting a concept note (see Documents).

On average, studies commissioned by the Foundation take approximately two years to complete. However, this duration is only indicative. A specific study may take more or less time whenever this serves the objectives of the project and aligns with the Foundation’s priorities.

The 2027-2029 Study Programme is designed to support large-scale studies and is not intended to fund standalone policy paper proposals. However, a study may take the form of a series of policy papers that collectively address the question posed in the relevant call.  

In general, Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos supports studies across a broad range of social science disciplines, in keeping with its mission to understand and disseminate knowledge about Portuguese society. Projects are nevertheless awarded in accordance with the thematic priorities defined for each three-year Study Programme. For the 2027-2029 period, the thematic priorities are centered on four key areas: democratic vitality, productivity and growth, social policies and prosperity, and housing and mobility.

Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos was established with the purpose of fostering knowledge about Portuguese society. Nevertheless, it supports studies that allow comparisons with countries comparable to Portugal, particularly European Union Member States, OECD countries, and Southern European countries, whenever such comparisons contribute to a better understanding of Portuguese society.

The Foundation’s governing bodies assess each application as a whole and decide on a case-by-case basis whether the requested budget is consistent with the project’s objectives. Efficient use of resources is valued in the evaluation process, and the Foundation may request revisions to the proposed budget or specific budget items if they are not considered appropriate for the project.

No. The Foundation follows a management model based on team autonomy and accountability. The management of the awarded budget is largely entrusted to the research team, which has autonomy in its execution, thereby reducing the administrative burden associated with the project.

No. FFMS directly covers the costs of language editing, translation, layout design, and graphic production for studies published as books, as well as intermediate workshops, scientific reviews, and dissemination activities.

Each study also benefits from a communication and dissemination strategy tailored to its characteristics, results, and target audiences, which is designed by the Foundation’s teams after final approval of the study.

Yes. If contracted researchers are affiliated with universities or research centers, FFMS may cover overheads of up to 20% of the project’s total value.

Yes. The Foundation actively promotes projects that include international researchers, whether Portuguese researchers residing abroad or researchers of other nationalities.

The Foundation guarantees the dissemination of project results in Portuguese, in line with its statutory mission, even when authors do not work in Portuguese. However, all studies must focus on Portuguese reality, even when they include data from other countries or communities.

Yes. The Foundation accepts applications from individual researchers. However, projects awarded to individual applicants are relatively uncommon, as Foundation studies typically involve research teams, often including international collaborators.

Not necessarily. Researchers contracted by FFMS are usually academics with significant publications in a specific scientific field, making it unlikely that someone who has not yet completed a PhD would coordinate a Foundation study. However, there is no formal requirement preventing it.

Study coordinators frequently recruit research assistants and less experienced researchers to collaborate on their projects.

In addition to evaluating applications, the FFMS study team supports all approved projects. To this end, each funded research team is assigned a project manager and a scientific advisor with expertise in the relevant area.

The study team also collaborates in the organization of events and in the preparation of dissemination materials related to the studies, including books, infographics, videos, and other outputs.

Each study benefits from a communication and dissemination strategy tailored to its characteristics, findings, and target audiences. The Foundation is responsible for designing, implementing, and funding this strategy, with the goal of bringing research findings to policymakers, the scientific community, the media, and the wider public.

Researchers are expected to take an active role in communicating and disseminating the results of their studies and may be invited to participate in interviews, debates, and other public engagement activities.

No. The Foundation is statutorily prohibited from funding master's programs, doctoral programs, scholarships, or sabbatical periods intended for scientific research.

No. The scientific team is responsible only for publications arising from the Foundation's scientific studies. Any other proposals should be sent to the Foundation’s general email address: ffms@ffms.pt.