NOTICE FOR THE AWARD OF 2 RESEARCH GRANTS IN THE SCOPE OF R&D PROJECTS AND INSTITUTIONS REF. LCF/PR/SR23/57000012 - Time-to-Engage

The Centre for Psychological Research and Social Intervention (CIS) of Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon opens a call for the award of 2 research grants in the scope of the project ”Time-to-Engage: Intentions and behaviours of using digital health technology by older adults: Collaborative research” (REF. LCF/PR/SR23/57000012), funded  by the Social Research Programme, promoted in the context of Iberian social research and innovation initiative, i4S (an agreement between the Foundation for Science and Technology of the Government of Portugal and "la Caixa"), under the following conditions:

1. Scientific Area

Social Sciences

2. Applicants´admissibility requirements

The following citizens may apply to this call in the terms of Article 9 of the Research Fellowships Regulation (RBI) of the Foundation for Science and Technology:

1. National citizens or citizens from other Member States of the European Union;
2. Third-party states citizens.
3. Stateless individuals.
4.  Citizens holding a political refugee status.

Specific mandatory requirements of the candidates for applying to these Research Grants are:

•             To hold a Master's degree in Psychology or Sociology¹; 

•             Familiarity with knowledge synthesis methodologies such as systematic literature reviews, scoping reviews or meta analyses;

.             Experience of collaboration in research work, preferably in the field of psychology or sociology of health;

.             Familiarity with collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data, using appropriate IT tools;

.             Experience in dissemination, promotion and/or publicity of scientific research results;

.             Proficiency in spoken and written English and Portuguese;

.             Willingness to travel for fieldwork (sometimes on consecutive days);

•             Enrolment, at the start date of each grant, in a doctoral programme in Psychology or in Sociology or in a non-degree course integrated in the educational project of a higher education institution, developed in association or cooperation with one or more R&D units.²

•            Not to exceed with these contracts, including the possible renovations, an accumulated period of two years in this type of scholarship, continuously or with interruptions, in the terms of no. 5 of Article 6.º of the referred Regulation.³

•           To be available immediately.  

1 If the qualification has been conferred by a foreign higher education institution it must be recognized by a Portuguese higher education institution, under the terms of the provisions of article 25 of Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of August 16th, which approves the legal regime of recognition of academic degrees and diplomas of Higher Education, attributed by foreign higher education institutions, and of paragraph e) of no. 2 of article 4 of Decree-Law no. 60/2018, of August 3rd, and any formalities established therein must be fulfilled by the date of the hiring act.

2. The proof of enrolment must be presented upon contracting. At the application stage, it can be replaced by a declaration of honour in which he/she/they declare/s to meet the requirements for enrolment in a course not conferring academic degree.

3 For verification of this requirement a declaration of honour must be presented.

3. Work plan

The Time-to-Engage project aims to explore individual and contextual factors that interfere with the intention to use digital health technologies by older citizens, and understand how these factors are shaped by levels of digital competences and engagement and by the availability and accessibility of digital equipment.

Each scholarship holder will be part of the project team and will carry out R&D activities under an exclusive dedication regime, collaborating on tasks in line with the project's objectives, namely:

- Research tasks and literature review;

- Collection of qualitative and quantitative data in different regions of mainland Portugal (with possible overnight stay);

- Treatment, analysis and discussion of qualitative and quantitative data;

- Support for the construction and psychometric validation of the assessment instrument;

- Participation in the preparation of scientific articles and communications to be submitted to scientific journals and national and international conferences;

- Collaboration in other dissemination activities;

- Support in the preparation of project progress reports.

4.Applicable legislation and regulations

Research Fellowship Holder Statute, as amended by Decree-Law no. 123/2019, of 28 August; Research Grant Regulations of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., Regulation no. 950/2019, of 16 December, amended by Regulation 643/2021, of 14 July; Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of 16 August (Legal regime for recognition of academic degrees and higher education diplomas awarded by foreign higher education institutions) and other applicable regulations.

