2 year post-doctoral research fellowship in Strong Gravity

Doctor Paulo Jorge dos Santos Gonçalves Ferreira, Full Professor and Rector of the University of Aveiro, hereby announces that for a period of 20 business days, starting on the first business day immediately after the publication of the present notice, an international public notice is opened for recruitment in the form of an Uncertain Term Work Contract, under the Portuguese Labour Code, a position for a First Level Doctorate Researcher for the exercise of activities of scientific research in the scientific areas of Mathematics and Physics to develop scientific activities in the context of the project Gravitational waves, black holes and fundamental physics, supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology, in its State Budget component (OE).

The present public notice was opened on 1 of August, 2023 by order of the Rector of the University of Aveiro, following the proposal of the Scientific Council, Public notice Ref. CDL-CTTRI-232-SGRH/2023.

The contest is governed by the provisions of Decree-Law 57/2016, August 29, that approves the rules for post-doctoral work contracts, designed to stimulate employment in science and technology in all areas of knowledge (RJEC) within the legal provisions of the Labour Code, Law no.7/2009, February 12, in its current wording and other applicable legislation and regulations.

The monthly payment corresponds to 2228,11€.

1 — Admission requirements:

Any national, foreign, and stateless candidate(s) who hold a doctorate degree in Mathematics, Physics or scientific area related and a scientific and professional curriculum whose profile is suited for the activity to be performed, can submit their applications.

Candidate(s) of the contest holding qualifications obtained abroad must prove the recognition, equivalence, or registration of the doctorate degree, under the applicable legislation. This formality must be fulfilled up to the date of signing the contract.

2 — Formalization of the applications:

2.1 — The Applications must be accompanied by the following documents:

a) Application minute for the competition addressed to the Rector of the University of Aveiro;

b) Copy of detailed and structured curriculum vitae according to items in point 5;

c) Other relevant documents for the evaluation of qualification in related scientific areas;

d) Any other documents that the applicant considers relevant, namely for the assessment of the information referred to in no. 2 of Article 5 of the RJEC.

2.3 — The curriculum vitae should contain:

a) Full name of the candidate;

b) Copy of the certificate with the respective mark or grade or another document that is legally recognized for the same purpose;

c) All pertinent information for assessing the application considering the selection and ranking criteria of the present call, organized according to the sub-items of the assessment outlined in Section 5 below.

2.3 — The application, which must be filled out, dated, and signed, is available at https://www.ua.pt/file/75846.

2.4 — Submission of the application:

2.4.1 — The application may be submitted in Portuguese or English, by email, to the Human Resources Department of the University of Aveiro (sgrh-concursosdl57-2016@ua.pt), until the deadline stipulated in this Notice. The Services will issue a message proving the electronic validation of the same.

2.4.2 — Instructions for the submission of applications, in digital format, are available in the Competition and Job Offers of the Human Resources area at https://www.ua.pt/en/sgrh/pessoal-investigador-novos-concursos-e-ofertas.

2.4.3 — When formalizing the application, if a classified document is submitted that reveals a commercial or industrial secret; a secret relative to the literary, artistic, or scientific property; or that requires confidentiality, the candidate must identify the document with this information, under penalty of the work in question being unrestrictedly accessed by any of the other candidates, when consulting the file.

2.5 — Non-compliance with the deadline for submission of the application, as well as failure to submit or late submission of the documents, referred to in points 2.1 and 2.2, will lead to the disqualification of the application. Candidates will be notified of the exclusion decision by e-mail, for the hearing of interested parties, following Articles 121 et seq. of the Administrative Procedure Code.

3 — Call Jury:

3.1 — In accordance with article 13 of the RJEC the call jury has the following composition:

President: Doctor Carlos Alberto Ruivo Herdeiro – Department of Mathematics, University of Aveiro;

Jury members:

Doctor Miguel Zilhão – Department of Mathematics, University of Aveiro;

Doctor Eugen Radu – Department of Mathematics, University of Aveiro;

Substitute members:

Doctor Jorge Miguel da Rocha – ISCTE, University Institute of Lisbon;

Doctor Filipe C. Mena – Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon.

