Two research fellowships - S4Plast project (lugus 874309 - IT137-23-056)

Skills/Qualifications/Admission requirements: Master or Bachelor degree in engineering, energy, sustainability or similar areas. Enrolled in a PhD or MSc course at a Portuguese higher education institution, or in a non-academic degree course.

Skills: Knowledge in life-cycle assessment, ecodesign or related areas, preferably demonstrated by the (co-)authorship of scientific articles published in Web of Science (WoS)-indexed journals.

Preference will be given to candidates with a Master degree and candidates with a Bachelor degree will only be hired if candidates with a Master degree do not apply, OR, if they apply, that the latter are not in the desired training area and/or lack the experience referred to above.

“Courses not conferring an academic degree” must be related to the research fellowship’s activity type. “Courses not conferring an academic degree” are the courses referred to in paragraph e) of number 3 of article 4 of Decree-Law no. 74/2006, of 24 March, in the current wording, provided that they are developed in association or cooperation between the higher education institution and one or more R&D units, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph e) of article 3 of the Regulation for Research Fellowships of the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.

Although the recipients must be enrolled in a cycle of studies leading to the attribution of an academic degree or in a course not conferring an academic degree, at the time of application it is not necessary for the candidate to have made such an enrollment, and proof of enrollment must be presented until thefellowship is contractualized. Candidates are only required to meet the requirements to enroll in the training offer. If there are candidates already enrolled (including attending a course), they compete on an equal footing with those who are not enrolled.

Work plan/Objectives: This grant aims to develop research work within the scope of the project to:

- Collaborate in carrying out Life Cycle Assessment and ecodesign studies.

- Participate in meetings with companies and partners involved in the project, as well as in

data collection.

- Collaborate in the preparation of scientific publications and reports of the projects.

Regime: The attribution of the fellowship does not generate or entitle a relation of a legal-labour nature, and the fellowship is undertaken in an exclusive dedication regime. The fellowship holder is awarded the Fellowship Statute of the UC, in its current wording, according to the Research Fellowship Holder Statute , and according to the Regulation for Research Fellowships of the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., both in their current wording.

Location: Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Coimbra.

Duration: Five (5) months, not extending beyond the project end date (30-06-2023).

Renewal: The grant can be renewed for additional periods up to the maximum duration of the project or the duration of the grant for which the candidate was selected.

Scientific orientation: Professor Fausto Miguel Cereja Seixas Freire and Doctor Carla Abreu Rodrigues.

Financial conditions: The amount of the fellowship is € 1.144,64 in the case of a Master’s Degree € 875,98 in the case of a Bachelor’s Degree corresponding to the monthly compensation stipulated in the FCT table (https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores.phtml.en), plus  personal accidents insurance. The payment will be made by bank transfer. This amount will not be increased during the entire period of the fellowship duration.

Selection methods: Curricular evaluation (70%) and interview (30%).

Selection criteria: In the curricular evaluation, the following criteria will be evaluated: i) Candidate merit, namely in terms of academic curriculum and publications in Life Cycle Assessment indexed in Web of Science (70%) and ii) Candidate's motivation expressed in the Motivation Letter (30 %).

In the interview, the following criteria will be evaluated: i) Motivation of the candidate to perform the functions, pro-activity and autonomous work capacity (40%), ii) Knowledge of the tasks inherent to the functions (40%) and iii) Availability to start functions (20%).

All the criteria is valued from 0 to 20. Only candidates with a classification above 50% in the curricular evaluation will be called for interview. The jury reserves the right not to award the scholarship if the candidate does not have the right profile (rating below 50% in the interview.

Jury responsible for selection: Professor Fausto Miguel Cereja Seixas Freire, Professor José Joaquim da Costa and Doctor Carla Abreu Rodrigues.

Formalization of application: Applications must be formalized, mandatorily, by sending an application letter accompanied by the following documents: Curriculum Vitae, qualifications certificate, motivation letter, other supporting documents considered relevant for the evaluation, and the following declaration on the apply platform.

Declaration on the honor of the candidate(s) with the indication of the fellowship(s) of the typology to which the contest was held and the respective duration(s).

Applicants with academic degrees obtained abroad will be required to present a Certificate of Recognition in accordance with applicable law. This document is mandatory only in the contractualization phase.

Applications submission: Applications must be submitted at https://apply.uc.pt/IT137-23-056.

Submission of applications: Between 03/02/2023 and 16/02/2023.

Submission deadline date: 16/02/2023.

Additional information: The evaluation results will be announced within 90 working days after the end of the applications submission deadline, by notifying the applicants via email. After the announcement of the results, candidates are considered automatically notified to, if they wish to do so, comment on the results on a preliminary hearing period within 10 days after that date. After this, the selected candidates will have to declare in writing their acceptance. Unless a justification worthy of consideration is presented, if the declaration is not submitted within the referred period, it is considered that the candidate waivers the fellowship. In case of resignation or withdrawal of the selected candidate, the next candidate with the highest evaluation score will be notified immediately.

Once the selection process is completed, the fellowship contract will be drawn up in accordance with the draft contract provided by the FCT.

After the contracted period, the fellowship holder and supervisor must prepare the final report in accordance with the respective assessment criteria that were established.

Pursuant to subparagraph h) of Article 9 of the Portuguese Constitution, the University of Coimbra, as employer, actively promotes a policy of equal opportunities between men and women in access to employment and professional development, and acts to prevent each and every kind of discrimination.

Therefore, no one can be privileged, benefited, harmed or deprived of any right or immune from any duty on account of, in particular, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, family, economic situation, education, origin or social condition, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic or racial origin, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological beliefs and trade union membership.

Selection reserve list: Until 3 (three) months before the end of the project.