CHROMOSILENCE - RESEARCH TECHNICIAN POSITION 1_ERC-2020

OPENING OF INTERNATIONAL TENDER PROCEDURE FOR HIRING A TECHNICIAN WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE PROJECT “ERC-2020-COG-CHROMOSILENCE - 101002391”, DESIGNATED BY “CHROMOSOME-BASED MECHANISMS OF TRANSCRIPTIONAL INACTIVATION DURING MITOSIS”.

1.         Within the powers delegated by the Board of Trustees of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Trustee in charge of the Department of the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência authorized opening of an international Tender for the position ofTechnician with Master's degreeto carry out scientific research activities at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC) facilities, in Oeiras, Portugal, under a fixed term with a view to filling a vacancy within the scope of the project “ERC-2020-COG-ChromoSilence - 101002391”, with the title “Chromosome-based mechanisms of transcriptional inactivation during mitosis” financed by H2020 – ERC.

The candidate to be selected will work in the laboratory of Chromosome Dynamics (https://gulbenkian.pt/ciencia/research-groups/rcoliveira/), directed by Dra Raquel Oliveira, being responsible for carrying out scientific research activities in Chromosome Dynamics.

The candidate to be selected will focus on studying the consequences of failures in mitotic transcription inactivation (MTI). Specifically, we aim at understanding how perturbation on MTI, and the consequences at the transcriptional output, influence development. The successful candidate will have as main tasks:  a) analysis of transcriptional outputs at nascent transcripts using genome-wide approaches, b) analysis of cellular and developmental consequences upon inactivation of specific candidate genes.

Scientific Area: Biology.

2.         Applicable legislation: fixed term under the Labor Code, starting on December 2023, with a duration of 9 months, with a maximum limit of 2 year(s), depending on the budget availability of the financing project.

3.         The tender selection panel will be as follows: President: Dr. Raquel Oliveira; Members: Dr. Alexandra Tavares and Dr. Inês Milagre; Substitute Member: Dr. Maria João Amorim.

4.         The place of work is located at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, at Rua da Quinta Grande nº6, Oeiras, Portugal.

5.         The employment contract will be for a fixed term under article 148 of the Labor Code, starting on December, with a duration of 9 months, with a maximum limit of 2 years, depending on the budget availability of the financing project.

6.        Monthly remuneration to be paid corresponding to the level TRU17 of the Single Salary Table, approved by Order no. 1553-C/2008, of 31st December, updated under the terms of Decree-Law nº 109-A/2021 of December 7 on exclusive dedication.

7.         Applicants to this Tender can be national, foreign, and stateless candidates who hold a master’s degree in biology or similar and have a scientific and professional curriculum evidencing an adequate profile for the activity to be carried out. If the master’s degree was granted by a foreign higher education institution, it must comply with the provisions of Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of August 16 and of the Regulatory Ordinance No. 33/2019, of January 25, and all formalities established therein must be complied with until the fate of signing the contract. In case the master’s degree of the selected candidate does not comply with the Decree-Law above mentioned including all its formalities, the Selection Panel reserves the right to select the next best candidate.

8.         General tender admission requirements: Master in Life Sciences (Biology, Biochemistry, Biophysics). We are seeking for motivated candidates that wish to develop their projects within the open-minded collaborative atmosphere of the lab. Expertise in the use of Drosophila or human cell culture and/or genome-wide transcriptional analysis, although not essential, will be considered an advantage. Good communication skills, including a good level of spoken English are necessary.

9.         Evaluation criteria: applications will be evaluated according to the Curriculum Vitae and References (60%) the motivation letter (20%). If deemed necessary by the selection panel, the interview of the selected candidates will represent 20% of the final classification. The final results will be presented on a scale from 0 to 100. The decision is made by nominal vote, in accordance with eligibility and selection criteria, with no abstentions allowed.

10.     The decision is made by nominal vote of the selection panel members, in accordance with eligibility and selection criteria, with no abstentions allowed. The final results will be presented on a scale from 0 to 100.

11.     Minutes of the panel meeting should be drawn up to include a summary of all occurrences of said meeting, as well as all votes cast by the members with the respective justification together with a sorted list of approved candidates with their respective classification. These minutes should be made available to candidates whenever requested.

12.     The final decision of the jury is approved by the member of the Board of Trustees mandated for this purpose, who is also responsible for deciding on the hiring.