4 — Jury operation rules

4.1 — The deliberations are held by roll call voting requiring the absolute majority of votes of the members of the jury present at the meeting, not permitting abstentions.

4.2 — The jury deliberates approval on absolute merit, based on the merit of the overall curriculum of candidates with regards to the scientific area of the Competition and also taking into account, cumulatively, compliance with at least one of the following requisites:

4.2.1 — The applicant is the author or co-author of at least 5 articles, in the scientific area that the Competition is open, indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded of the Web of Science from Clarivate Analytics where document type = article or document type = review, or in the SCI Verse Scopus with the same characteristics;

or

4.2.2 — Have obtained a total of at least 100 citations in the Science Citation Index Expanded of the Web of Science from Clarivate Analytics or the SCI Verse Scopus, relating to the scientific works produced in the area for which the contest is open,

or

4.2.3 — Have obtained an average of 20 citations per article in the Science Citation Index Expanded of the Web of Science from Clarivate Analytics or the SCI Verse Scopus, relating to the scientific works produced in the area for which the contest is open,

4.3 — The exclusion decision in absolute merit is communicated to candidates by e-mail for their hearing.

4.4 — After the phase of approval in absolute merit, the jury will begin the process of appraisal of applications, taking into account the criteria set out in this notice.

5 — Evaluation and selection:

5.1 —The selection methods are curricular evaluation and session interview.

5.2 — The evaluation of the scientific and curricular course focuses on the relevance, quality, and timeliness:

a) Of scientific, technological, cultural, or artistic production in the last five years, deemed most relevant by the candidate;

b) Of applied research activities, or based on practical work, developed in the last five years, deemed most impactful by the candidate;

c) Of knowledge extension and dissemination activities developed in the last five years, namely under the scope of the promotion of culture and scientific practices, deemed most relevant by the candidate;

d) Of the activities of management of science, technology, and innovation programs, or the experience in observing and monitoring the scientific and technological, or higher education system, in Portugal or abroad.

5.3— The five-year period mentioned above can be extended by the panel if requested by the candidate, whenever the suspension of scientific activities is reasoned by socially protected grounds like parental leave, long-term serious illness, and other legal situations of unavailability to work.

6 — Curricular Evaluation. This component of the evaluation is expressed on a numerical scale from 0 to 20 taking into account the following criteria:

6.1 — Curricular evaluation criteria are:

6.1.1 - Criteria for the evaluation of the scientific performance of the last five years considered more relevant by the candidate (18 points);

Scientific Production. Quality and quantity of scientific production in the area that the Competition is open (books, articles in scientific journals, papers presented in conferences) expressed by the number and type of publications, and the recognition given by the scientific community (the quality of the location where it has been published and the references made by other authors);

Coordination and participation in scientific projects. The quality and quantity of scientific projects in which the applicant has participated within the subject area of the Competition, whether financed through public funds of national or international agencies or by enterprises. The assessment of the quality must take into account the funding obtained, the degree of difficulty of the funding competition, the expert assessment of the projects and the resulting prototypes, particularly if they led to the development of products or services.

Intervention in the scientific community. Assessing the capacity to intervene in the scientific community, particularly by organizing events, being (co-)editor of magazines, participating in the assessment of projects and articles, being invited to give speeches, being a member of academic juries, as well as being recognized through awards or other distinctions and respective impact. It will also evaluate the orientation of students in doctoral and post-doctoral work.

6.1.2 - Criteria for evaluating extension and knowledge dissemination activities developed over the past five years, in particular in the context of promoting culture and scientific practices, considered to be of greatest impact by the candidate (1 point);

Patents, registration and ownership of rights, elaboration of technical regulation and legislation. Patent authorship and co-authorship, records of ownership of intellectual property rights regarding software, mathematical methods, and rules of mental activity. Participation in standardization committees and the drafting of legislative projects and technical regulations. The evaluation of this criterion should also take into account the resulting economic valuation of patents and intellectual property rights.

