PhD Research Studentship Grant - BD CIPsi/2023 (Lille)

Opening Notice

Call for PhD Research Studentships

The Psychology Research Centre (CIPsi; Centro de Investigação em Psicologia) of the School of Psychology, University of Minho, opens a Call for the award of 1 (one) PhD Research Studentship Grant, hereafter referred to as PhD Grant,in the scientific area of Psychology, in compliance with the provisions of the FCT Regulation for Studentships and Fellowships (RBI) and the Research Fellowship Holder Statute (EBI), in their current versions.

The PhD Grant will be financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the Collaboration Protocol for the Funding of the Pluriannual Plan for Research Grants for Doctoral Students, signed between FCT and CIPsi (UID/01662/2020).

1. APPLICATION

The call is open from 1am of 25^th of August 2023 to 11pm of the 08^th of September 2023 (Lisbon time).

Applications and supporting documents required in this Call must be submitted by e-mail to: bolsas@psi.uminho.pt.

Each candidate may submit only one application, under penalty of cancellation of all submitted applications.

The provision of false declarations or the performance of acts of plagiarism by the candidates is grounds for cancellation of the application without prejudice to the adoption of other measures of a sanctioning nature.

2. TYPE, LOCAL AND DURATION OF STUDENTSHIPS

The PhD Grants are intended to financially support advanced training and the development of research activities of candidates that fulfil the requirements to enrol in a Doctoral Programme and to be awarded a PhD degree by a Portuguese University.

The research activities leading to the attainment of the PhD degree will take place in CIPsi, School of Psychology of University of Minho, which will be the host institution of the PhD Grant holder, without prejudice of the work to be carried out in collaboration with more than one institution.

The research activities leading to the completion of the PhD degree must be developed under the activity plan and strategy of CIPsi and should be developed under the Doctoral Program in Psychology at the School of Psychology of University of Minho.

The work plan will be developed partially in a national institution and abroad (fellowship both in Portugal and abroad).

The duration of the PhD Grants is, as a rule, annual, renewable up to the maximum of four years (48 months), and cannot be granted for a period less than three consecutive months.

In the case of a studentship carried out both in Portugal and abroad, the work plan period in a foreign institution cannot exceed 24 months.

3. RECIPIENTS

PhD studentships are aimed at candidates who comply with the requirements to enrol in the PhD Programme in Psychology (School of Psychology, University of Minho), and who wish to carry out research work towards this degree at CIPsi and at the Cognitive and Affective Sciences laboratory from the University of Lille, within the International Associate Laboratory ESTRA. The PhD candidate will benefit from the technological facilities available in both laboratories.

4. ADMISSIBILITY

4.1. Candidate’s Admissibility Requirements

The following citizens may apply to this call:

• National citizens or citizens from other member-states of the European Union;
• Third-party states citizens;
• Stateless individuals;
• Citizens holding a political refugee status.

To apply for a PhD Grant, it is necessary to:

• Hold a BSc or MSc degree in Psychology or related areas;
• Be a citizen permanently and usually living in Portugal, in case the work plan of the requested studentship proceeds, entirely or partially, in foreign institutions (in case of both in Portugal and abroad or exclusively abroad studentships); this requirement is applicable to both national and foreign citizens;
• Not have benefited from a PhD or a PhD in industry studentship directly funded by FCT, regardless of its duration;
• Not hold a doctoral degree.

4.2 Application’s Admissibility Requirements

It is mandatory, under penalty of non-admissibility, to submit:

• Information contained in the candidate’s identity card, citizen card or passport;
• Candidate’s detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV);
• Certificates of the academic degrees held by the candidate, compulsorily specifying the final classification and, if possible, the classifications obtained in all subjects taken, or, in alternative, the candidate's declaration of honour, confirming that the master's degree was completed by the end of the application deadline;
• Record of recognition of the academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions and record of the conversion of the respective final classification to the Portuguese classification scale. Alternatively, the candidate must submit a declaration of honour confirming that they obtained recognition of the foreign degree equivalent to that of a bachelor's or master's by the end of the application period;
• A detailed description of a project proposal, with indication of the PhD supervisor and co-supervisor (see further information on the work plan below);
• Supervisors’ Declaration(s) of acceptance;
• A motivation letter, explaining the reasons for their application, presenting their academic/professional career path and how it is related to the work plan, if applicable;
• Two recommendation letters
• The application should be presented in English. Documents presented in a different language will not be considered for evaluation purposes.

