The research structure of CIDP is mainly based on: Research Groups and Research Projects developed by Research Teams.

Research Groups
Research Groups are aggregates of different categories researchers devoted to a specific field of Public Law and coordinated by a Principal Investigator.
CIDP comprises three Research Groups, each devoted to a specific field of Public Law: (1) Constitutional Law & Political Science (abbreviated henceforth as “RG:CL&PS”); (2) Administrative Law (“RG:AL”); and (3) International and European Law (“RG:IEL”).

The Principal Investigator (PI) is the Head of the Research Group. He is a member of the Scientific Steering Commission (SSC) and acts as the coordinator of the Group’s activity, ensures the attainment of its scientific objectives and supervises the intellectual, administrative, and logistical exchange between the SSC and the Responsible Investigators (RIs) regarding the Projects developed by each Research Team. Apart from the day-to-day management of the Group, he shall report to the Scientific Coordinator of CIDP, put forward proposals to the SSC, and issue recommendations to the Research Teams. The PI does not lead the investigation of the Projects himself. He supervises its progresses with reference to the objectives previously proposed by the Research Team itself and approved by the SSC. The PIs will also be responsible for receiving the FCT evaluators, guiding them through the facilities of the CIDP and introducing them to the RIs of each Project.

Research Projects and Research Teams
Research Projects are developed by Research Teams which are led by an RI (Responsible Investigator) and are integrated in a Research Group.

Integrated researchers who are interested in developing research on a certain subject matter submit an application for a Research Project with a certain Research Team and appoint an RI, who will lead the investigation. Research Projects must be approved by the SSC and their applications for funding must be submitted to the SSC, who will decide based on transparent albeit rigorous criteria, such as the ones which have been annually approved since 2014. CIDP encourages Research Teams to seek external sources of funding.

The RI accounts for the development of the Project before the PI of the Research Group. The RI leads the Research Team dedicated to a specific Research Project. He is the main responsible: for choosing the investigators and consultants who integrate the Research Team; for establishing its main goals, budget proposal, and organisation of workshops, seminars or conferences; for arranging research missions to foreign countries; for harmonising the Team members’ work; for ensuring the publication of its outputs; and for the accomplishment of the overall scientific quality of the Project. The PI enjoys a rather large autonomy in the management of his tasks. He reports to the PI of the Research Group and is accountable before the SC.

If freedom, flexibility, and cooperation are the dominating points of the research management, the Teams are also accountable for delivering results. The SC will follow the progresses of Research Groups and Research Projects. Whenever necessary, he may ask the RIs directly for information and can propose to the SSC the adoption of measures to overcome obstacles, to modify trajectories, or ultima ratio to terminate Projects which will not match FCT’s and CIDP’s standards.

Our research agenda builds on years of excellence and on the extraordinary capacities of its researchers. The programme has five main objectives.

The first objective is to develop high quality research projects in the public legal sciences field, securing the internationalisation of CIDP and defining a major role for the social sciences in the University of Lisbon (ULisbon). Research activities will focus on three general themes: TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION, DEMOCRACY AND CITIZENSHIP, and ENHANCING PUBLIC GOVERNANCE.

TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION accounts for: 1) new regulatory challenges posed by technological innovations; 2) the emergence of e-democracy and of a cyber-society and its dangers; 3) cyber-security and regulation of cyber-space; and 4) transformation of the public sector organization following the technological revolution.

DEMOCRACY AND CITIZENSHIP brings together: 1) new and old challenges to Democracy, such as populism, nationalism and “legal authoritarianism”; 2) national citizenship, European citizenship, and citizenship within the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP); 3) Portugal, the EU and the ECHR: judicial dialogue and the protection of Fundamental Rights; and 4) the Constitution explained to citizens.

ENHANCING PUBLIC GOVERNANCE aims to study: 1) efficiency and accountability in public governance; 2) public policies for sustainability; 3) the multilevel regulation of investment in the blue and green econo-mies, as well as in public goods; 4) the Portuguese administration in the context of EU law.

The second objective is to contribute further to the internationalization of Portuguese Public Law studies. This strategy involves: 1) the production and transfer of knowledge; 2) promote excellence in graduate and post-graduate teaching; and 3) exploring international funding opportunities.

The Centre has established the foundations of a network in cooperation with other R&D units, seeking to stimulate the participation of researchers in international projects and attracting the collaboration of for-eign researchers.

The third objective is to foster intergenerational and gender balance. CIDP undertakes to adopt a research strategy that aims to achieve an ideal balance between the driving role of younger researchers and the active support of the more experienced ones, the intellectual excellence of its research projects, scientific innovation, and an interdisciplinary approach.

In this context, CIDP has incorporated doctoral and master’s degree students as well as undergraduate top students in its research projects’ teams. Given the need for new levels of excellence in research, CIDP will assist top students in pursuing their academic aspirations. This involves submitting applications to calls for FCT Doctoral Programmes; participation of CIDP researchers in graduate and post-graduate courses; and the improvement of CIDP capacities to attract new audiences for training activities offered through the organisation of Workshops, Courses, Summer Schools, and other learning programmes.

At the same time, CIDP’s investigators demonstrate a commitment to gender balance: approximately a third of both its postdoctoral and doctoral researchers are female researchers.

The fourth objective is to disseminate legal-scientific knowledge, ensuring greater national and international visibility of CIDP’s scientific production. Believing that the research projects ought to have a meaningful impact on society as well as on public institutions, CIDP aims to maintain and increase the present number of institutional partnerships with national and international nonacademic entities. CIDP already has E-Publica, an online open-access peer-reviewed journal, and funds the publication of articles of its researchers in international peer-reviewed publications. Our observatories also already produce policy-oriented technical and scientific knowledge directed at central and local public administration.

In the future, CIDP will expand its website to accommodate future observatories, and databases; publish specialized papers on topics relevant to the public; and, finally, promote regular events where researchers, members of civil society, business networks and the media participate.

The fifth objective is to improve the CIDP infrastructure and technical resources. The main goals here include the creation of public open-access databases, the training of qualified technical support staff, and the delivery of data on research outcomes, productivity indicators and bibliometric measuring.