By order of the Dean the University of Porto (UP), of April 5th of 2023, this international call for applications is open for the recruitment of one (1) PHD  researcher in the field of social sciences. This call for applications is funded by national funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). The selected candidate will be hired under an individual uncertain-term contract, in accordance with the Portuguese Labour Code.

1. Scientific area(s)

The research field of this call are the social sciences.

2. Applicable Legislation 

2.1. The call for applications and respective recruitment is governed by the provisions set out in Regulations No. 487/2020 - University of Porto Research, Science and Technology Staff Regulations, hereinafter referred to as the Regulations, published in the Official Gazette, 2nd series, No. 100, of 22 May, and by other applicable legislation, namely the Labour Code, approved by Law no. 7/2009, 12 February, in its current wording, Decree-Law No. 57/2016, of 29 August, as amended by Law No. 57/2017 of 19 July, which approves the scheme for the recruitment of PhD graduates aimed at stimulating scientific and technological employment in all areas of knowledge (RJEC); Regulatory Decree No. 11-A/2017, of 29 December; and applicable regulatory norms.

2.2. The present call is opened under the programme contract for Institutional Support Procedures agreed between FCT, CIPES, University of Aveiro (UA) and UP to support the development of scientific and technological activities, and in accordance with the provisions of no. 4 of article 28 of the Scientific Employment Regulations, approved by Regulations No. 607-A/2017 published in the 2nd series of the Official Gazette on 22 November 2017, amended by Regulations No. 806-A/2019, published in the 2nd series of the Official Gazette on 14 October 2019, and Regulations No. 985-B/2019, published in the 2nd series of the Official Gazette on 31 December 2019.

3. Pursuant to article 16 of the RJEC, this call for applications is exempted from the authorization of the members of the Government responsible for the areas of Finance and Public Administration, namely that referred to in paragraph 3 of article 7 of the General Public Service Labour Law (LTFP), obtaining the prior favourable approval of the members of the Government responsible for the areas of Finance and Public Administration referred to in paragraph 5 of article 30 of the LTFP and the procedure for the recruitment of workers in requalification situations, referred to in article 265 of the LTFP.

4. Admission requirements

4.1. General requirements:

National, foreign and stateless candidates may apply to the call if they hold a doctoral degree in the social sciences research field, with limited postdoctoral experience, and possess a scientific and professional curriculum vitae that is appropriate for the activities to be undertaken.*

*If the doctoral degree has been awarded by a foreign higher education institution, it must be recognised by a Portuguese higher education institution, under the terms of article 25 of Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of 16 August, which approves the legal regime of recognition of Higher Education academic degrees and diplomas, conferred by foreign higher education institutions, and paragraph e) of no. 2 of article 4 of Decree-Law no. 60/2018 of 3 August. Any formalities established therein must be fulfilled by the date of the hiring act.

4.2. Specific requirements:

For the purpose of determining the appropriate profile for the activity to be developed, the following are special requirements:

1. Interest in the area of ​​Higher Education studies, proven through publications in national or international peer-reviewed journals.

5. Preference requirements:

a) Candidates holding a Doctorate degree for less than 5 years.

b) Skills in collecting, processing, and analysing quantitative or qualitative data.

c) Experience in using software and methods for analysing quantitative or qualitative data.

d) Research experience, proven through participation in research projects.

e) Fluency in the English language, proven through the candidate's outputs and the interview.

f) Autonomy in carrying out research activities.

g) Fit of the candidate's CV into one of CIPES’ research lines: “System Level Policies (SLP)”; “Institutional and Organizational Analysis (IOA)”; Economic and Social Relevance of Higher Education (ESRHE).

6. Remuneration

The monthly salary to be paid is €2206,05, corresponding to level 33 of the Single Salary Table, approved by Order no. 1553-C/2008 of 31 December.

7. Workplace

The workplace is located on the premises of the Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies (CIPES), in Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal.

8. Employment Contract:

The selected candidate will be hired under an uncertain term employment contract under the applicable legal terms of paragraph b), no. 1 of Article 6 of RJEC, ex vi, no. 2 of Article 18 of RJEC, and will remain only for the period necessary for the execution of the tasks defined in the project and identified in the following number.