Regarding the above-mentioned admissibility requirements, the following should be noted:

• In the case of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions, and in order to ensure the application of the principle of equal treatment to candidates who hold foreign and national academic degrees, it is mandatory to recognize those degrees and convert their final classification to the Portuguese classification scale.

The recognition of academic degrees and foreign diplomas as well as the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale may be required in any public higher education institution, or in the Directorate-General for Higher Education (DGES, just in the case of automatic recognition. For more information please see: http://www.dges.gov.pt.

• Only candidates who have completed the study cycle leading to the graduate or master's degree until the end of the application period will be admitted. If a certificate is unavailable by the time of the application deadline, candidates can submit a declaration of honour stating that they have completed the necessary qualifications for the purposes of the application. The granting of the PhD Grant depends on the submission of a document confirming that the awardee holds the academic degree.

5. WORKPLAN AND SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISION

The candidate should present a work plan addressing the interplay between emotional processes and embodied social cues based on a multi-level analysis. The relation between these two components of social cognition should be investigated by concurrently studying regulation of emotional strategies and sensitivity in processing embodied social cues, known to have a significant role in adaptive/non-adaptive social interactions. The interplay between emotional processes and embodied social cues (gaze contacts, facial expressions, interpersonal distances, gestures) should be studied through the collection of markers including genetic, neuroendocrine, psychophysiological, cognitive and neuroimaging measures. The multi-level analysis is expected to provide a better understanding of the different components of social cognition. One of the challenges should be to investigate social cognition from a theoretical perspective but also a broad spectrum of pathological populations, with the aim to reach a comprehensive view of the processes underlying social disorders.

Within this context, the candidate’s proposal is expected to provide new insights into the interaction between the regulation of emotional processes and non-verbal social cues, in pathological and/or non-pathological populations.

The work plan should include:

• Project description, including a state-of-the art on the selected domain, a description of the objectives and the research lines (including the methodology) of the research project. The project description should be no longer than 3 pages (excluding scientific references)
• Scientific supervision team, which should include name and academic affiliation and CV of supervisor and co-supervisor. One of the members of the team should be an integrated member of CIPsi, and the other should be a member of the Cognitive and Affective Sciences Laboratory from the University of Lille.

6. EVALUATION CRITERIA

6.1. Evaluation Criteria

All admitted applications must be graded from zero (0.00, minimum) to five (5.00, maximum) in each of the two evaluation criteria:

Criterion A – Merit of the Candidate, which has a 40% relative weight to the final grade, is evaluated based on two sub-criteria:

Sub-criterion A1 - Academic career, with a relative weight of 50% to the Merit of the Candidate, reflects the academic degree grades, for which the respective certificates have been submitted in the application, with a relative weight of 50%; The academic career sub-criterion is calculated according to the final classification stated in the academic degrees certificates, submitted in the application form, according to Table 1: i) Graduate + Master / Integrated Master; ii) Graduate degree only; or iii) Master degree only;

Sub-criterion A2 - Personal curriculum, with a relative weight of 50% to the Merit of the Candidate, reflects the scientific and professional career, and academic career, when applicable, and candidate’s motivation to pursue this study cycle.

The score awarded to criterion A is calculated applying the following formula:

Criterion A = (0,5 x A1) + (0,5 x A2)

Table 1 – Reference table to score the sub-criterion A1 – Academic Career

Criterion B – Merit of the Work Plan, which has a relative weight of 60% to the final grade, is evaluated in an integrated and transversal manner, assessing the quality, originality and relevance of the work plan in all of its dimensions, in the following three sub-criteria:

Sub-criterion B1 – Justified relevance of the object of study, with a relative weight of 50% to the Merit of the Work Plan, which evaluation based on the clear definition of aims and research questions, as well as the originality and the potential contribution of the research project to the knowledge and progress of science and technology and, when applicable, its social impact;

Sub-criterion B2 – Scientific quality of the state of the art and the methodology of the work plan, with a relative weight of 40% to the Merit of the Work Plan, which evaluationis based on the quality of the state of the art and of the proposed research methodology, considering the clarity, consistency, and coherence, in accordance with internationally accepted standards, and the originality of the work plan to be developed;

Sub-criterion B3 – Feasibility of the work plan, with a relative weight of 10% to the Merit of the Work Plan, which evaluation is based on the adequacy of methodologies to the tasks and aims proposed in the work plan and the respective planned deadlines as the total period expected to complete the project.

