Portugal’s minister of science and technology, Elvira Fortunato, said on Tuesday that the “employment opportunities” in Portugal “have never been so many”, with an unprecedented bet on researchers.
Fortunato was participing in the tenth edition of the GraPe (Portuguese graduates abroad) Forum, which took place online, and discussed the motivations that lead to a return or want to continue in the host country.
“We are currently facing a problem, we may not have qualified people for all the projects we will have in hand (…) There are a number of initiatives that the government will provide, but by tender,” stressed Elvira Fortunato.
The minister stressed that all researchers are “invited to return”, with Portugal offering instruments, through higher education institutions, research centres or collaborative laboratories.
“Obviously, they are all welcome, but there is no specific quota. This is done by tender, and the hiring is done based on CVs and professional experience,” he said.
Musicologist and researcher Inês Thomas Almeida said there was an “immense precariousness in research”. After living 13 years in Germany, she admitted that, in her case, it was her family that made her choose to return.
“It is extremely difficult for those who do not have the privilege of having other sources of help because there is a precariousness, not only linked to the length of employment contracts, but also to the difficulty in accessing employment contracts,” she stressed, adding that researchers are “neither protected nor supported.”
The minister of science and technology stressed that “it is only possible to compare what is comparable”.
“If we look at the Portuguese Gross Domestic Product [GDP], it has nothing to do with the GDP of the UK. (…) In other countries, there are more grants, there is more investment in science because there is more budget in its entirety,” she pointed out.
“There has never been such a big bet on researchers as there has been in recent years. Talking about precariousness, I think, is not the most correct term. There was a lack of investment in laboratories, infrastructures and equipment. That is true”, concluded Elvira Fortunato.
Ana Antunes, head of international relations and scientific events of Mabdesign, an association of the French biomedicine industry, said Portugal had to be prepared for the “digital nomads” that increasingly exist in the country.
“It’s a reality that came with the pandemic and will continue. It is important that there is clarification about the duties and rights of workers who have contracts abroad, and not only in Portugal. The other difficulty is at the administrative and fiscal level (…) It is not always easy to access information”, she pointed out, adding also the differences in the health system.
Ricardo Henriques, director of the research laboratory at the Gulbenkian Science Institute, highlighted the “friendly and extremely competent” scientific community existing in Portugal, a country where “very good science is done, with very little support”.
The GraPE Forum was set up in 2012 on the initiative of PAPS (Portuguese American Postgraduate Society) and PARSUK (Portuguese Association of Students and Researchers in the UK), which were joined by AGRAFr (Association of Portuguese Graduates in France), ASPPA (Association of Portuguese Postgraduates in Germany), APEI-Benelux (Portuguese Association of Students and Researchers in Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg), AGRAPS (Association of Portuguese Graduates in Switzerland) and SPOT Nordic (Association of Portuguese Graduates in the Nordic Countries).
