Portugal + Preparado 2026: One €250,000 Gulbenkian Grant for an 18-Month Earthquake Preparedness Programme, Closing 31 August 2026

Portugal + Preparado 2026: One €250,000 Gulbenkian Grant for an 18-Month Earthquake Preparedness Programme, Closing 31 August 2026

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is marking its 70th anniversary by funding a single, substantial project on a subject Portugal has never quite resolved: what it would actually take for the country to be ready for a large earthquake. The call is named Portugal + Preparado — “Portugal, better prepared” — and it offers up to €250,000 for one coordinating organisation to design and run an integrated programme of up to 18 months connecting seismic science, public communication and policy influence.

This is not a broad small-grants scheme. The Foundation’s regulation is explicit that it intends to award um subsídio — a grant — for the conception and implementation of um projeto. If you are reading this hoping to be one of thirty awardees, recalibrate. You are competing to be the one organisation that runs a national initiative on Gulbenkian’s behalf, and the selection criteria are written accordingly.

Applications opened on 3 June 2026 at 10:00 and close on 31 August 2026 at 15:00, Lisbon time. The Foundation last updated the call page on 23 July 2026.

Key Details

Why This Call Exists

Portugal sits on real seismic exposure, concentrated in the Lisbon region and the Algarve. The Foundation’s framing is blunt about the gap it wants closed: recent tremors, though small in magnitude, are reminders that the risk is current, yet the social and political response has been “intermittent, reactive and poorly systematised.” What is missing, in the Foundation’s reading, is an integrated approach grounded in scientific evidence that both prepares the public and supports strategic public decision-making.

That diagnosis tells you what a winning proposal looks like. The Foundation is not asking for another research output on Portuguese seismicity. It is asking someone to build the connective tissue between three groups that rarely work in sustained partnership — academic seismic and structural engineering expertise, civil society, and the people who write regulations and civil protection plans. The regulation uses the phrase “pontes duradouras”: lasting bridges. A proposal that produces excellent knowledge but leaves no durable channel into schools, municipalities or policy is answering a different question than the one asked.

The 70th anniversary framing matters too. This is a commemorative initiative, which in practice means the Foundation wants something visible, ambitious and reputationally serious — not a quiet technical study.

What the Project Should Cover

The regulation sets out three axes of intervention. They are explicitly non-binding suggestions, and proposals may address one or more of them, but they are the clearest available signal of what the Foundation has in mind.

Agenda, knowledge and public policy. International conferences, policy labs and thematic working groups that synthesise scientific evidence and produce strategic recommendations for public decision-makers. The regulation names example domains: the built environment, safe schools, urban planning and risk communication.

Capacity building and awareness raising. Educational materials for schools, training for teachers and other professionals, earthquake drills organised in coordination with ANEPC (Portugal’s National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority) and municipalities, media campaigns, and practical guides aimed at families, organisations and communities.

Demonstration and scale. Pilot and demonstration projects that test approaches, generate practical evidence, and support their eventual integration into public policies or larger-scale programmes.

The strongest proposals will almost certainly span all three rather than pick one. The Foundation’s own description of the expected project mentions conferences with national and international specialists, awareness actions for the general public and for specific audiences such as schools and public decision-makers, and the drafting of strategic recommendations for civil protection, urban planning and building rehabilitation. That is a portfolio, not a single activity.

The Impact the Foundation Expects

Unusually, the regulation states the outcomes it is looking for, split by horizon. Treat this as the outline of your own results framework.

In the short term: higher literacy about seismic risk; better preparedness at household, school and institutional level; more visible and higher-quality media coverage; increased participation in drills; and adoption of emergency plans by families, schools and organisations.

In the medium to long term: incorporation of recommendations into regulations, plans and public policies; integration of content into school curricula and continuing professional development; the creation or reinforcement of financing instruments for seismic retrofitting; and measurable reduction of vulnerabilities in the contexts where the project intervened.

That last medium-term item — financing instruments for seismic retrofit — is a strong hint. A proposal that engages seriously with how Portugal pays for strengthening its existing building stock is engaging with the hardest and most consequential part of the problem.

Eligibility in Detail

The eligibility rule is short and load-bearing. Proposals must come from a single coordinating entity with recognised scientific and technical competence in the field of earthquakes and seismic risk. That entity may form and lead a consortium with other relevant organisations, but it keeps overall responsibility for strategic coherence, coordination between partners, and delivery of the project.

Practically, this means the lead applicant should be an organisation whose seismic credentials a reviewer can verify without being told — a research institute, a university engineering or geophysics unit, a national laboratory, or a technical association with a documented track record in seismic risk. A communications agency, a foundation without technical depth, or a civil society body cannot plausibly lead here, though any of them could be a strong consortium partner and probably should be, given how much of the work is educational and public-facing.

Several points are not confirmed in the published materials and are worth an email to [email protected] before you invest drafting time:

• Whether organisations based outside Portugal may act as the coordinating entity. The call is entirely Portugal-focused and the regulation is published only in Portuguese, but no explicit nationality restriction appears in the public text.
• Whether individuals or unincorporated groups can apply. The wording consistently says entidade (entity), which points to organisations only.
• The date on which results will be announced, and the intended project start date.
• Whether indirect costs or overheads are eligible within the €250,000 ceiling. What the regulation does say is that the ceiling includes taxes and any other associated costs, so build your budget gross.

What Your Proposal Must Contain

The regulation lists a minimum content set. Missing any of these is an avoidable way to lose.

1. Motivation and fit. A brief description of why you are applying and why the coordinating entity and its partners are suited to the objective.
2. Lead entity and governance. Identification of the lead organisation and, where a consortium is involved, a description of its governance model.
3. Detailed methodology. The methods, actions and approaches you propose to use.
4. Work plan and preliminary calendar. Main stages and deliverables identified.
5. Team. Named team members with their current roles, plus the percentage of time each will allocate to the project.
6. Detailed budget. Broken down by main cost categories and/or by task.

