Research Fellowship - CENTER OF BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING: CEB-BI-19-2023

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

Research Fellowship (1 vacancy)

CEB-BI-19-2023

A call for applications is now open for the attribution of one research grant within the scope of the R&D project, Novel protein-based affinity platform for mycotoxins clean-up” (ref. 2022.03438.PTDC)/Centre of Biological Engineering, financed by national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), under the following conditions:

Scientific Area: Food Biotechnology

Recipient category: Students enrolled in a MSc degree course or an integrated MSc degree course, with first cycle completed (minimum of 180 ECTS) in Biological and Chemical Engineering, Food Science and Technology, Biotechnology or similar areas, preferably at the University of Minho.

Requirement for granting the fellowship:

• The applicants may apply without prior registration in the course for which the fellowship is open. The required enrolment in a degree course will be verified on the date of contracting the fellowship;
• fellowships will only be contracted to applicants that present a valid proof of enrolment in a degree course, according to the type of the fellowship announced, issued by the academic services of the Higher Education Institution, indicating, respectively, the academic year or its duration (start and end).

Candidates profile:

1. hold a BSc degree or the first cycle completed (minimum of 180 ECTS) of an integrated course in Biological and Chemical Engineering, Biology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Food Sciences or related areas;
2. provide proven evidence of academic qualifications completed by the application deadline, including those resulting from recognition processes for academic degrees obtained in non-Portuguese Universities;
3. prove enrollment in a Master's degree in the area of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Food Science and Technology, or Biotechnology or in a non-academic degree course integrated in the educational project of Minho University (at the date of contracting);
4. demonstrate the necessary previous laboratory experience;
5. preferential factors: proven experience in working with mycotoxins, immobilization of proteins, aerogels production and working with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Applicants eligibility: Applicants must comply with the eligibility conditions laid down in article 9 of the Research Grants Regulation of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (2019).

Workplan and objectives to be achieved: The scientific work to be developed will be integrated into the activities of the aforementioned project, namely in tasks involving the immobilization of proteins, production of aerogels, preparation of affinity columns and determination of mycotoxins, as well as, in the management of experimental data, preparation of reports, scientific articles, technical documents and communications.

Applicable legislation and regulations: Research Fellowship Holder Statutes, approved by Law no. 40/2004 of August 18, in its current version published by Decree-Law no. 123/2019 of august 28; Regulation of Scientific Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in “Diário da República”, 2nd serie, no. 119, through dispatch no. 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration no. 447/2021 of 22-06-2021 and Regulation of Research Studentships and Fellowships (RBI) of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. - in force.

Host/Contracting institution and scientific supervision: The workplan will be carried out in the Centre of Biological Engineering of University of Minho, located in the University of Minho, Campus of Gualtar - Braga, under the scientific supervision of the Doctor Luís Abrunhosa and Doctor Rui Rodrigues.

Fellowship duration: The grant will take place for a period 12 months, with a provisional starting date on the October of 2023. The fellowship grant may eventually be renewed up to 6 months if there has been some technical constraint to the full execution of the planned activities in due time, and if the necessary budget is available.

Amount of the research grant: The value stipend (Monthly Maintenance Allowance) is 930,98 € per month, in accordance with the stipends values published by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT I.P.) in the country (Annex I – Monthly Stipends Values for the maintenance allowances of the FCT Regulation for Research Studentships and Fellowships) and Annex II of the Regulation of Scientific Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in “Diário da República”, 2nd serie, no. 119, through dispatch no. 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration no. 447/2021 of 22-06-2021, according to the applicable regulation.

Payment is made on the 23st of each month, through bank transfer to the Bank Identification Number of the fellow identified in the contract.

Other benefits: Reimbursement of Voluntary Social Security (Social Security contributions), corresponding to the 1st level of discounts and personal accident insurance.

Exclusivity regime: The grantee will perform the activities under exclusivity, as foreseen in article 5º of the Research Fellow Statutes and applicable regulations.

Selection panel:  The selection panel shall consist of three effective members and two substitute members.

President:

Luis João Abrunhosa Pereira (Assistant Researcher from the Centre of Biological Engineering of University of Minho)

Effective members:

António Augusto Martins de Oliveira Vicente (Full Professor from the Department of Biological Engineering of University of Minho) and Lucília Maria Alves Ribeiro Domingues (Associate Professor with Habilitation from the Department of Biological Engineering of University of Minho)

Substitute members:

Tatiana Sofia da Quinta Vidal Aguiar (Junior Researcher from the Centre of Biological Engineering of University of Minho) and Rui Miguel Martins Rodrigues (Junior Researcher from the Centre of Biological Engineering of University of Minho)

The first effective member will substitute the President of the selection panel in case of impediment, being nominate the first substitute member in the place of the first effective member.

Criteria and procedures for applications assessment and selection: The applications assessment will focus on the candidate's Merit, following evaluation criteria, valued on a scale of 1 to 5 values:

Applicant Merit - AM (100%):

A1 - Academic path (considering the classifications of academic degrees), with a weighting of 40%;

A2 - Personal curriculum (considering professional and scientific background), with a weighting of 40%;

A3 - Motivation letter, with a weighting of 20%.