9. Duties to be performed:

9.1. Performing activities, on a regular basis, related to the career category to which they are contractually equivalent, specifically in the following areas:

1. Research;
2. Knowledge transfer and enhancement;
3. Management and communication of science and technology and other related tasks;
4. Teaching and training activities, when applicable and according to the terms of article 12 of the U.Porto Regulations.

9.2. It is the assistant researcher's duty to conduct research and development activities, as well as other scientific and technical activities framed within the mission of UP, as well as:

a) Conduct innovative and relevant research in the area of ​​Higher Education studies.

b) Participate in the preparation of publications (articles, books, book chapters, etc.) and in activities to disseminate research results.

c) Collaborate in research activities resulting from the development of research projects in which CIPES is involved.

d) Support the preparation of applications for funding of research activities.

10. Selection Panel:

In accordance with Articles 22, no. 3 and 4 of the Regulations and 13 of the RJEC, the Selection Panel is composed as follows:

Chair:

Prof. Dr. António Manuel Magalhães Evangelista de Sousa, Director of CIPES and Full Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto.

Members:

1st permanent member: Prof. Dr. Cláudia Sofia Sarrico Ferreira da Silva, member of the board of CIPES and Full Professor at the School of Economics and Management at the University of Minho.

2nd permanent member: Prof. Dr. Ricardo Oliveira Braga Moreira Biscaia, member of the board of CIPES and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto.

1st Substitute Member: Prof. Dr. Maria Teresa Geraldo Carvalho, member of the board of CIPES and Associate Professor in the Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences at the University of Aveiro.

2nd Substitute Member: Prof. Dr. Maria João Machado Pires da Rosa, member of the board of CIPES and Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism at the University of Aveiro.

11. Recruitment procedures:

In accordance with articles 26 of the Regulations and 5 of the RJEC, the recruitment procedures are as follows:

1. Evaluation of the academic and scientific career of the applicants (APCC) - (90%);
2. Interview (ENT) - (10%).

12. Evaluation of the academic and scientific career (APCC) (90%)

12.1. Evaluation of the academic and scientific career, considering a profile that is suited to the requirements of the duties corresponding to the category covered by this call, and focusing on the relevance, quality, and up-to-datedness of the following aspects:

1. Scientific performance in the areas and subareas for which the call is open.
2. Knowledge transfer and outreach.
3. Science and technology management and communication.

12.2. In evaluating the aspects indicated in points a), b) and c) of the preceding paragraph, the activity developed in the last 5 (five) years must be considered.

12.3. The five-year period mentioned in no. 12.2 may be extended by the Board, upon request of any of the candidates, when based on the suspension of scientific activity for socially protected reasons, namely for reasons of parental leave, prolonged serious illness, and other situations of unavailability for work that are legally protected.

12.4. In the evaluation of the dimensions of the aspects described in 12.1, the following parameters are considered, and the following weighting factors are attributed:

A1) Criteria for the evaluation of Scientific Performance (DC) (90%):

A1.1.) Scientific, technological, cultural, or artistic production of the last five years considered most relevant by the candidate; (70%)

A1.2.) Applied research activities, or based on practice, developed in the last five years, and considered by the candidate to have the greatest impact. (20%)

A2) Criteria for the evaluation of Knowledge Transfer (TC) (5%):

A2.1.) Knowledge exchange and dissemination activities carried out in the last five years, namely in the context of promoting culture and scientific practices, considered of greater relevance by the candidate; (5%)

A3) Criteria for the evaluation of Management and Communication of Science and Technology (GCCT) (5%):

A3.1.) Science, technology and innovation program management activities, or experience in observing and monitoring the scientific and technological system or higher education, in Portugal or abroad. (5%)

12.5.The final classification of the APCC is obtained by the following formula:

APCC= 0.90 x DC + 0.05 x TC + 0.05 x GCCT

13. Evaluation of the Interview (ENT) (10%):

The three top-ranked candidates in the evaluation of their academic and scientific career will be admitted, and the selection panel will evaluate aspects related to the research conducted by the candidates.

14. Final classification:

The Final Classification (CF) of the Evaluation of the applicants’ Academic and Scientific Career (APCC) and interview (ENT) will be obtained by applying the following formula:

CF = (APCC*0.9) + (ENT*0.1).