13.     Application formalization:

13.1.         Applications are addressed to the Director of the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, and must be formalized to the email address igcpositions@igc.gulbenkian.pt, containing the identification of this tender, full name, number and date of the identity card, Citizen Card or civil identification number, tax identification number, date and place of birth, residency address including e-mail address and telephone number.

13.2.         The Applications shall include all documents providing evidence for the conditions laid down in sections 7 and 8 for admission to this call (single pdf file named “Name of the Candidate_ChromoSilenceTec1_ERC2020”), namely:

a)      Introduction letter explaining the motivation to develop the project and including a summary of relevant experience;

b)      Copy of certificate or masters diploma referring the relevant conclusion date;

c)       CV that includes the contacts of three references (name, position, mailing address, phone number and email address);

d)      List of up to 3 most relevant publications and reasons for selecting them;

e)      Other documents relevant to assess the application and the capacity in the related scientific area.

All candidates (taxpayers in Portugal) are required to present evidence of fulfilment of their individual obligations towards the Portuguese Tax Authority and Social Security. Failure to comply with this requirement will be considered as a reason for exclusion from the selection process.

13.3.         The period for submitting the applications to this Tender, is between 13/11/2023 and 04/12/2023.

14.     All applicants who fail to submit their application correctly or who fail to provide the requirements imposed by this Tender within the dates indicated or who do not meet the legal requirements necessary to be hired under a term employment contract herein are excluded from admission. In case of doubt, the panel is entitled to request further documentation to support candidate statements.

15.     False statements by the applicants shall be punished by the law.

16.     The list of admitted and excluded applicants, as well as the final classification list, will be published on the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência internet site at https://gulbenkian.pt/ciencia/. The Applicants will be notified by e-mail with receipt of delivery of the notification.

17.     Deadline for Final Decision and Claims: within a maximum period of 90 days, counting from the deadline for the submission of the applications, the final decision of the selection panel shall be announced. After being notified of the panel's decision, applicants shall have 10 working days to issue an opinion.  

18.     This tender is intended exclusively to fill this specific vacancy and can be terminated at any time until the approval of the final candidate list, expiring with the respective occupation of said vacancy.

19.     The hiring decision may, by duly substantiated act of the member of the Board of Trustees mandated for this purpose, be revoked for reasons of strategic management, determined by the reorganization of the organic unit in question or by unforeseeable supervening circumstances at the date of approval of the list of final ranking of candidates, relating to the assumptions of the decision to hire and based on reasons of manifest public and institutional interest that justify it.

20.     On-discrimination and Equal Access Policy:

The Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation actively promotes a non-discrimination and equal access policy, so that no candidate can be privileged, benefited, harmed or deprived of any right or exempt from any duty on grounds, in particular, of  ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family and economic conditions, education, origin or social condition, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin or race, origin territory, language, religion, political or ideological beliefs and trade union membership.

21.     Privacy Policy:

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is the controller responsible for the processing of Personal Data in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Regulation on Data Protection).

The personal data processed within the scope of this tender procedure are processed within the framework of said tender procedure only and will be processed by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation with the purpose of verifying the fulfilment, by the applicants, of the assumptions established in the applicable legislation for their contracting. Opposition to the processing of the data by the applicants will make it impossible to accept the application and, therefore, to analyse and evaluate it.

The personal data of the Data Subject, if indispensable for the fulfilment of the obligations of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, may be disclosed to third parties, namely the Funding Entities identified in this public notice.

The personal data shall be retained for a period of five years pursuant to Article 32 (1) of the Labour Code.

The Data Subject is entitled to oppose to the collection and processing of data, has the right to verification, the right to rectification, the right to deletion, and the right to restriction of processing of the data collected. However, the exercise of such rights may be excluded when the personal data is used to protect public interest, namely in the detection and prevention of crimes or when subject to professional rules of confidentiality.

The Data Subject has the right of access and portability of the data.

The exercise of the aforementioned rights must be made in writing and addressed to the Privacy Committee of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, by email to privacy@gulbenkian.pt or, alternatively, through the postal address at Avenida de Berna 45-A, 1067-001 Lisbon.

The applicant also has the right to submit a complaint to the National Data Protection Commission or other competent control authority in accordance with the law if he/she considers that the data are not being processed in accordance with the European and/or national legislation applicable.

22.     Pursuant to D.L. No. 29/2001, of February 3, disabled applicants have preference in an equal classification situation, which supersedes any legal preference. Applicants must state, when applying, under oath, the respective degree of disability, the type of disability and the means of communication to be used in the selection process, under the terms of the aforementioned diploma.