The Portugal Ministry of Education, Science, and Innovation is facing mounting pressure to honor its own regulatory promises, as more than 8,000 research fellows continue working under precarious grant contracts despite legislation passed a year ago that was supposed to transition them to formal employment. Dozens of these researchers staged a demonstration this week outside the Lisbon Congress Centre, where the government's flagship science event was opening.
The protest, organized by the Portuguese Association of Research Fellows (ABIC) and the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof), targets a stubborn implementation gap: the 2024 legal framework exists, the political commitments were made, yet not a single fellowship holder has been converted to a standard employment contract. For residents working or considering careers in Portugal's scientific sector, this translates to continued instability under the current fellowship regime.
Why This Matters
• Over 8,000 researchers remain on grant stipends without standard labor rights, despite 2024 legislation allowing contract-based employment.
• The Portugal government promised to roll out a new work contract model following the 2024-2025 legislative framework, but no implementation timeline or mechanism has been announced.
• The protest coincided with the Science and Innovation 2026 Meeting, the largest annual gathering in the sector, attended by senior government officials including the Prime Minister and Science Minister Fernando Alexandre.
• Research fellows currently operate without formal employment protections that are standard in academic positions across Europe.
The Core Grievance: Law Without Action
Sara Romão, a spokesperson for ABIC, summarized the frustration to Portuguese news agency Lusa: "There are more than 8,000 research fellows who have been living in precarious conditions for years. The government created legislation last year allowing fellows to have contracts, but nothing has happened yet." The group delivered a formal manifesto to the Prime Minister and Education Minister during the July event, calling for immediate regularization of employment status.
The legislative reference point is the Decree-Law 65/2024, which amended the Research Fellowship Statute in October 2024 to allow fellows to teach up to 150 hours per academic year and clarified conditions under which they could hold other paid roles. However, the decree stopped short of mandating conversion to labor contracts. Subsequent budget legislation tasked the government with creating a labor contract template that would replace fellowships and guarantee improved conditions and full Social Security coverage. That implementation remains pending.
What This Means for Residents in Portugal
If you are a doctoral candidate, postdoctoral researcher, or project investigator in Portugal, your employment status remains in limbo. Under the current fellowship regime, you are paid a monthly stipend—updated to align with minimum wage growth, now at €870 as of January 2025—but the terms and protections differ significantly from standard employment contracts. You have limited negotiating position on workload, hours, or conditions.
For foreign nationals living in Portugal on researcher visas, this precarity complicates residency renewal and access to public services. The absence of a formal employment contract also weakens mortgage applications and rental agreements, as financial institutions treat fellowship income as temporary. The promised contract model would align Portuguese research roles with labor standards in other European countries, where doctoral and postdoctoral positions are classified as employment relationships.
The Context: A Sector Under Strain
The Science and Innovation Meeting 2026, themed "Preparing the Future," was organized by the newly created Agency for Research and Innovation (AI²), which merged the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the National Innovation Agency (ANI). According to the ministry, the two-day gathering was designed to "value the scientific, technological, business, and innovation community" and address key sectoral challenges. However, the optics were awkward: while senior officials discussed long-term strategy inside, early-career researchers stood outside chanting for basic labor protections.
The repetition of such demonstrations signals deepening frustration within the scientific workforce, compounded by a broader context of underfunding and employment precarity in the research sector.
What Happens Next
The Fenprof has demanded not only the regularization of precarious contracts but also increased public funding for scientific employment and greater internal democracy within research institutions. Raquel Ribeiro, a Fenprof representative, stated bluntly: "It is necessary to regularize precarious employment relationships." The union coalition—comprising ABIC, Fenprof, and the National Federation of Public and Social Function Workers' Unions—has pledged further mobilizations if no concrete action is taken by the end of the summer.
The ball is now squarely in the government's court. The Portugal Cabinet has the legislative authority and the budget provisions. What it lacks, according to the protesters, is political will. For the 8,000-plus researchers waiting on the sidelines, the question is no longer whether the law allows contracts—it does. The question is when the contracts will actually materialize, and whether Portugal will continue to lag behind its European peers in treating scientific work as legitimate employment.
The FCT announced 1,600 new doctoral fellowships for 2026, a modest increase from the 1,550 awarded in 2025. Yet without structural reform, these new grants merely perpetuate the cycle. Until contract conversions arrive, Portugal's research sector will remain a two-tier system: stable academic staff on one side, and a vast reserve army of precarious knowledge workers on the other.
