Competition for granting one Postdoctoral Research Scholarship in Operational Research – (UI/297/2020) – 25/2023 - #NOVAID-B122

A tender is open for the attribution of one Postdoctoral Research Scholarship (PRS) within the scope of the R&D Unit “Center for Mathematics and Applications” (CMA) (UI/297/2020), financed by “Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.”/MCTES (FCT, I.P.) (ref. UIDB/00297/2020 and UIDP/00297/2020) through national funds (PIDDAC) (OE). This international call for hiring a Postdoctoral Research Scholarship is under the funding of UIDB/00297/2020 which can be changed to UIDP/00297/2020 with the prior approval of FCT, I.P., through an amendment to the fellowship contract, under the following conditions:

1. Scientific Area:

Mathematics with specialization in Operational Research.

2. Recipients profile/category:

Mandatory requirements:

Candidates holding a PhD degree in Operational Research, Engineering, Mathematics or related areas within the scope of the research carried out at CMA may apply to this competition.

The registration and/or recognition in Portugal of the doctoral degree will be verified at the time of signing the contract, under the provisions of article 25 of Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of 16 August.

Applicants must have completed the PhD in the last 3 years, before the application submission date. (Candidates admitted to BIPD attribution competitions, among other requirements, cannot exceed with the conclusion of the fellowship contract of the competition in question, including the renewals provided for in the notice, a cumulative period of three years in this type of fellowship, followed or interpolated. In order to assess this condition, it should be considered scholarships that were awarded under Regulation No. 950/2019 of December 16 and BPD awarded in the previous regulatory period, financed directly or indirectly by the FCT, I.P.)

3. Work Plan:

The selected candidate will work in the research topics developed in the sub-area of CMA, Operational Research. The research work in Continuous Optimization or Combinatorial Optimization will include the development of models, algorithms, computational implementation and computational tests.

The successful candidate will have to take an active part in the research activities of the CMA’s group in Operational Research (https://novamath.fct.unl.pt/).

4. Applicable legislation and regulations:

Law No. 40/2004, of August 18, amended and republished by Decree-Law No. 202/2012 of August 27 (Statute of the Scientific Research Fellow) and amended by Decree-Law No. 233/2012 of October 29, by Law No. 12/2013 of 29 January, by Decree-Law No. 89/2013, of 9 July and Decree-Law No. 123/2019, of 28 August; Regulation of Research Grants of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., in force (https://files.dre.pt/2s/2019/12/241000000/0009100105.pdf).

5. Workplace:

The work is to be carried out at the facilities of the Center for Mathematics and Applications (CMA), hosted at the Department of Mathematics, located in NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon (NOVA FCT), under the scientific supervision of Marcos Raydan, who may then delegate the supervision to another researcher of CMA, being the entity contracting NOVA.id.FCT – Association for Innovation and Development of FCT.

6. Fellowship duration:

The scholarship is for an expected initial period of 12 months, scheduled to start in January 2024. The scholarship contract may eventually be renewed.

7. Monthly maintenance allowance amount:

The scholarship amount corresponds to €1,741, based on the table of scholarships awarded directly by FCT, I.P., in the country, with payment made monthly by bank transfer.

Other components can be added to the scholarship in accordance with the NOVA.id.FCT Scholarship Regulation.

8. Selection criteria:

The selection criteria shall be as follows:

a) CV;

b) Motivation letter;

c) Recommendation letter;

d) Research experience in the topics identified in the work plan;

e) Interview (will be conducted by videoconference).

Each of the items (a) to (e) is rated with a score from 0 to 100 points. All applications will be evaluated on a scale of 0 to 100 points, using a weighted average, with the following weighting of the items: (a) 30%; (b) 15%; (c) 15%; (d) 20%; (e) 20%. Only the three candidates with the highest score in the sum of the weighted classifications of criteria (a) to (d) and with at least 70 points will be interviewed. Candidates who obtain less than 75 points will not be hired.

9. Composition of the Selection Jury:

President of the Jury: Carmo Brás, CMA and DM-NOVA FCT.

Effective members of the Jury: Isabel Gomes, CMA and DM-NOVA FCT and Marcos Raydan, NOVA FCT e CMA.

Substitute member of the Jury: Isabel Correia, CMA and DM-NOVA FCT and Paula Amaral, CMA and DM-NOVA FCT.

10. Form of advertising/notification of results:

The evaluation results proposed by the jury will be notified, up to 90 days after the deadline for the submission of applications, by email, with access to the minutes and the provisional ranking list.

After notification, candidates will have 10 working days to comment on the draft decision, prior hearing of interested parties, under the terms of the Code of Administrative Procedure. The final decision will be taken after the expiry of the prior hearing period, again notified to all candidates by e-mail. Of this final decision the candidates can file a complaint within 15 working days (to the e-mail address used for the notification), or a hierarchical appeal, within 30 working days, addressed to NOVA.id.FCT's Board through the address coord1@novaidfct.pt.

11. Application deadline and form of application submission:

A tender is open from the 08th of November to the 07th of December of 2023.

Documentation to be provided when applying:

Applications must be formalized, obligatorily, by sending the following documents written in Portuguese or English and, preferably, in PDF files:

a. CV with indication of ORCID reference number;

b. Motivation letter, including a synopsis of the scientific career;

c. Copy of Doctoral Certificate;

d. Copies of at most 3 publications representative of the experience of the targeted research area;

e. A reference letter directly sent by the writer to novamath.secretariado@fct.unl.pt, with the subject “Recommendation letter for «CANDIDATE NAME» - Postdoctoral Application – OR”;

f. Declaration on honor (according to the draft available here for download).

Form of submission of applications:

Applications should be sent by email to novamath.secretariado@fct.unl.pt with subject: Postdoctoral Application – OR.

12. Drafts:

The drafts of: i) fellowship contract, ii) final report to be presented by the fellowship holder, iii) final report to be presented by the scientific advisor, and; iv) declaration on honour, can all be found on NOVA.id.FCT website.