Applications are now open for the third and final call of the Gulbenkian Knowledge Academies which have the objective of promoting the social and emotional competences of children and young persons aged under 25.

Considering that half of current jobs are at risk of being taken over by automation and robotics (a forecast from the OECD), and that four out of five children starting their academic studies will be employed in areas that do not yet exist (World Bank) and that 40% of the key competences today shall be rendered obsolete in a not too distant future, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation remains dedicated to non-profit, public and private organisations seeking to implement projects that empower the social and emotional competences of the under 25s.

These may be cultural, sports, youth or parent associations, non-governmental organisations, private charity institutions, local government entities, schools, universities or others, with projects spanning the fields of the arts, science, technology, culture, sport, education, health, charity or other aspects of citizenship that promote the social and emotional competences in children and young persons.

The Gulbenkian Foundation support considers that a balance is necessary between technical (or scientific) competences and their social and emotional counterparts. In addition to technical skills, children and young persons shall, in the future, need to display creative thinking, know how to communicate, resolve problems and look critically at reality. These are the competences that – alongside adaptability, self-regulation, resilience and/or problem solving – the Gulbenkian Knowledge Academies have been supporting.

Ever since its launch in 2018, 67 Academies have been set up across Portugal and attended approximately eleven thousand children.

In this third and final call, candidates may continue to opt to implement experimental methodologies or best practice methodologies. Around 33 projects are due to be approved and thereby attaining the initial objective of establishing 100 Gulbenkian Knowledge Academies in Portugal.