Awarding one Fellowship for a Masters / Project «BRIGHT»

A position is open for one Fellowship under the project BRIGHT (M-ERA-NET3/0004/2021), financed exclusively by National Funds.

1.        Scientific field: Materials Engineering and related areas

2.       Admission requirements: Candidates must hold a Master's degree in Materials Engineering/Chemistry/Physics and related areas and be enrolled in a PhD. Priority will be given to the Materials Engineering/Chemistry area and to candidates with research experience in the specific scientific area of the work plan. Candidates who have obtained the degree abroad must have the degree recognised in Portugal, under the terms of Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of 16 August. The documents proving this situation should be presented, at the latest, until the contractualisation phase of the grant, and may be replaced by a declaration of honour (as presented in the last pages of this call).

3.       Workplan: The work will be carried under the M-Era-Net project objectives and aims at the development of integrated mechanical energy harvester and self-powered sensor based on functionalized  cellulose foam materials.The foam will be designed and fabricated by chemical/3D printing technology with functionalization of conductive polymeric nanoparticles.  During the project outline, the final objective will be to develop a full autonomous energy system that able to capture the mechanical energy from ambient  and transferred it into electrical energy at the same platforms to the application for self-powered sensing and communication setup. Through the project candidates need to do the work on 3D printing synthesis, chemical characterizations techniques,as well as the electrical and mechanical characterization of the materials and devices developed. The work to be developed is integrated in a project that involves, besides CENIMAT|I3N other European research institutions (Almascience, Portugal and IKTS Fraunhofer, Germany ). The researcher will also participate in dissemination actions of the project outputs and will supervise scholarship students and master's students.

4.       Applicable legislation and regulations:  Law No. 40/2004, of August 18, amended and republished by Decree-Law No. 202/2012 of 27 August (Statute of the Scientific Research Fellow) and amended by Decree-Law No. 233/2012 of 29 October, by Law No. 12/2013 of January 29, Decree-Law No. 89/2013 of July 9 and Decree-Law No. 123/2019 of August 28; Regulation of Research Scholarships of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. in force (https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT2019.pdf).

5.       Workplace : The work will  be developed at the Materials Research Center (CENIMAT/I3N) of the Nova School of Science and Technology (FCT NOVA), under the scientific guidance of Dr. Suman Nandy.

6.      Duration of the fellowship(s): The  fellowship will last for 12 months, presumably starting in October 2023. The fellowship contract may eventually be renewed within the term of the project (if the fellow is enrolled in a PhD program).

7.      Monthly maintenance allowance amount: The amount of the scholarship corresponds to €  1.199,64, according to the stock chart of the exchanges awarded directly by FCT, I.P.  https://www.fct.pt/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Tabela-de-Valores-SMM_2023.pdf, payment being made monthly by bank transfer.

8.       Selection methods: The selection of candidates will be made by the jury, based on the analysis of the Curriculum Vitae and its suitability for the proposed tasks. The evaluation of the candidate will take into account the merit of the candidate, considering the parameters of the curriculum evaluation (70%), and the interview (30%). If the jury chooses not to interview the candidates, the curriculum evaluation will correspond to 100% of the candidate's evaluation.

The curricular evaluation is guided by the valorization of the following elements:

a)      Academic background,  Research experience in the area of Materials Engineering, Research experience in the field of the workplan (70%);

b)      Motivation letter, reference letter, Experience (publications, conference/seminar attendence), English proficiency (30%).

9.       Composition of the Selection Jury:

President of the Jury – Dr. Suman Nandy

1st Effective Juror – Prof. Rodrigo Martins

2nd Effective Juror – Dr.  Santunu Jana

1st Alternate Juror – Prof. Pedro Barquinha

2nd Alternate Juror - Dr. Inês Cunha

10.   Notification of results: The final results of the evaluation will be notified, up to 90 days after the deadline for submission ofapplications, by e-mail, of the results proposed by the jury, having access to the minutes. After notification, applicants will have 10 working days to decide on the decision, at a prior hearing of interested parties, in accordance with the Code of Administrative Procedure. The final decision shall be taken after the previous hearing period, again notified to all applicants by e-mail.

11.   Application deadline and form of submission of applications: The competition is open from July 28th to August 27th 2023.  

Applications must be sent exclusively by e-mail, mandatorily indicated, in the subject of the e‐mail, of the reference "BI/BRIGHT/2-2023",  to cenimat.rh@fct.unl.pt and s.nandy@fct.unl.ptwithin the deadline for their submission. The application must be instructed with the following documents:

a)      Curriculum Vitae

b)      Motivation letter

c)       Reference letter

d)      Certificate of qualifications

e)       Other supporting documents deemed relevant, namely proof of registration for the current academic year and the documents related to the recognition of the academic degree in the case of candidates who have obtained their degree abroad (as detailed in item 2 of the announcement).

For more information, please contact Dr. Suman Nandy at the following email:  s.nandy@fct.unl.pt.

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