3 Postdoctoral researcher positions – Uncertain Term Work Contract

Foreign candidates are expected to acquire fluency in Portuguese in the development of their research.

The candidate is required to have a PhD in Social Science degree or related.

1. Admission Requirements:

• Candidates must hold a PhD degree in any of the major disciplines in the Social Sciences or a degree recognised as equivalent. Candidates who completed their PhD degree in the last 6 years are given preference.
• They must have an interest in the fields of higher education studies, ideally demonstrated through publications in national or international peer-reviewed journals;
• Candidates should ideally demonstrate high-level competencies in collecting, organising, and treating large quantities of quantitative and/or qualitative data through the use of appropriate methods.
• All candidates should be fluent in English;
• Foreign candidates are expected to acquire fluency in Portuguese in the development of their research.
• Candidates should have a significant degree of autonomy in conducting research.

2. Work Plan:

The successful candidate will: 

• Conduct relevant and innovative research in the field of higher education studies;
• Participate in the elaboration of publications (articles, books, chapters, etc) and activities of dissemination;
• Be involved in the development of current research projects based at CIPES;
• Support the development of applications for external funding;

The detailed specification of the aforementioned aspects of the work plan will be done under the specific profile of the selected candidate and through mutual agreement between the candidate and the Board of CIPES.

3. Applications

Applications should be addressed to the CIPES director, Professor António Magalhães, and sent by e-mail to cipes@cipes.up.pt no later than the 17^th of November.

The application should include:

• the call identification
• the applicant’s identification, including full name, birth date, nationality, mailing address, and e-mail.
• a detailed CV, which must include the identification of degrees held by the applicant, a description of the applicant’s research activities and outputs, and a description of other relevant professional experience;
• a motivation letter, which must briefly present how the candidate expects to contribute to the research agenda of CIPES, namely regarding the research groups and themes presented in the summary of the project;
• other inputs that the candidate finds relevant contained within a single compressed file;
• copies of certificates with respective grades or of other documents that are legally recognised for the same purpose, including training certificates,
• one or two reference letters;
• a statement by the applicant declaring that the elements or facts contained in the application are correct and accurate.

The applications can be written in English or Portuguese. Candidates will receive an e-mail confirming the receipt of the application. Non-compliance with the submission deadline and the application's incorrect formalization results in the application's exclusion. If applicable, the exclusion decision will be communicated to candidates by e-mail.

4. Jury

The call jury has the following composition.

President: Prof. António Magalhães, Director of CIPES.

Jury Members:

Prof. Teresa Carvalho - Member of the Board of CIPES and DCSPT – U. Aveiro

Prof. Cláudia Sarrico – Member of the Board of CIPES and U.Minho

Substitute Jury Members:

Prof. Maria João Rosa - Member of the Board of CIPES and DEGEIT – U. Aveiro

Prof. Ricardo Biscaia – Member of the Board of CIPES and FEP – U.Porto

5. Jury Operation Rules

The jury deliberations are held by roll call voting, requiring the absolute majority of votes of the members of the jury present at the meeting, with abstentions not being allowed. The jury deliberates the candidacy's approval based on the candidates' overall curriculum concerning the scientific areas of the call. For the approved candidates, the jury will begin the process of the applications’ appraisal, taking into account the criteria set out in this notice.

6. Evaluation, Selection and Ordering of Candidates

The jury will select candidates focusing on curriculum evaluation and the relevance and quality of achievements. In the case of the top-placed candidates, the curricular assessment (C.A.) will be complemented with an additional in-person interview (E.) and public presentation of previous research activities and proposed research plan for the period at CIPES (in English). The final evaluation score will reflect both components.

The evaluation of applicants’ curricula (C.A.) will be based on the following criteria:

• field of study of applicant’s training (20%);
• relevance and quality of previous academic achievements (40%);
• previous experience in scientific research, namely experience of autonomous research and participation in research projects (40%).

The score obtained in the C.A. is expressed on a numeric scale of 0 to 20, considering up to one decimal place. The final result is the weighted mean of the classifications of each dimension mentioned above.

The jury deliberates by vote justified according to the evaluation criteria. No abstentions are allowed. The classification of each candidate is obtained by averaging the scores of each of the members of the jury. In case of a tie, the decision of the tie-breaker shall be the responsibility of the president of the jury.

Once the C.A. is completed, candidates with a minimum classification of 15 are approved for an E. process in which they should make a formal presentation to the jury, which should:

• discuss their research interests and how the project fits those interests (10%);
• present their scientific contributions of the last five years, their impact, and recognition by the scientific community (20%);
• demonstrate their level of experience in participating or coordinating scientific projects within the subject areas of this call (20%);
• demonstrate their level of experience in the critical deployment of quantitative and/or qualitative research methods (20%);
• demonstrate how their past experience can contribute to the project (10%);
• answer queries from the jury (20%)

The E. will have a maximum duration of 30 minutes, with 15 minutes devoted to the presentation and 15 minutes to questions from the jury. Each criteria stated above will be scored using a numeric scale from 0 to 20 (up to one decimal place). A final score for the E. will be obtained by averaging all scores according to the weights defined above.

The final score (F.S.) of each candidate is obtained through a weighted average, by assigning a weighting factor of 90% to the curricular assessment and of 10% to the interview (E.). In case of a tie, the decision of the tie-breaker shall be the responsibility of the president of the jury.

7. Advertising and notification of results

The final evaluation results will be publicized through an ordered list (by final score obtained) posted in the institution and all candidates will be notified by email.