2 Research grants for PhD Students in Linguistics

Undergraduate or a master's degree, preferably in the areas of Language Sciences, Linguistics, and related areas.

Candidates must be registered in a PhD Programme at the NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities, apply to the PhD Programme in Linguistics at the NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities.

 Candidates are required to carry out research activities leading to the award of a doctoral degree at the Linguistics Research Centre of NOVA University Lisbon

Preferential elements:

- degree in Language Sciences

- master’s degree in Language Sciences

- status of students with disabilities

The salary will be based on the pay scale of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. Please see link below.

(https://www.fct.pt/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Tabela-de-Valores-SMM_202… )

The current salary for post-doctoral Research Fellows is 1 199,64€ per month, paid by bank transfer.

Social security and a personal accident insurance is added.

Grant holders not covered by social protection may require social security by registering in the voluntary social insurance scheme, under the terms of the Social Security Contributions Code. This will be funded directly by FCT under the terms and within the limits set by article 10 of the EBI.

Payments of the salary components

Salary payments are made by bank transfer on the first working day of each month.

FCT will additionally fund registration, enrolment and tuition directly to the national institution where the grant holder is registered as a doctoral student.

Terms and conditions for scholarship renewal

The renewal of the scholarship is done upon request by the grant holder within 60 working days prior to the renewal with the following documents:

a) positive evaluation of research activities from the supervisor and the host institution;

b) updated document showing compliance with the regimen of exclusive dedication to PhD research activities;

c) document demonstrating the renewal of the enrolment in the PhD programme.

- National citizens or citizens of other Member States of the European Union.

- Citizens of third States.

- Stateless persons.

- Beneficiaries of political refugee status.

-  To hold a bachelor's or master's degree, preferably in the areas of Language Sciences, Linguistics, and related areas.

- To reside permanently in Portugal, if the research work plan is partly carried out a foreign institution (in the case of mixed grants) - this a requirement is applicable to both Portuguese and foreign citizens.

- Do not have previously benefited from a doctoral scholarship, or a PhD scholarship in Industry, directly funded by FCT, regardless of its length.

- Do not hold a doctoral degree.

Each candidate submits one (1) application only, under penalty of cancellation of all submitted applications.

False statements or plagiarism will imply cancellation of the application without prejudice to the adoption of additional sanctions.

Selection process

Evaluation is based on each candidate's merit, the merit of the research project and his/her the performance in the interview that takes place in two successive stages.

Phase 1 - Document evaluation: evaluation of the candidate's merit and research project.

Phase 2 - Interview: evaluation of the performance in the interview.

Candidates will be notified of the Phase 1 rankings. Candidates ranked within the first 8 places in Phase 1 with a classification equal to or higher than 150 points will be notified for Phase 2 by e-mail.

In Phase 1, candidates with less than 150 points, or candidates who do not meet the eligibility criteria, will be excluded.

In Phase 2, candidates with less than 160 points in the interview will be excluded.

Each selection phase may be eliminatory.

Applications will be scored on a scale from 0 (zero) to 200 (two hundred) points in each of the following evaluation criteria:

Criterion A - Quality of the Curriculum

Criterion B - Quality of the Research Project

Criterion C - Performance in the Interview

Criteria to be applied in Phase 1:

Criterion A - Quality of the Curriculum - weight of 60% in the final classification of Phase 1 of the application:

. Sub-criterion A1 - Undergraduate final mark - weight of 15% in the final mark of Phase 1 (points scored in this sub-criterion will be based on the candidate's undergraduate average multiplied by 10 (ten), in case this average has been attributed on a Portuguese quantitative scale from 0 (zero) to 20 (twenty)).

. Sub-criterion A2 - Final mark of the Master's degree - weight of 15% in the final mark of Stage 1 ( points scored in this sub-criterion will be based on the average mark of the applicant's Master's degree multiplied by 10 (ten), in case this average has been attributed in a Portuguese quantitative scale from 0 (zero) to 20 (twenty)); In the case of qualitative scales attributed by Portuguese institutions, the jury will convert to the scale of 0 (zero) to 20 (twenty), and then apply the multiplication factor; candidates not holding a Master's degree will score zero points in this sub-criterion.

. Sub-criterion A3 - Candidate's curriculum vitae and other relevant elements presented by the candidate - weight of 20% in the final classification of Phase 1; in this sub-criterion, the panel will give a more weight to the CV and less weight to the other elements.

. Sub-criterion A4 - Motivation of the candidate will be assessed based on the motivation letter - weight of 10% in the final classification of Phase 1.

Criterion B - Quality of the Research Project - weight of 40% in the final classification of Phase 1:

Quality of the project will be assessed in terms of its content, namely considering the integration of the proposed research within the general research framework of the Research Unit (UI), and its feasibility in the scope of the UI and the Course. The quality of the writing and formal rigour of the project will also be considered in this criterion.

For tie-breaking purposes, candidates will be ordered according to the scores awarded in the following order: Sub-criterion A2; Criterion B; Sub-criterion A3; Sub-criterion A1; Sub-criterion A4.

