Research Grant - Edital BI-ISISE-UMINHO-ASTRIIS-POCI-01-0247-FEDER-046092-4

A call is open to award (2) research grants within the R&D Project “ASTRIIS – Atlantic Sustainability Through Remote and In-situ Integrated Solutions", with reference POCI-01-0247-FEDER-046092, funded by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (COMPETE2020), in the following conditions:

RESEARCH FIELD: Informatics Engineering, Civil Engineering, Materials Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geology, Data Science, Ocean Science or Engineering or related areas.

CANDIDATES PROFILE

Mandatory requirements:

In order to apply, the candidates must possess:

• A Bachelor's or Master's degree in the field of Informatics Engineering, Civil Engineering, Materials Engineering, Geology, Environmental Engineering, Data Science, Ocean Science or Engineering, or related areas;
• 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).

At the time of the respective hiring, candidates must prove that they are enrolled in one of the following courses:

• Master or PhD in the field of Informatics Engineering, Civil Engineering, Materials Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Data Science, Ocean Science or Engineering, or related areas;
• In a Course that do not confer an academic degree, integrated in the educational project of a higher education institution, in the area or area related to that requested in the tender (e.g.: postgraduate studies, advanced studies, specialized training).

Preferential factors:

• Previous experience on the analysis of remote sensing data, environmental indicators, earth observation, oceanography, marine ecosystems, geostatistics, geographical information systems;
• Portuguese language proficiency;
• English language proficiency.

Preference will be given to candidates with a Master's degree. Candidates with a Bachelor's degree will only be hired if there are no candidates applying with a Master's degree, or if they do, they are not from the intended training area and/or do not have the above-mentioned consolidated knowledge.

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 a valid proof of enrollment in a degree course or non-academic degree course will be contracted, according to the type of the fellowship, issued by the academic services of the Higher Education Institution, indicating, respectively, the academic year or its duration (start and term).
• Enrollment in non-certified courses (without curricular units) will not be considered as proof of enrollment.

APPLICATION / ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

The call is open from 06/01/2023 to 20/01/2023 (23:00 – Europe/London).

Applications must be sent exclusively by e-mail to eduardo.pereira@civil.uminho.pt, with the subject “Edital BI-ISISE-UMINHO-ASTRIIS-POCI-01-0247-FEDER-046092-4”, with the following documents:  

• Elements of the National Identity Card/Citizen Card/Passport/Visa/Title of Residence;
• Curriculum Vitae of the candidate, in Portuguese or in English;
• Certificates of the academic degree(s) required, specifying the final grading (mandatory) and, if possible, the grades obtained in all the attended curricular units, or, alternatively, the candidate's declaration of honor that the degree was obtained until the end of the term of application;
• Motivation letter, in Portuguese or in English.

Regarding the above mentioned admissibility requirements, the following should be noted:

• In the case of a degree granted by a foreign higher education institution, and in order to ensure the application of the principle of equal treatment to candidates holding foreign and national academic degrees, it is mandatory to recognize the degree and convert the respective final grading to the Portuguese grading scale. 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.
• 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 respective criteria. Candidates will be evaluated on the remaining parameters.
• Only candidates who have completed the required qualification by the end of the application period will be admitted. If they do not yet have the official degree certificate, a declaration of honor from the candidate stating that he/she has completed the qualifications required by the end of the application period, will be accepted. At the time of the respective hiring the candidate must present the official degree certificate.

DURATION OF THE RESEARCH GRANT

The research grant will last for 5 months, with a provisional starting date on February, 2023.

The grant may be renewed in case of prorogation of the project, until the applicable legislation limit, if it is necessary to complete the academic degree/course or to carry out activities that are essential for the conclusion of the project.

WORK PLAN

Use of information obtained from in-situ sensors and spatial systems to monitor the marine environment and develop models to assess the condition of marine ecosystems based on the use of computational models, AI and other tools, with a particular focus on supporting the management of marine protected areas. Development of decision support models at local and global Ocean scales.

