Open Notice - Grant for MSc student (BI) in Operations Management for Blockchain project

The Business Research Unit of Iscte – Knowledge and Innovation is accepting applications for the award of (1) Research Grant for Master's students in the scope of R&D project Blockchain.PT, (PRR – RE-C05-i01.02: AGENDAS/ALIANÇAS VERDES PARA A INOVAÇÃO EMPRESARIAL ) under the following conditions:   

1.Scientific Area 

 Operations Management, Logistics, Supply Chain Management

2.Funding Source  

Recovery and Resilience Plan and European Union in the framework of the programme  NextGenerationEU.    

3.Admission Requirements 

BSc in the Management field;

Students admitted or enrolled in a MSc programme in the field of Management.

The proof of enrolment must be made available until the contract is awarded, and the candidate may attach a declaration of honor to confirm that they meet the requirements for enrolment in a Master's program. 

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. 

4.Eligibility 

Applicants are eligible if they comply with paragraph a) of no.1 of article 2, of the Research Fellow Statute as amended by Decree-Law no. 123/2019, of August 28th, as well as of article 6 of the Research Grant Regulations of the Foundation for Science and Technology.

5.Work plan  

The work plan is linked to supporting research activities within Work Package 2, specifically task 2.1.8., namely:

• Literature review on process mapping and improvement;
• Process mapping of the organisation where the case study will be conducted;
• Carrying intereviews and focus groups;
• Development and implementation of improvement proposals to the mapped process;
• Measurement of process improvement based on the indicators that will be defined.

6.Applicable legislation and regulations 

Statute of Scientific Research Grant Holder, as amended by Decree-Law No. 123/2019, of August 28th; Scientific Research Grant Regulation of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Regulation No. 950/2019, of November 29th; Decree-Law No. 66/2018, of August 16th (Legal regime of recognition of academic degrees and diplomas of higher education awarded by foreign higher education institutions). 

7.Workplace 

The work will be carried out at Business Research Unit (BRU-Iscte), under the scientific supervision of Professor Ana Lúcia Martins.  

8.Duration of the grant(s) 

The grant duration will be 12 months, starting in April 2024.

9.Amount of monthly maintenance allowance 

The amount of the grant, which implies exclusivity, corresponds to a monthly maintenance allowance under the FCT grants (https://www.fct.pt/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Tabela-de-Valores-SMM_atualizacao-2024.pdf), with a value of 990,98€ and subject to any updates that may occur and are applicable. A monthly payment will be made by bank transfer to the account identified by the beneficiary.  

The fellow will benefit from personal accident insurance related to research activities and may also be reimbursed for the amount corresponding to the Voluntary Social Security, in case of adherence to this plan. 

10.Selection and evaluation criteria  

The selection methods to be used will be the following:

Criterion A1 - Academic Curriculum (average of academic classifications), with a weight of 50%. 
Criterion A2 - Training in Operations Management, with a weight of 10%;  
Criterion A3 - Knowledge of how to use bibliographic research techniques, with a weight of 20%; 
Criterion A4 - Motivation letter, weighting 20%.

10.1 The applicants will be graded and ranked, in accordance with the previous criteria, in a scale of 0 to 100.

10.2 At the end of the curricular assessment, if the jury so decides, the top three candidates in the curricular assessment will be invited to an interview. 

10.3 The interview will discuss topics related to the candidate's work plan, previous experience, motivation and CV.

10.4 With the inclusion of the interview, the final score will be 70% curriculum evaluation + 30% interview.  

10.5 In the event of a tie, preference will be given to candidates with more extensive training in Operations Management.

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

10.7 This competition may be terminated until the final list of candidates has been approved, but will remain valid for the duration of the project.

11.Composition of the Selection Jury  

• Chairperson: Ana Lúcia Martins, Iscte 
• Full Member: João Ferreira, Iscte
• Full Member: Ulpan Tokkozhina, Iscte
• Alternate Member: Cheila Ramalho, Iscte
• Alternate Member: Luís Elvas, Iscte

12.Form of publication/notification of results 

The results of the evaluation shall be made public no later than 90 working days after the closing date for submission of applications and shall be notified to the applicants. The candidates are informed, in a prior hearing, under the terms established in the Code of Administrative Procedure, of the probable meaning of the final decision, and may, within 10 working days of this notification, express their opinion on this decision.  

13.Deadline for applications 

The call is open between the 27th February and 11th March, 2024, and only applications submitted within the deadline will be admitted.  

14.Application submission 

It is mandatory to submit the applications by e-mail to bru-unide@iscte-iul.pt with the following reference call “BI_BRU_02/Blockchain.PT” and the following documents: 

a) In case of foreign citizens, document that proves the country of residence, residence title or any other similar legal document, valid by the date of the beginning of the research grant. 

b) Document confirming the title of the required academic degree to the present call (Bachelor's), with the final grade and with the grades of the curricular units listed. 

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. 

If the candidates don’t have, during the application period, the documents confirming the title of the required academic degree and diplomas, or the recognition by a Portuguese higher education institution, they can attach a declaration of honor. The verification of these specific conditions will be made by the time to sign the contract.  

c) Motivation letter.

d) Curriculum Vitae . 

14.2 All the documents must be attached in PDF format. 

14.3 Candidates that don´t submit the documents listed from paragraph a) to e) of no. 14.1 will be excluded.