Within the framework of T4EU Common European Heritage Week, Universidade Católica Portuguesa organizes Funding4Culture Open Session designed for researchers and faculty members seeking to strengthen the competitive and international dimension of their Arts/Culture-related projects.
João Cortez, Director of the Research and Innovation Office at Católica, Helena Castro, Manager of the T4EU Joint Grants Office, at Católica, and Richard Blais, Programme Assistant at Creative Europe, European Commission, are the keynote speakers.
Over the course of two hours, participants will be introduced to key European funding opportunities — including Creative Europe, Horizon Europe, and MSCA Doctoral Networks — as well as practical tools for identifying partners and developing strong proposals.
Open to the public, the session aims to provide a clear, accessible, and action-oriented overview, empowering the academic community to turn ideas into successful funding applications in the fields of art, culture and/or heritage.
Programme
- 2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. | THE CREA PROGRAMME: FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES IN HERITAGE | With Richard Blais
Funding opportunities under CREA, focusing on Heritage. Link to other opportunities, Opportunity for Q&A. - 2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | TOOLS AND TIPS FOR FINDING PARTNERS FOR YOUR PROPOSAL | With João Cortez
Overview of relevant portals and best practices for finding the right partners for your project. Having your laptop is recommended to follow practical cases presented. - 3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. | FUNDING YOUR HERITAGE RESEARCH IN HORIZON EUROPE | With Helena Castro
Researcher-friendly overview to demystify Horizon Europe and help you spot relevant opportunities for heritage. Participants will leave with a clearer sense of typical project formats and what to check when aligning their idea with call requirements. - 3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. | MSCA-DOCTORAL NETWORKS: A QUICK GUIDE FOR RESEARCHERS | With Helena Castro
Brief introduction to MSCA Doctoral Networks - what they fund and how they are structured. Participants will leave with a clearer picture of whether this scheme fits their interests and how to get an application started.
More about the Speakers
João Cortez is the Director of the Research and Innovation Office (RIO), Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Holds a PhD in Applied Biotechnology by De Montfort University, UK, and between 1999-2008 his research at Nottingham Trent University from focused on the use of enzymes to modulate the properties of protein-based matrices. From 2008-12 he held a Ciência 2007 position at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and in 2012 he became Head of INEB’s as International Projects Office. At i3S, he was the Head of the Research Funding Office at i3S between 2017-19. From 2019-2023 he was the Research and Innovation Funding Advisor at CBQF-UCP. He has participated in European projects since FP4, and supported numerous applications in H2020 and HE calls, and currently coordinates HE-WIDERA LETSGROW, EIT-HEI ELEVATE and P2030 Deeptech Transfer.
Helena Castro is the Manager of the T4EU Joint Grants Office since May 2025, supporting alliance partners in developing collaborative applications for funding. A biochemist with a PhD in Biomedical Sciences, she has 22+ years of experience as a researcher (37 publications; h-index 19) and 4+ years as a funding consultant in a private consultancy. Overall, she has supported 70+ grant applications (mostly under Horizon Europe) and secured €27+ million in funding.
Richard Blais, has been the Programme Assistant for more than 3 years at Creative Europe Programme of the Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC), at the European Commission.
Before that he was a Communication Assistant at Clean Aviation (BE) and worked at the LRE Foundation. He holds a Masters degree in Euroculture by Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (Netherlands) and Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci (Czechia).