5. Workplace

The work will be carried out at the Centre for Research and Social Intervention (CIS) (applicants´ host entity) of the Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon (the contracting institution), under the scientific supervision of Doctor Elzbieta Malgorzata Bobrowicz Campos.

6.Type and duration of the grant

Each research grant is intended for R&D activities carried out by masters enrolled in courses that do not confer an academic degree or by doctoral students. The grants, foreseen to start in February 2024, will have an expected duration of 18 months, up to the maximum limit of the funding approved or the maximum duration of this type of grant, whichever comes first, with the provisions of nos. 3 and 4 of article 6 of RBI nr 950/2019, December 16^th.

7. Amount of monthly maintenance allowance

The amount of each of the full time and exclusive grant corresponds to 1.199.64 euros, according to the table for grants directly or indirectly financed by FCT. I.P, in Portugal (https://www.fct.pt/financiamento/programas-de-financiamento/bolsas/), that will be monthly paid by bank transfer to the grant holders and updated, when applicable.

The grant holders will benefit from personal accident insurance related to the research activities and can use the right to social security through the voluntary social insurance regime, under the terms of the Research Fellow Statute (EBI). The financial entity will ensure the charges resulting from contributions under the terms and with the limits provided in EBI.

8. Selection methods and evaluation criteria

8.1. Curriculum evaluation will be performed considering the Curriculum Vitae and the Motivation Letter submitted and will be exclusively based on the merit of each candidate. The following criteria will be evaluated and weighted as indicated:

a) CurriculumVitae (70%)

• • Master degree final grade (30%);
  • Experience of collaboration in research work, preferably in the area of psychology or sociology of health, as stated in point 2 of the call (30%);
  • Experience in dissemination, promotion and divulgation of scientific results (10%).

b) Motivation Letter (30%).

8.2. Candidates will be scored from 0 to 100 in each of the above evaluation criteria.

8.3 Completed the curriculum evaluation, the jury reserves the right to call the three candidates ranked first for an interview, being notified by e-mail.

8.4. During the interview, it will be discussed the topics related to the work plan, previous experience, motivation and CV.

8.5 If the interview is included, the final grade will have a weighting of 80% curriculum evaluation + 20% interview.

8.6. In the case of a tie, the chair of the selection jury has the casting vote.

8.7. The jury reserves the right to not award the grant if none of the candidates matches the desired profile.

8.8. The current call might be closed until the homologation of the final ranked list of the candidates and is valid for 11 months period starting from the homologation date of the final ranked list of the current procedure.

9. Composition of the Selection Jury

President: Doctor Elzbieta Malgorzata Bobrowicz-Campos, Assistant Researcher at Iscte

Effective member: Doctor Cristina Maria Lopes Camilo, Assistant Researcher at Iscte

Effective member:  Doctor Elsa Pegado, Assistant Professor at Iscte

Alternate member: Doctor Marília Prada, Associate Professor (with aggregation) at Iscte

Alternate member: Doctor Cristiane da Anunciação Souza, Researcher at CIS-Iscte

10. Application deadline

The call is open from 18 December 2023 to 5 January 2024. Only applications submitted within the deadline will be admitted.

11. Application submission

It is mandatory to submit the applications through the recruitment platform at https://recrutamento.iscte-iul.pt/jobs/435 by the deadline fixed in this notice with the following reference call “ 2 BIs/Time-to-Engage/2024".

11.1. Applications must be accompanied by these documents:

a. Document proving the country of residence, residence permit or other legally equivalent document, in the case of foreign citizens, valid at the beginning date of the scholarship;

b. Curriculum vitae;

c. Motivation letter;

d. Document(s) proving the qualifications of the academic degree required for the present call, with final grade;

If the qualification has been conferred by a foreign higher education institution it must be recognized by a Portuguese higher education institution, under the terms of article 25 of Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of August 16, which approves the legal regime of recognition of academic degrees and diplomas of Higher Education, attributed by foreign higher education institutions and paragraph e) of no. 2 of article 4 of Decree-Law no. 60/2018 of August 3, and any formalities established therein must be fulfilled by the date of the hiring act.