Criteria to be applied in Phase 2:

Criterion C - Performance in the Interview - weight of 100% in Phase 2:

. Sub-criterion C1 - candidate's performance, with an emphasis on his/her capacities of argumentation and justification (weight of 50% in Phase 2);

. Sub-criterion C2 - ability to respond to aspects of the work plan (50% in Phase 2).

For the final results, applicants will be ordered, in each Phase, according to the weighted average of the scores obtained in each of the above sub-criteria, according to the following formulas:

Phase 1

Final Classification  =(0,15×A1)+(0,15×A2)+(0,20×A3)+(0,10×A4)+(0,40×B) 

Phase 2

Final Classification =(0.5×C1)+(0.5×C2)

Important notice for applicants with degrees issued by foreign higher education institutions:

. Applicants with foreign degrees who do not present an official conversion of the final grades into the Portuguese classification scale will be assessed with the minimum classification (100 points) in sub criteria A1 and A2.

Candidates who score less than 160 points will not be eligible for scholarship.

Selection Panel: Rute Costa (chairperson), Raquel Amaro, Susana Correia, Maria Lobo, Antónia Coutinho; Ana Castro (substitute), Helena Valentim (substitute), Matilde Gonçalves (substitute).

Panel members, including the coordinator, commit to a set of responsibilities, such as the duties of impartiality, declaration of any potential conflict of interest and confidentiality. Confidentiality is fully protected and ensured in order to guarantee the independence of all opinions produced.

Panel members, including the coordinator, may not be supervisors or co-supervisors of candidates with applications submitted to the competition.

For each application, the panel will produce a final evaluation report where the arguments that led to the classifications attributed to each of the evaluation criteria and sub-criteria are clearly presented, as well as any bonuses awarded.

The minutes of the evaluation panel meetings will be written under the responsibility of all its members, and obligatorily include the following information:

. Name and affiliation of all members of the evaluation panel.

Identification of all excluded applications with justifications.

. Method adopted by the panel for particular cases considered (if needed).

. Final Evaluation Forms for each candidate.

. Provisional ranking of the candidates, in descending order, of all applications evaluated by the panel.

. Conflict of Interest declarations of all panel members.

Notification of results: The results will be announced to the applicants via e-mail, to the e-mail address indicated in the application.

After the provisional ranking is announced, candidates have a 10 working days period to formally challenge the results, according to Articles 121 et seq. of the Administrative Procedure Code. The final decision from the panel will be reached in 60 working days maximum after the conclusion of the period for challenging the results.

Complaints may be filed against the final decision within 15 working days or appealed to the highest executive body of the funding entity within 30 working days, after the respective notification.

Contract signing

Research contracts are signed directly with FCT. For contract signing, the following documents are needed:

a) Copy of the identification document(s) (identity card, tax identification card, others).

b) Copy of the certificates of academic qualification.

c) Research project.

d) Research work plan.

e) Recognition of academic degrees awarded by a foreign institution and conversion of the respective final grades to the Portuguese classification scale, if applicable.

f) Document of enrolment in the PhD Program in Linguistics at the NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities.

g) Document of acceptance of the candidate from the host institution, guaranteeing the appropriate working conditions, as well as the fulfilment of the duties foreseen in article 13 of the Research Grant Holder Statute (draft provided by FCT);

h) Statement from the advisor(s) acknowledging responsibility for the supervision of the research, under the terms of article 5-A of the Research Grant Holder Statute (draft provided by FCT).

i) updated document showing compliance with the regimen of exclusive dedication to PhD research activities.

The award of the grant is also subject to:

. the fulfilment of the requirements foreseen in this Call for Applications,

. the result of the scientific evaluation,

. the absence of unjustified non-compliance with the duties of the grant holder in previous grant contract funded directly or indirectly by FCT,

. FCT budget availability.

Missing documents required to complete the grant contract within 6 months from the date of communication of the final decision to award the grant conditionally, will result in the expiration of the grant and the termination of the process.

Information and publicity of the funding

Research activities directly or indirectly funded by the grant, namely communications, publications, scientific creations, and theses must clearly show the institutional support from FCT and the European Social Fund (ESF) (through the Demography, Qualifications and Inclusion Operational Program (PDQI)).

Dissemination of results of the research funded under the RBI complies with the rules for open access of data, publications, and other research outputs.

In all grants, and particularly in the case of actions supported by EU funding, namely from the ESF, monitoring and control actions may be conducted by national and EU bodies, in accordance with the applicable legislation in this area. Grant holders are required to cooperate and provide all information, including surveys and evaluation studies, even if the grant has already ended.

Policy of non-discrimination and equal access

FCT promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access. Therefore, no applicant will be privileged, benefited, prejudiced, or deprived of any right or exempted from any duty because of ancestry, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, family situation, economic situation, education, origin or social condition, genetic patrimony, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin or race, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions, or union membership.

Applicable legislation and regulations

The application process is governed by this Call for Applications, as established by the FCT Research Grant Regulations, approved by Regulation No. 950/2019, published in the II Series of the DR of 16 December 2019, by the Research Grant Holder Statute approved by Law No. 40/2004, of 18 August, as amended, and by all other applicable national and EU legislation.