The score awarded to criterion B is calculated applying the following formula:

Criterion B = (0,5 x B1) + (0,4 x B2) + (0,1 x B3)

Candidates will be ranked according to the weighted average of the score obtained in the two criteria, following the relative weighting of: 40% Merit of the Candidate (A); 60% Merit of the Work Plan (B), converted into the following formula:

Final Grade = (0,4 x A) + (0,6 x B)

For tiebreaking purposes, the final ranking list will be based on the scores assigned to each of the evaluation criteria in the following order: criterion B, criterion A.

Important notice for candidates holding degrees issued by foreign higher education institutions:

• Candidates holding diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions are encouraged to apply. They will be evaluated following the same criteria as candidates holding diplomas issued by Portuguese institutions, provided that a proof of recognition of academic degrees and conversion of the final classification for the Portuguese classification scale following the applicable legislation is submitted along with their application;
• In cases where degrees certificates do not state the respective final grade (neither quantitative nor qualitative), the grade of 2,5 will be scored to sub-criterion A1;
• In any case, the studentship contract with candidates with diplomas issued by foreign institutions will only be signed upon presentation of proof of recognition of academic degrees and conversion of the final classification, as indicated above.

Candidates whose application is scored with a final grade lower than 3.5 are not eligible for studentship granting.

6.2. Disability Bonuses

Candidates who state a degree of disability equal to or above 90% shall have a bonus of 20% on criterion A – Merit of the Candidate. Candidates that state a degree of disability equal to or above 60% and under 90%, shall have a bonus of 10% in this criterion. The degree of disability should be duly proven by submitting, in the application form, the document Atestado Médico de Incapacidade Multiuso (AMIM), issued according to the Decree-Law no. 202/96, of 23 of October, in its current version.

7. EVALUATION

The Evaluation panel is composed of the following members:

• Pedro Rosário, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho (Coordinator)
• Adriana Sampaio, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho (Efective Member)
• Yann Coello, SCALab UMR CNRS 9193 Laboratory, University of Lille (Efective Member)
• Angela Bartolo, SCALab UMR CNRS 9193 Laboratory, University of Lille (Efective Member)
• Jean Louis Nandrino, SCALab UMR CNRS 9193 Laboratory, University of Lille (Alternate Panel Member)
• Alberto Crego, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho (Alternate Panel Member)

The evaluation panel will analyse applications considering the evaluation criteria disclosed in this Opening Notice, considering all the appreciation elements.

All members of the Committee, including the coordinator, are committed to respect a set of responsibilities essential to the evaluation process, such as the duties of impartiality, the declaration of any potential conflict of interest, and confidentiality. At all times during the evaluation process, confidentiality will be fully guaranteed.

For each application, a final evaluation form will be produced. This will include the reasons for the classifications attributed to each criterion in a clear, coherent and consistent way.

Meeting minutes will be produced under the responsibility of all Evaluation Committee members. The minutes and their attachments must include the following information:

• Name and affiliation of all evaluation committee members;
• Identification of all excluded applications and reasons for exclusion;
• Methodology adopted by the Committee for particular cases;
• Final Evaluation Sheets for each application;
• Provisional ranking list and seriation of candidates, in descending order of the final ranking, of all applications evaluated by the panel;
• Conflict of interest statements by all Committee members;
• Potential delegations of vote and competences due to excused absence.

8. RESULTS DISCLOSURE

Results will be communicated via e-mail to the e-mail address used by the candidate and indicated in the application.

9. TERMS AND PROCEDURES FOR PRIOR HEARING, CLAIM AND APPEAL

Once the provisional ranked list of the evaluation results has been communicated, candidates have the right to dispute the results during the preliminary hearing phase, which takes place within 10 working days, according to Articles no. 121 and the following of the Administrative Procedure Code (CPA).

The final decision will be disclosed after analysing the candidates' arguments presented during the preliminary hearing. The final decision can be claimed within 15 working days or, alternatively, appealed within 30 working days after the communication of the final results, respectively. Candidates who choose to submit a complaint must address their statement to the member of the Board of Directors of FCT with delegated competence. Candidates who choose to present an appeal must address it to the FCT Board of Directors.

10. PhD GRANT REQUIREMENTS

PhD Grant contracts are signed directly with FCT.