HOST INSTITUTION AND SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISION

The work will be carried out at ISISE - Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering - of the Civil Engineering Department, School of Engineering of the University of Minho, under the scientific supervision of Professor Eduardo Nuno Borges Pereira.

SELECTION PANEL

The Selection Panel is composed by the following elements:

• President: Doctor Tiago Filipe Silva Miranda, Assistant Professor, ISISE, University of Minho.

• Effective members: Doctor Vítor Manuel Couto Fernandes Cunha, Assistent Researcher, and Doctor Eduardo Nuno Borges Pereira, Assistant Professor, ISISE, University of Minho.
• Substitute members: Doctor José Manuel Sena Cruz, Associate Professor with Aggregation, and Doctor Hugo Manuel Ribeiro Dias Silva, Assistant Professor, ISISE, University of Minho.

If the President of the Selection Panel is unavailable, he/she shall be replaced by the first effective member. The first substitute member will replace the effective member.

The Selection Panel, including the President, undertake the commitment to respect a set of responsibilities essential to the evaluation process, such as the duties of impartiality, of stating any potential situations of conflict of interest and confidentiality.

COMUNICATION OF RESULTS

The evaluation results, based on minutes, will be sent to the candidates by e-mail.

If the result is not in favor of the applicant, he/she has a period of 10 working days to comment the results, if he/she wishes it so, in the context of a prior hearing with the interested parties, under the terms of article 121 and 122 of the Administrative Procedure Code (DL nº 4 / 2015 of January 7).

COMPLAINT AND APPEAL PROCEDURES

The final results of the evaluation will be sent by email to all candidates, enclosing for that purpose, the minutes of the Selection Panel deliberations.

The selected candidate must indicate, in writing, the intention to accept the grant. In case of rejection, the grant will be awarded to the next candidate in the ordered list of candidates.

The candidates ranked in the next positions on the ordered list will be included in a selection reserve list, which is valid for a period of three months.

The final decision can be contested, having 15 working days for this purpose, by sending to the President of the Selection Panel the corresponding claim. Interested parties may also submit an optional hierarchical appeal, addressed to the Pro-Rector of the University of Minho for Scientific Projects and Research Management.

REQUIREMENTS FOR FINAL AWARDING OF THE GRANT

Research grant contracts are signed with the University of Minho, accordingly with the contract minute (annex IV of the Regulation of Research Fellowships of the University of Minho).

At the time of hiring, the following documents must be sent:

1. National Identity Card/Citizen Card/Passport/Visa/Title of Residence;
2. Copy of the certificates of the academic degrees;
3. Presentation of the certificate of recognition of foreign academic degrees and conversion of the respective final grading into the Portuguese grading scale, if applicable;
4. Document proving enrollment in the Master, Doctoral Program or in a Course that does not confer an academic degree, identified in this application;
5. Science ID;
6. NIB/IBAN (document of the Bank with the name of the candidate);
7. Tax Identification Number (NIF);
8. Digital mobile key (digital signature).

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.

EXCLUSIVITY REGIME

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

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR GRANT RENEWAL

Grant may be renewed for additional periods, if this information is provided in “DURATION OF THE RESEARCH GRANT" and in the contract. This additional period may not exceed the regulatory limits or the end of the project.

The renewal of the grant always depends on a petition submitted by the grant holder, on a date prior to the end of the grant contract, accompanied by the following documents:

1. report issued by the supervisor(s) and by the host entity(ies) on the follow-up of the grant holder's work and the evaluation of his/her activities;
2. updated document proving compliance with the exclusive dedication regime;
3. document proving the renewal of enrollment in the study cycle leading to an academic degree or of a course that does not confer an academic degree. If, at the time of the renewal, the grant holder has already obtained the degree or completed the course, the contract may still be renewed if in its clauses it is specified that the renewal, in these situations, is intended to carry out activities that are indispensable for the completion of the project.

TERM AND CANCELLATION OF GRANT CONTRACTS

At the end of the grant, 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 grant.

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.

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.