ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

Title: Refª: PC/PPR/59_EMBALAGEMDOFUTURO/FMD/15/2025

Tenders are open for the award of a Research Grant within the scope of the project entitled EMBALAGEM DO FUTURO | + Ecológica + Digital + INCLUSIVA, Reference PPR/59_EMBALAGEMDOFUTURO, financed by the Agência para a Competitividade e Inovação – IAPMEI, I.P. under the Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência (PRR), programa operacional: C5. Capitalização e Inovação Empresarial, under the following conditions:

1.Scientific Area: Science and Engineering of Polymers and Composites

2.Recipient category: Students enrolled in a PhD program or in non-academic degree courses integrated into the educational project of the institution, developed in association or cooperation with one or more R&D units.

Requirement for granting the fellowship:

• The applicants may apply without prior registration in the course for which the fellowship is open. The requirement to enroll in a degree course or non-academic degree course will be verified on the date of contracting the fellowship;;
• Only fellowships whose selected applicants present valid proof of enrollment in a degree course or non-academic degree course will be contracted, according to the type of the fellowship, indicating, respectively, the academic year or its duration (star and term).

Candidates profile: Students enrolled in a doctorate, or in a course that does not confer an academic degree integrated in the educational project of a higher education institution, with a master's degree in Product Engineering with skills in polymeric materials and thermoforming.

3.Applicants eligibility: Applicants must comply with the eligibility conditions laid down in article 9 of the Research Grants Regulation of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (2019).

4.Workplan and objectives to be achieved: The work plan to be developed is part of the Research Line PPS01 – RECY4LOOP, Food packaging made of recycled polyethylene from fossil and biological origin, namely in activity 2.5.2 of work package PT2. 3 “Data collection and calculation of circularity indicators” in the thermoforming and characterization of polyethylene packaging.

5.Applicable legislation and regulations: Research Fellowship Holder Statutes, approved by Law no. 40/2004 of August 18, in its current version published by Decree-Law no. 123/2019 of august 28; Regulation of Scientific Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in “Diário da República”, 2nd serie, no. 119, through dispatch no. 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration no. 447/2021 of 22-06-2021 and Regulation of Research Studentships and Fellowships (RBI) of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. - in force.

6.Host/Contracting institution and scientific supervision: The workplan will be carried out at the Institute for Polymers and Composites of the University of Minho, under the scientific supervision of Professor Fernando Moura Duarte.

7.Fellowship duration: The scholarship will last for 6 months, is planned to begin on April 2025. The scholarship contract may eventually be renewed, under the Regulation of Research Fellowships and Grants, up to the project execution limit.

8.Amount of the research grant: The value stipend (Monthly Maintenance Allowance) is 1309,64 euros per month, in accordance with the stipends values published by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT I.P.) in the country (Annex I – Monthly Stipends Values for the maintenance allowances of the FCT Regulation for Research Studentships and Fellowships) and Annex II of the Regulation of Scientific Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in “Diário da República”, 2nd serie, no. 119, through dispatch no. 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration no. 447/2021 of 22-06-2021, according to the applicable regulation.

Payment is made on the 23rd of each month, through bank transfer to the Bank Identification Number of the fellow identified in the contractualization process.

Other benefits: Reimbursement of Voluntary Social Security (Social Security contributions), corresponding to the 1st level of discounts (for research grants with a total duration 6 months or higher) and personal accident insurance.

Exclusivity regime: The grantee will perform the activities under exclusivity, as foreseen in article 5º of the Research Fellow Statutes and applicable regulations. 

9.Selection panel: The selection panel is composed by the president, Professor Ana Vera Machado, Associated Professor with Habilitation, by effective vowels, Professors Carla Isabel Domingues Correia Martins, Assistant Professor and Fernando Moura Duarte, Assistant Professor, and for the alternate members, Professors António Pontes, Associate Professor with Habilitation, and Olga Machado Sousa Carneiro, Associate Professor with Habilitation, all from the Polymer Engineering Department of the School of Engineering of the University of Minho.

The first effective member will substitute the President of the selection panel in case of impediment, being nominate the first substitute member in the place of the first effective member.

10.Criteria and procedures for applications assessment and selection: The applications assessment will focus on the candidate's Merit, following evaluation criteria, valued on a scale of 1 to 5 values:

Applicant Merit - AM (100%):

a) Academic path (which reflects the classifications of academic degrees), with a weighting of 50%;

b) Personal curriculum (which reflects the scientific and professional path), preferably with good English proficiency, with a weighting of 40%;

c) Motivation letter, with a weighting of 10%.