The final classification of the applicant’s merit will be achieved through the following formula:

MC=(A1 x 0.4) + (A2 x 0.4) + (A3 x0.2)

Candidates with a score of less than 1.5 points in the AM criterion will be excluded.

The academic degrees and diplomas documents, or their respective recognition when awarded by foreign higher education institutions are not mandatory in the application phase, being replaced by a declaration of honour of the candidate (annex I or annex III) with the contents of academic results. The documents of academic qualification or respective recognition will be required in the contracting phase and must attest facts that occurred on a date prior to the application. In situations of divergence between the information contained in the declaration (annex I) and the documentation submitted for contracting the grant, only the information contained in the latter will be consider. If the documents proving the ownership of the academic degree and diploma, or the respective recognition under the terms of Decree-Law No. 66/2018, of August 16, do not correspond to the classifications awarded in the evaluation of the academic path, which can change the candidate's ranking, the fellowship won’t be contracted.

Notes:Applicants with degrees obtained abroad must present proof of recognition of qualifications in Portugal and conversion of the final classification obtained in them to the Portuguese classification scale or declaration (annex III) under the terms indicated in the previous point. Candidates who do not comply with one of these provisions, the selection panel will assign “0” in the grade of the graduation and/or master course. Candidates will be evaluated on the remaining parameters.

Disclosure of results: The provisional results of applications, based in the selection panel minutes, will be send to the applicants by email, pursuant to article 12 of the FCT RBI (FCT funding) or article 13 of the UMinho RBI (other funding subject to the UMinho regulation).

In case of unfavourable results, the candidates have a period of 10 working days to comment, if desired, in a prior hearing to interested parties, pursuant to articles 121 and 122 of the Code of Administrative Procedure (DL no. 4 / 2015 of January 7th).

Complaint and appeal procedures: The final results of the evaluation will be published through an ordered list by final grade obtained on the site of the Centre of Biological Engineering of UMinho (https://empregoceb.wordpress.com/), as well as by email to all applicants, enclosing for that purpose, the minutes of the jury deliberations.

The selected candidate must inform, within 10 working days from the notification of grant award, its willingness to accept the grant, in writing. In case of rejection, the fellowship will be awarded to the next candidate in the ordered list of applicants.

The final decision can be contested within 15 working days, by sending to the President of the jury the corresponding claim. Interested parties may also submit an optional hierarchical appeal, addressed to the Pro-Rector for Research and Projects.

Constitution of a selection reserve list: The applicants ranked in the next positions on the ordered list will be included in a selection reserve list, which can be used until 31/05/2024.

Application deadline and submission: The call for applications is open during 10 working days after the notice publication on the European Scientific Mobility Portal Euraxess.

Applications must be formalized by sending an application letter with the following documents:

• curriculum vitae;
• degree qualifications certificates or declaration of the applicant

(Annex I – academic degrees and diplomas awarded by Portuguese higher education institutions)

(Annex III – academic degrees and diplomas awarded by foreign higher education institutions);

• motivation letter;
• statement proving that applicant meets the conditions for the grant typology, according to the application requirements (annex II);
• other documents important to the evaluation process.

Applications must be sent by email to bolsas@ceb.uminho.pt , indicating the reference of the call (CEB-BI-19-2023) for applications in Subject. Applications submitted by other means will not be accepted.

Fellowship contract: The fellowship will be attributed by signing a fellowship contract between the University of Minho and the fellow, accordingly with the contract minute (annex IV of the Regulation of Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in Diário da República, 2nd Série, no. 119, through dispatch no. 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration no. 447/2021 of 22-06-2021, as indicated in 2.4 of the FCT document: “Rules for Granting and Management of Grants within the scope of R&D projects, including infrastructure projects, the multi-annual financing program for R&D units and other FCT financing instruments (Version 2021)”.

The contract may only be concluded after all the documentation required is collected, which must take place within a maximum period of 6 months (including evidences of the academic degrees or diplomas and enrolment in degree courses or non-conferring degree courses, depending on the type of scholarship).

Once all the documentation has been received, the contracting entity has a period of 60 working days to conclude the scholarship contract. Once received, the fellow must return the contract duly signed within 15 working days.

The activities under the fellowship contract can only began after proper authorization by the contracting entity.

Term and cancellation of fellowship contracts: Without prejudice to the other causes provided the fellowship regulations (FCT and UMinho) and in the Statute of the Research Fellow, the fellowship ends with the completion of the work plan, as well as with the expiration date for which it was granted or renewed.

At the end of the fellowship, the grantee is obliged to present a Final Report of the work carried out, in accordance with the objectives and evaluation criteria defined with the scientific advisor, within 30 days after the end of the scholarship.

The final report must be prepared in accordance with Annex I of the Scientific Research Fellowships Regulation of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in Diário da República, 2nd Série, no. 119, through dispatch no. 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration no. 447/2021 of 22-06-2021.