Michael Seabra has stepped down as president of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), following the roll-out of a widely criticised research evaluation exercise.
Seabra’s decision was announced by the Portuguese ministry for science and technology on 7 April. The government states that his resignation was due to “personal reasons”, but other sources reported in Portuguese media outlets suggest the departure was related to his latest duties in the post.
The FCT is the organisation entrusted with evaluating and allocating public funding for research activities in Portugal, under the umbrella of the science ministry. In 2014, Seabra led an evaluation of Portuguese research centres that will be the basis for allocating public funds until 2020, but the evaluation was criticised by scientists as being widely flawed.
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