The following documents are of mandatory submission upon conditional granting of the PhD Grants for purposes of contracting thereof:

a) Copy of the personal identification, tax identification, and, if applicable, social security documents;[1]

b) Copy of the academic degree certificates;

c)  Presentation of the registration of recognition of foreign academic degrees and conversion of the respective final classifications to the Portuguese classification scale, if applicable;

d) Work plan;

e) Document confirming the acceptance/registration in the Doctoral Program identified in this call;

f) Supervisor(s) statement confirming the coordination of the work plan, as established in Article no. 5º-A of the Statute for Research Fellowships (template will be made available by FCT);

g)  Document issued by the host institution(s) where the work plan will be carried out confirming that the awardee will have all the necessary conditions for the successful development of the work plan, as well as the fulfilment of the duties established in Article no. 13 of the Research Fellowship Holder Statute (Minute template will be provided by FCT);

h) Updated document confirming the exclusivity dedication regime (template will be provided by FCT).

The granting of the studentship is still dependent on:

• the fulfilment of all the requirements listed in this Notice;
• the results of the evaluation;
• the absence of unjustified non-compliance with the fellowship holder during previous grants directly or indirectly funded by FCT;
• FCT available budget.

The lack of any of the documents required to complete the contracting procedure implies the expiration of the studentship granting and conclusion of the process; candidates have up to 6 months after the disclosure of the provisional granting to provide all of the listed documents.

11. FUNDING

The payment will start after the grant holder returns the signed contract to FCT, which should occur within 15 working days from its receipt.

The PhD Studentships awarded under this call will be financed by FCT using the State Budget fund  and, whenever eligible, also the European Social Fund (ESF), under the “Programa Demografia, Qualificações e Inclusão (PDQI), according to the respective requirements.

12. STUDENTSHIP ALLOWANCE

A monthly maintenance allowance will be granted to the PhD Grant holder in accordance with the table in Annex I of the RBI.

The PhD Grant may also include additional allowances, according to RBI's Article no. 18 and the values indicated in Annex II.

A personal accident insurance related to the research activities, supported by the FCT, will be issued to the PhD Grant holder.

All PhD Grant holders who are not beneficiaries of any social protection regime can use the right to social security through the voluntary social insurance regime under the terms of the Contributory Scheme of the Social Security System. FCT will ensure the charges resulting from contributions under the terms and within limits provided in Article 10 of the EBI.

13. PAYMENT OF THE PhD GRANT ALLOWANCE

Payments are made by bank transfer to the bank account indicated by the PhD Grant holder. The monthly maintenance allowance is paid on the first working day of each month. FCT pays the registration, enrolment or tuition fees to the national institution where the PhD Grant holder is enrolled in the PhD program.

14. TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE PhD GRANT RENEWAL

The renewal of the PhD Grant depends on the submission by the studentship holder, within 60 working days prior to the renewal start date, of the following documents:

a)  declaration issued by the supervisor(s) and by the host institutions(s), including information about the work plan development and the evaluation of the research activities;

b) updated document proving compliance with the exclusive dedication regime;

c) declaration confirming the enrolment renewal in the doctoral program.

15. INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY OF THE GRANTED FUNDING

All R&D activities carried out by the PhD Grant holder, directly or indirectly financed by the studentship, namely communications, publications, and scientific creations, as well as thesis, must disclosure funding by FCT and the European Social Fund (ESF). Institutional logos of FCT, MCTES, ESF, and EU must therefore be included in the documents referring to these actions, according to the graphic rules of each operational program.

The disclosure of research results funded according to the RBI provisions must comply with the open access guidelines, publications, and other research results in accordance with FCT rules.

All fellowships, particularly those of European-funded actions, namely the ESF, may be performed some monitoring and controlling actions by national or European entities according to the applicable legislation. Fellowship holders must therefore collaborate and provide all the required information, including answering surveys and evaluation studies in this area, even though the fellowship might has already ceased.

16. NON-DISCRIMINATION AND EQUAL ACCESS POLICY

FCT promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access. Thus, no candidate may be privileged, benefited, damaged, or deprived of any right or exempt from any duty. This includes ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family situation, economic situation, education, origin or social condition, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic disease, nationality, ethnicity or race, land of origin, language, religion, political or ideological beliefs or trade union affiliation.

17. APPLICABLE LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS

This Opening Notice governs this call, the FCT Regulation of Research Fellowships, approved by Regulation no. 950/2019, published in the Series II of the DR, of December 16th, by the Research Fellowship Holder Statute, approved by Law no.  40/2004, of August 18th, in its current version, and by other applicable national and European legislation.