Participation in consulting activities, tests, and measurements involving the private and/or the public sector. Participation as a former in vocational training courses or technological expertise directed at companies or the public sector. The evaluation of this criterion should also take into account the economic valorization of research results achieved, measured by the contracts of technology transfer and development that have resulted in and contributed to the creation of spin-off companies.

Participation in initiatives to disseminate scientific and technological knowledge under the auspices of the scientific community (for example organization of congresses and conferences) and to various audiences. Publications to disseminate science and technology. Presentation of lectures and seminars for the general public.

6.1.3 - Criteria for the evaluation of the activities of program management for science, technology, and innovation, or experience in observing and monitoring the scientific and technological system or in higher education, in Portugal or abroad (1 point);

The candidate's participation in activities of scientific, technological, and management innovation, or on the observation and monitoring of science and technology or system of higher education, in Portugal or abroad.

6.2 — The score obtained in the curricular evaluation method is expressed on a numeric scale of 0 to 20, considering the valuation up to two decimal places.

6.3 — The jury deliberates by vote justified according to the criteria of evaluation; no abstentions are allowed.

6.4 — The classification of each candidate is obtained by averaging the scores of each of the elements of the jury.

6.5 — Once the Curricular Assessment is completed, the candidates who obtain an average score equal to or greater than 15 points, are approved for the next stage of assessment, as set out in point 5.1.

6.6 — The candidates who obtain an average score of less than 15 points are considered excluded from the competition.

7 — Session of Interview:

This evaluation method is intended exclusively for the clarification of aspects related to the results of the candidate’s research, and may or may not be applied by the selection board when the results of the evaluation of this method are not likely to alter the final ranking of the candidates, considering the weighting factor of this evaluation element. When this method is applied, the weightings in point 8.1 shall be considered. Otherwise, the weightings in point 8.2 shall be considered.

7.1 — The interview will have a duration of 30 minutes.

7.2 — The evaluation of the session is expressed on a numerical scale of 0 to 20, taking into account the candidate's scientific knowledge and ability to communicate, as well as the answers to the questions put by the jury and their development perspectives in the unit for which they are applying.

7.3 — The jury deliberates by roll call voting, not permitting abstentions.

7.4 — The classification of each candidate is also obtained by the average of the scores of the members of the jury.

8 — Ordering of candidates

8.1 — The final score of each candidate is obtained through a weighted average, by assigning a weighting factor of 10% to the curricular review note and a weighting factor of 90% to the note of the session. In case of a tie, the decision of the tie-breaker shall be the responsibility of the chairman of the jury.

8.2 — If, by the decision of the jury, it decides not to apply the method of selection of the session, the Curricular Evaluation will have a weighting of 100%.

9 — Participation of the parties and decision:

9.1 — The final ordering project is communicated to candidates by e-mail for their hearing.

9.2 — At the hearing of the interested parties, the jury appreciates the allegations offered and approves the final ordering list of candidates.

10 — Publication of Competition Notice

In addition to being published in Series 2 of Diário da República, the present notice is also published in:

a) The Public Employment Pool (BEP);

b) The website of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., in Portuguese and English;

c) The website of the University of Aveiro, in Portuguese and English;

d) In a national newspaper.

11 — This tender is exclusively destined to fill this specific vacancy and can be terminated at any time until approval of the final candidate list, expiring with the respective occupation of said vacancy, valid for a period of 24 months from the date of approval of the final ordering list of the present procedure.

12 — In compliance with paragraph h) of Article 9 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, the Government, as the employing entity, actively promotes a policy of equal opportunities between men and women in access to employment and professional advancement, scrupulously taking measures to avoid any form of discrimination.

1 of August, 2023 — The Rector, Professor DoctorPaulo Jorge dos Santos Gonçalves Ferreira.