CNPq Chamada Universal

CNPq Chamada Universal

Funds broad-discipline Brazilian research through national project grants to strengthen real-world implementation.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

CNPq Chamada Universal is Brazil's largest and most widely attended general-purpose scientific research grant program, open to all knowledge areas and disciplines. The 2024 cycle — the most recently completed — funded 2,606 projects at a total of R$450 million, representing a 50% budget increase over the prior cycle. Co-funding came from CNPq's own resources (R$320 million) and FNDCT via the Ministério de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovações — MCTI (R$130 million). The submission deadline for the 2024 cycle was January 30, 2025; results were announced in the first half of 2025. Project duration is 36 months.

The 2024 call operated across two tracks: Faixa A, offering up to R$200,000 per project for emerging researchers, funded 1,334 projects at a total of R$120 million; Faixa B, offering up to R$300,000 per project for consolidated research groups, funded 1,272 projects at R$180 million. Eligibility requires a PhD and active affiliation with a Brazilian scientific or technological institution. An active Lattes CV (CNPq researcher profile) is mandatory. Private companies are not eligible; eligibility is limited to university and research institution principal investigators. Applications were submitted through the Plataforma Integrada Carlos Chagas.

The 2024 cycle is closed. The next Chamada Universal cycle had not been announced as of May 2026, but the program has historically run approximately every one to two years. Researchers planning to apply to a future cycle should maintain an up-to-date Lattes CV and, for Faixa B, a CNPq Productivity Fellowship (PQ) is advantageous. The program is directly analogous to NSF general research grants in scope and is the primary avenue for open-discipline basic and applied research funding from the Brazilian federal government.