Applications are now open for FLAD/OPP – Mental Health in Higher Education, a program with a 100 000 euros funding line for psychological intervention projects in higher education. This year, in addition to public higher education institutions, the program will also cover private institutions. This initiative will support a maximum of three projects per year, one of them from the Interior of the country.

The program is the result of a partnership with the Portuguese Psychologists Order (OPP) and aims to contribute to a lower prevalence of Mental Health problems among university students, aggravated by the pandemic – 55% of college students admit that their psychological health has worsened compared to the pre-pandemic period, and 28% admit having needed to take medication to deal with symptoms of anxiety, depression or insomnia.

For these reasons, this program is open to applications from Psychology or Health Services of Higher Education institutions with projects that help students, in a preventive way, to develop skills that strengthen their Mental Health and make them more resilient to adversity.

FLAD provides funding of up to 100 000 euros, to be distributed among a maximum of three applications, which implies hiring, for one school year, a psychologist who will implement the project under the coordination of the respective service. Multidisciplinary, the involvement of different departments, the sustainability and replicability of projects, among other factors, will be privileged. At least one of the funded projects must belong to the interior region of the country.

The projects can have very distinct outlines from one another. Examples could be mental health promotion campaigns that reinforce coping strategies, the creation of peer groups that promote social support, or the training of the institution’s leaders to change the mental health culture.

This is the second edition of this program. In 2022, projects from Universidade da Madeira, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo and Instituto Politécnico da Guarda were selected.

Two application phases

Stage 1: By May 14, applications respond to a more succinct form, providing a summary of the project. The applications selected for the second phase will be known on May 29.

Stage 2: Those selected will be asked to submit detailed information about their projects between May 30 and June 18. The final decision will be known on July 12.

Applications must be submitted by completing the online form available at: https://flad.my.salesforce-sites.com/CandidaturaMain?language=pt_PT

Please refer to the Notice of this contest (Notice FLAD/OPP Program – Mental Health in Higher Education 2023) for all the details about the award and the application process.

Any further clarification can be requested through the following email: margarida.carvalho@flad.pt