1 Research Initiation Grant - Anglophone Travellers in Portugal

1 Research Initiation Grant for Students attending a First Cycle Degree Programme or MA students

Main scientific field: Literary Studies

Specific scientific field: Anglo-Portuguese Studies

Researcher Profiles:

Students attending a First Cycle Degree Programme or MA students.

Mandatory admission requirements:

- To be enrolled and attending a First Cycle Degree Programme or a MA programme in Modern Languages and Literatures (or related fields);

- To have linguistic competence in Portuguese (native speaker) and English (level C);

- Not to exceed, with the celebration of the grant contract in question, including possible renewals, an accumulated period of one year in this type of grant, whether consecutive or not;

- Not to have already been the beneficiary of any other research grant directly or indirectly funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

Preferred factors:

- To have knowledge of or interest in Travel Writing;

- To have an interest in the area of Digital Humanities and skills in using spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel;

- To be available for face-to-face research in libraries and archives in Lisbon.

Important notice regarding the Application Admission Requirements mentioned above:

•In the case of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions, and in order to guarantee the application of the principle of equal treatment to candidates who hold foreign and national academic degrees, it is mandatory to recognize these degrees and convert the respective final classification to the Portuguese rating scale. The recognition of foreign academic degrees and diplomas as well as the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale can be required in any public higher education institution, or in the Directorate-General for Higher Education (DGES). We suggest that you consult the DGES portal through the following address: http://www.dges.gov.pt.

•The scholarship is always dependent on the presentation of proof of the required academic qualifications.

Work plan:

• To review and add information to the “Anglophone Travellers in Portugal” database (https://www.cetaps.com/english-travellers-in-portugal/);
•  To participate in the construction of the digital dimension of the “Anglophone Travellers in Portugal” project;
• To contribute to the dissemination of the project results.

Duration of the fellowship: The grant will be for a period of 6 (six) months, and is expected to start on November 1st 2023. The grant contract may be eventually renewed up to a maximum of 12 (twelve) months.

Application submission deadline: The call for the scholarship is open from August 3^rd to September 11^th 2023.

Application:

Applications must be formalised via email, by sending an application letter together with the following documents:

- Certificate of registration in the First Cycle Degree Programme or in the MA programme. In what concerns the MA students, it is necessary also to send the certificate of conclusion of the First Cycle Degree Programme. It is mandatory for applicants in programmes outside of Portugal to send the conversion of the rating score to the Portuguese rating scale. If not, it will lead to exclusion;

- Curriculum Vitae (in Portuguese or English);

- Motivation letter (in Portuguese or English, with a maximum limit of 500 words);

- Declaration under oath that, with the signing of the grant contract in question, the accumulated period of one year in this type of grant is not exceeded, whether consecutive or not, and that he/she has not been the beneficiary of any other research grant directly or indirectly funded by FCT (in Portuguese or English).

In the case of academic degrees obtained in foreign higher education institutions, it is necessary to present the recognition of the degrees obtained, in accordance with DL Nº 66/2018, of 16th August; or, in the absence of recognition at the time of application, a declaration under oath that he/she will get this recognition before the contracting of the grant in case he/she is selected.

Nevertheless, it is mandatory to present the recognition until the contracting of the grant.

Applications must be sent via email to cetapsgestao@fcsh.unl.pt, with the subject “BII Anglo-Portuguese Studies”.

Amount of monthly maintenance allowance:

The research fellowship corresponds to €541,12 monthly, according to the table of scholarships awarded directly by the FCT, I.P. in Portugal. (https://www.fct.pt/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Tabela-de-Valores-SMM_202…). Added to this amount is the voluntary social insurance corresponding to the first category, if the candidate so chooses, as well as a personal accident insurance.

Workplace:

The grant will be developed at CETAPS – NOVA FCSH, Portugal. The grant holder will be supervised by Professor Maria Zulmira Castanheira and Dr. Luciano Moreira.

Selection methods:

The evaluation takes into account the merit of the candidate, the motivation letter submitted and an interview with the selection board.

The applications considered admissible will be scored on a scale of 0 (zero) to 20 (twenty) in each of the following evaluation criteria:

Criterion A - Merit of the Candidate, with a weight of 50% in the overall final classification of the application, assessed through the following item: Curriculum Vitae (training and professional and extracurricular activities in the areas relevant to the competition);

Criterion B - Merit of the Motivation Letter, with a weight of 30% in the final overall classification of the application (explaining the motivation behind the application for a research grant in the area of the competition); 

Criterion C - Interview, with a weight of 20% in the final overall classification of the application.

For the purpose of the decision on the award of the grant, applicants will be ranked according to the weighted average of the score obtained in each of the three criteria, translated by the following formula:

Final ranking = (50% A) + (30% B) + (20% C)

For tie-breaking purposes, candidates will be ranked on the basis of the marks awarded for each of the evaluation criteria in the following order of precedence: criterion B; criterion A, criterion C.

Candidates with a weighted score below 14 will not be considered for the grant.

Jury

President: Professor Carlos Ceia, NOVA FCSH (CETAPS);

1.º Effective member: Professor Maria Zulmira Castanheira, NOVA FCSH (CETAPS);

2.º Effective member: Dr. Luciano Moreira (Contract Researcher FLUP/CETAPS).

Form of publication/notification of results:

The final results of the evaluation will be announced by means of a list sorted by final mark obtained, sent by email to all candidates. The selected candidate will be notified by email.

After the communication of the provisional list of evaluation results, the candidates have a period of 10 working days to comment, if they so wish, in a prior hearing of interested parties, under the terms of articles 121 and following in the Administrative Procedure Code. The final decision must be made within a maximum of 60 working days after the conclusion of the prior hearing of interested parties or the public consultation.

A complaint may be lodged against the final decision within 15 working days, or an appeal may be lodged with the maximum executive body of the funding entity within 30 working days, both after the respective notification.