15. Scoring of the recruitment procedures:

15.1. Each member of the Selection Panel evaluates the applicants’ academic and scientific career on a scale from 0 to 100 points, with a weighting up to the hundredths, and the classification is obtained through the weighting defined in the criteria to be evaluated.

15.2. The interview evaluation is scored on a scale of 0 to 100 points, with a weighting to the hundredths.

16. Evaluation methodology:

16.1. After the admission of the candidates, and before the voting begins for the final ranking of the candidates in the evaluation of their scientific and professional background, each member of the selection panel must submit a written document, to be attached to the Panel’s minutes, with the list of the candidates in descending order of merit, duly justified, considering the criteria and parameters of this call for applications.

16.2. The Panel deliberates by means of a reasoned roll-call vote following the selection criteria adopted and published, from which panel members are not allowed to abstain.

16.3. The ranking methodology is identified in Article 29 of the Regulations.

16.4. Each member of the Panel must observe, in the various voting rounds, the ranking stated in the document referred to in paragraph 16.1.

16.5. Each member of the Panel must respect, in the various voting rounds, the order they presented in the document referred to in paragraph 16.1.

16.6. The interview has a maximum duration of one hour and is exclusively aimed at clarifying aspects related to the research carried out by the applicants.

16.7. The Panel’s discussions will be briefed in minutes taken during its meetings, containing a summary of what occurred, as well as the votes cast by each member and respective reasoning.

16.8. After concluding the application of the selection criteria, the panel must produce an ordered list of the approved candidates with their respective classification.

16.9. The Panel’s final decision is approved by the head of the institution responsible for opening the call for applications. The final decision on hiring is the responsibility of the top manager of the hiring institution.

17. Submission of applications

17.1. Candidates must submit their applications, addressed to the Chair of the Selection Panel, stating the identification of the position, full name, number and expiry date of the civil identification number (identity card or passport), date of birth, full address, email address and telephone contact.

17.2. The application must be accompanied by documents proving the conditions laid down in numbers 4 and 5 of this notice, namely:

1. Copy of the PhD certificate or diploma and respective recognition of the degree, if granted by a foreign higher education institution (proof of recognition to be provided by the time of hiring);
2. Detailed curriculum vitae structured in accordance with the items in numbers 4 and of this notice;
3. Proficiency in English, based on certificates or works published in English;
4. Other documents relevant to the evaluation of the candidate, taking into account the special admission requirements.

17.3. The application must be submitted on the website of the University of Porto at:

https://sigarra.up.pt/reitoria/pt/cnt_cand_geral.concursos_list 

17.4. Applications must be submitted until 23:59 hours (local time) on May 12, 2023.

17.5. Non-compliance with the submission deadline, failure to submit, or late submission of the application mentioned in 17.1 and the documents in 17.2 will lead to the exclusion of the application. For the purposes of the hearing of the interested parties, the applicants will be notified by e-mail of the exclusion decision.

17.6. The Selection Panel may, whenever deemed necessary, ask the applicants to provide complementary documents for the facts described in the submitted curriculum, setting a deadline for that purpose.

18. False Statements

False statements provided by the candidates are punishable by law.

19.Notification of Results

The minutes regarding the evaluation phase(s) of the applications will be sent via email with a delivery notification.

20. Deadlines for Preliminary Hearings and Final Decisions

Pursuant to article 121 of the Administrative Procedure Code, after the candidates have been notified, they have 10 working days to respond. The panel’s final decisions will be announced within a maximum period of 90 days, counted from the deadline for submission of applications.

21. This call for applications is exclusively destined to fill the announced positions and can be terminated at any time until approval of the final candidate list, expiring with the respective occupation of said position. In the event that none of the candidates shows they possess the required profile for the performance of the functions described above in the scope of this project, the panel reserves the right to not fill this position.

22. Reserve List

Based on the final ranking list, a reserve list will be established to be used in the event of the withdrawal of the first ranked candidate. This list will remain in effect for a maximum of one year after the final decision of the Panel.

23. Other provisions

University of Porto actively promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access, so that no candidate can be privileged, benefited, harmed or deprived of any right or exempted from any duty on account of origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, economic situation, education, social origin or condition, genetic heritage, reduced working capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin, origin territory, language, religion, political or ideological convictions and trade union membership

24. Approval of the Notice

The President of the Scientific Council approved this notice on the 31st of March, 2023.

The Dean of University of Porto.