The documents proving the title of academic degrees and diplomas, or the respective recognition when they have been awarded by foreign higher education institutions, may be dispensed with during the application stage, being replaced by a declaration of honour (template available at https://recrutamento.iscte-iul.pt/jobs/435). This condition will only be verified during the contracting stage of the grant.

e. Proof of enrolment in a doctoral programme in Psychology or in Sociology or in a course that does not confer an academic degree, integrated in the educative project of a higher education institution, and developed in close collaboration with one or several R&D units or declaration of honour in which he/she/they declare/s to meet the requirements for enrolment in a doctoral program or in a course not conferring academic degree (template available at https://recrutamento.iscte-iul.pt/jobs/435);

f. Declaration of honour stating that he/she/they do/does not exceed with this contract, including the possible renovations, an accumulated period of two years in this type of studentship, continuously or with interruptions (template available at https://recrutamento.iscte-iul.pt/jobs/435);

g. Other supporting documents considered relevant to the assessment of scientific merit;

h. Proof of application submission duly signed, if required by the recruitment platform https://recrutamento.iscte-iul.pt/jobs/435, after submitting the documents previously indicated.

11.2. All the documents must be attached in PDF format.

11.3. Candidates that don´t submit the documents listed from paragraph a) to f) of no. 11 will be excluded.

11.4. If necessary, candidates can contact by e-mail to: Elzbieta.Campos@iscte-iul.pt

12. Publication/notification of results

The results of the evaluation will be published and notified no later than 90 working days after the closing date for submission of applications, via e-mail to the e-mail address used by the candidate and indicated in the application.

13. Deadlines and procedures for preliminary hearing, claims and appeals

Once the provisional ranked list of the evaluation results has been communicated, applicants who have an unfavourable provisional decision may use their right to dispute it 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 the analysis of applicants’ arguments presented in the preliminary hearing. Final decision can be claimed within 15 working days or, alternatively, appealed within 30 working days, after the communication date of the final results, respectively. Applicants who choose to submit a claim should present their arguments to the competent body. Applicants who prefer to submit an appeal should present their arguments to the highest superior body of the author of the act or omission, except if the decision competencies were delegated or sub-delegated.

14. Requirements for the Research Granting

After communication of conditional granting of the two research grants, the contracts can only be signed after receiving all the documents required. The following documents are of mandatory submission for the studentship contract:

a. Civil and fiscal identification document data; bank data; Science ID;

b. Document confirming the title of the required academic degree to the present call, with the final grade/ Proof of recognition of foreign academic degrees and conversion of the respective final classifications into the Portuguese classification scale;

c. Proof of enrolment in a doctoral programme in Psychology or in Sociology or in a course that does not confer an academic degree, integrated in the educative project of a higher education institution, and developed in close collaboration with one or several R&D units;

d. Supervisor statement accepting the responsibility of supervising each the work plans, as established in Article no. 5-A of the Statute for Research Fellowships;

e. Document issued by the host institution where each of the work plan will be carried out, accepting the candidates and guaranteeing the necessary conditions to the successful development of the work plans, as well as the fulfilment of the duties established in Article no. 13 of the Research Fellowship Holder Statute;

f. Updated document proving compliance with the exclusive dedication regime(template available at https://recrutamento.iscte-iul.pt/jobs/435)

15. Non-discrimination and equal opportunity policy

Iscte- University Institute of Lisbon actively promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access; therefore, no applicant can be privileged to, benefited from or deprived of any right or exempt from any duty, in particular due to ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family situation, economic situation, education, origin or social condition, genetic assets, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic disease, nationality, ethnic origin or race, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions and union membership.

The templates of the grant contract and of the final report to be developed by each grantee and the supervisor are available at  https://recrutamento.iscte-iul.pt/jobs/435