All of this fits within 12 pages excluding annexes. That is a tight constraint for a programme of this scope, and it is a test in itself: the Foundation wants to see whether you can express an ambitious 18-month national initiative crisply. Use annexes for CVs, letters of support and detailed budget workings, and keep the main document focused on argument, plan and evidence.

The Foundation also reserves the right to interview shortlisted applicants. Assume that will happen and that the interviewers will have read your budget line by line.

How Applications Are Assessed

Proposals are evaluated by the Gulbenkian Foundation’s own team — not an external peer review panel — against four criteria:

• Ambition and overall quality of the proposal.
• Coherence of the proposed actions and approaches against the stated objectives, plus evidence of non-duplication with initiatives that already exist.
• Capacity of the lead entity to coordinate the project and the proposed consortium, together with the experience and complementarity of the team.
• Adequacy of the budget and calendar presented.

The second criterion deserves emphasis because applicants routinely underestimate it. You are expected to demonstrate awareness of what ANEPC, municipalities, universities, professional associations and existing school programmes are already doing on seismic preparedness, and to show that your project adds to that rather than repeating it. A short, honest mapping of the existing field — and a clear statement of where your project sits within it — will do more for you than another paragraph of ambition.

Note also that the Foundation will not disclose individual evaluations, and its decision is not subject to appeal.

How to Apply, Step by Step

1. Create a MyGulbenkian account on the Foundation’s website. You cannot submit without one, and account setup is not the thing you want to be doing on the final afternoon.
2. Download and read the Regulamento 2026 PDF from the Documents section of the call page. It is available in Portuguese only. If your team does not read Portuguese, budget time for a careful translation — the English page summarises the call but the regulation contains the binding detail, including the evaluation criteria and required proposal contents.
3. Check every eligibility condition before you start filling in the form.
4. Complete all mandatory fields and upload the documentation the call conditions require. The system only accepts submission once everything is complete.
5. Click “submit application” before 15:00 Lisbon time on 31 August 2026. The Foundation explicitly advises against submitting in the final days, which is standard guidance for a reason: portals slow down and file uploads fail under deadline load.

For any question about the call, the single contact address is [email protected].

Preparation Strategy

Given the compressed window between now and the deadline, prioritise in this order.

Lock the consortium first. The governance model is a required proposal element and a scored criterion. If you are still negotiating who leads and who delivers what in mid-August, the proposal will read that way. Get partner commitments in writing, with named people and time allocations.

Secure institutional relationships early. Drills coordinated with ANEPC and municipalities, and school-facing work, both depend on counterparties who are not you. Letters of intent from a civil protection body, a municipal partner or a school network are annexes worth having, and they directly evidence deliverability.

Write the results framework before the activity list. Take the Foundation’s own short-term and medium-term impact statements and turn them into indicators you can actually measure inside 18 months — drill participation numbers, emergency plans adopted, teachers trained, policy submissions made. Then design activities backwards from those.

Budget honestly against the ceiling. €250,000 across up to 18 months, gross of taxes and all associated costs, is a real but finite sum for a national programme. A budget that promises conferences, curriculum materials, media campaigns, drills and pilots at that level without visible prioritisation will read as unrealistic. Showing that you know what you are not doing is a strength.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Treating it as a research grant. Knowledge production is one axis of three, and the framing throughout is about mobilisation and policy influence. A pure research proposal misses the point of the call.
• A lead entity without seismic credentials. The eligibility wording is specific. Excellent communicators leading, with technical partners attached, inverts what the Foundation asked for.
• Ignoring the non-duplication test. Not addressing existing Portuguese preparedness work leaves a scored criterion unanswered.
• Overrunning 12 pages or pushing core required content into annexes to evade the limit.
• Vague team allocations. The regulation asks for names, current roles and percentage allocation. “Staff to be recruited” for key roles weakens the capacity assessment.
• Leaving the MyGulbenkian registration and Portuguese-language regulation to the last week.
• Assuming the June information session recording is available. The session took place on 18 June 2026; nothing on the call page confirms a recording, so unresolved questions should go to [email protected] directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this really only one grant? The regulation describes the award of a grant for the design and implementation of a project, in the singular throughout. Plan on a single winner.

Can a consortium apply? Yes, but not as a consortium. One coordinating entity applies, and it may form and lead a consortium. That entity carries full responsibility for delivery.

Does the €250,000 have to be spent in 18 months? The project may run for up to 18 months. A shorter project is permissible; the ceiling is on total value, not on annual spend.

Is the application in Portuguese or English? The call conditions are published in Portuguese only, and the call page is available in both Portuguese and English. The language required for the proposal itself is not stated on the public page — confirm with the Foundation, though Portuguese is the safer assumption for a Portugal-focused national programme.

What happens after 31 August? The Foundation may interview shortlisted applicants. No results date is published. Individual evaluations are not disclosed and there is no appeal.

Is there a co-funding requirement? None is stated in the published call conditions.

Official Links and Next Steps

• Call page (English): https://gulbenkian.pt/en/bolsas-lista/portugal-preparado/
• Call conditions, Regulamento 2026 (Portuguese): available from the Documents section of the call page
• Questions and clarifications: [email protected]

If your organisation has genuine seismic risk expertise and existing relationships with Portuguese schools, municipalities or civil protection, this is a rare chance to fund an integrated national programme rather than a project fragment. If it does not, the more realistic move is to approach a credible lead institution now and offer to be the communications, education or evaluation partner in their consortium. Either way, the clock runs to 15:00 Lisbon time on 31 August 2026.