The final classification of the applicant’s merit with the achieved through the following formula:

MC=(a*0,5)+(b*0,4)+(c*0,1)

The academic degrees and diplomas documents, or their respective recognition when awarded by foreign higher education institutions are not mandatory in the application phase, being replaced by a declaration of honor of the candidate with the contents of academic results. The documents of academic qualification or respective recognition will be required in the contracting phase and must attest facts that occurred on a date prior to the application. In situations of divergence between the information contained in the declaration and the documentation submitted for contracting the grant, only the information contained in the latter will be consider. If the documents proving the ownership of the academic degree and diploma, or the respective recognition under the terms of Decree-Law No. 66/2018, of August 16, do not correspond to the classifications awarded in the evaluation of the academic path, which can change the candidate's ranking, the fellowship won’t be contracted.

Notes: Applicants with degrees obtained abroad must present proof of recognition of qualifications in Portugal and conversion of the final classification obtained in them to the Portuguese classification scale or declaration under the terms indicated in the previous point. Candidates who do not comply with one of these provisions, the selection panel will assign “0” in the grade of the graduation and/or master course. Candidates will be evaluated on the remaining parameters.

11.Disclosure of results: The provisional results of applications, based in the selection panel minutes, will be send to the applicants by email until 90 working days from the applications deadline.

If case of unfavourable results, the candidates have a period of 10 working days to comment, if desired, in a prior hearing to interested parties, pursuant to articles 121 and 122 of the Code of Administrative Procedure (DL no. 4 / 2015 of January 7th).

12.Complaint and appeal procedures: The final results of the evaluation will be published through an ordered list by the final grade obtained, posted in a visible and public place of the host unit, as well as by email to all applicants, enclosing for that purpose, the minutes of the jury deliberations.

The selected candidate must inform its willingness to accept the grant, in writing. In case of rejection, the fellowship will be awarded to the next candidate in the ordered list of applicants.

The final decision can be contested within 15 working days, by sending to the President of the jury the corresponding claim. Interested parties may also submit an optional hierarchical appeal, addressed to the Vice-Rector for Research and Projects, Professor Sandra Paiva.

13.Application deadline and submission: The call for applications is open from april 8th to april 24th, 2025.

Applications must be formalized by sending an application letter with the following documents: curriculum vitae; qualifications certificate or declaration of the applicant; motivation letter; statement proving that meets the conditions for the grant typology, according to the application requirements; other documents important to the evaluation process).

Applications must be sent by email to fduarte@dep.uminho.pt, indicating the application/fellowship reference in the e-mail Subject. Applications submitted by other means will not be accepted.

Opening notice in portuguese language: https://1drv.ms/b/c/e7738307a1e0d88a/EQQzUnfLYwxJm3xYjDCRwcgBgOzzBrfo0l…

14.Fellowship contractualization: The fellowship will be attributed by signing a fellowship contract between the University of Minho and the fellow, accordingly with the contract minute (annex IV of the Regulation of Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in Diário da República, 2nd Série, no. 119, through dispatch no. 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration no. 447/2021 of 22-06-2021, as indicated in 2.4 of the FCT document: “Rules for Granting and Management of Grants within the scope of R&D projects, including infrastructure projects, the multi-annual financing program for R&D units and other FCT financing instruments (Version 2021)”.

The contract may only be concluded after all the documentation required is collected, which must take place within a maximum period of 6 months.

Once all the documentation has been received, the contracting entity has a period of 60 working days to conclude the scholarship contract. Once received, the fellow must return the contract duly signed within 15 working days.

The activities under the fellowship contract can only begin after proper authorization by the contracting entity. 

15.Term and cancellation of fellowship contracts: Without prejudice to the other causes provided the fellowship regulations (FCT and UMinho) and in the Statute of the Research Fellow, the fellowship ends with the completion of the work plan, as well as with the expiration date for which it was granted or renewed.

At the end of the fellowship, the grantee is obliged to present a Final Report of the work carried out, in accordance with the objectives and evaluation criteria defined with the scientific advisor, within 30 days after the end of the scholarship.

16.The final report must be prepared in accordance with Annex I of the Scientific Research Fellowships Regulation of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in Diário da República, 2nd Série, no. 119, through dispatch no. 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration no. 447/2021 of 22-06-2021.