2 Research Fellowships for PhD Students

Admission requirements

The applicants must meet both of the following admission requirements:

1. Enrolment, or to be eligible to enrol, in a PhD programme in Business Science or related area (to be proven at the contract stage).
2. MSc degree in Management or related area. Applicants holding an MSc degree awarded by a foreign higher education institution must abide by the provisions of the Decree-Law No 66/2018 of 16 August, and ensure full compliance before signing the contract. For more on this specific topic, please check the DGES webpage at: https://www.dges.gov.pt/en.

Preferred requirements

Ideally, the applicants should be in an intermediate stage of development of their PhD thesis.

Preference is also given to applicants who are enrolled or intend to enrol in the PhD programme in Business Science at UPT, and whose PhD thesis subject is related to sustainable development or aims at solving societal problems and challenges faced by organizations, namely SMEs and family businesses.

Stipend

Monthly stipend amount of €1144,64, in accordance with FCT stipend values for studentships and fellowships carried out in Portugal (https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores.phtml.en). The payments are made by UPT via bank transfer.

The fellowship will also cover the voluntary social insurance payments, corresponding to the class 1 rate (if the scholarship has a duration equal to or greater than 6 months) provided that the candidate chooses this regime, as well as personal accident insurance.

Other components may also be included, under the terms set out in article 18 of the RBI and for the amounts provided for in its Annex II.

Applicant eligibility

The applicants must comply with the eligibility criteria set out in article 9 of the Regulation for Research Grants of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.

Privacy Policy

UPT is the data Controller regarding all personal data processing carried out in this selection procedure, under Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Regulation on Data Protection).

The personal data processed within the scope of this call is only intended for the aforementioned selection process and will be used by UPT to assess eligibility for the applied role in accordance with the applicable legal requirements and the procedure’s selection criteria. The applicant’s refusal to consent to the personal data processing will prevent UPT to verify whether the application meets the minimum requirements and, therefore, will render the application invalid.

The personal data can legitimately be transmitted to third parties whenever necessary to fulfill UPT’s legal obligations and comply with the funding scheme requirements regarding this procedure.

The data will be retained for a legally defined period of five years.

The Data Subject has the right to object to the data collection and processing, as well as to verify, update, rectify, erase or limit the use of the collected data. The exercise of these rights is excluded when personal data is used to safeguard the public interest, namely in cases of detection and prevention of criminal offenses, or when subject to professional secrecy.

The Data Subject has also the right to access and data portability.

In order to exercise such rights, the Data Subject shall contact UPT via the e-mail address rgpd@up.pt. In all instances, the Data Subject has the right to contact and lodge a complaint to the National Data Protection Commission.

Non-discrimination and equal access policy

UPT is actively committed to promoting a non-discrimination and equal access policy, wherefore no applicant can be privileged, benefited, impaired, or deprived of any rights whatsoever, or be exempted of any duties based on their ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family and economic conditions, education, origin or social status, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronicle illness, nationality, ethnic origin or race, national origin, language, religion, political or ideological belief and union affiliation.

Selection procedure

The selection methods will consist of a Curricular Assessment (CA) and an interview (I).

The Curricular Assessment (CA) compasses the aspects mentioned below, scored on a scale from 0 to 20 points, and is calculated as follows:

CA = (CA1 * 0,3) + (CA2 * 0,3) + (CA3 * 0,3) + (CA4 * 0,2)

CA1 – Applicant’s PhD programme and progress level of the study plan: PhD Programme in Business Science at UPT, intermediate level (20 points); PhD Programme in Business Science at UPT, entry level (16 points); PhD Programme in Business Science at another higher education institution, intermediate level (12 points); PhD Programme in Business Science at another higher education institution, entry level (9 values); PhD programme in related areas, intermediate level (5 points); PhD programme in related areas, entry level (0 points).

CA2 – MSc degree in Management (up to 20 points, depending on the MSc grade); MSc degree in related areas (0 points).

CA3 – Adequacy of the PhD thesis subject to the research activities conducted by the “Territories and Organizations for Sustainable Development” group of REMIT.

CA4 – Diversity and quality of scientific indicators, including articles and presentations in peer-reviewed scientific events, published in journals or proceedings in the specific area of this call, which prove relevant to the research activities carried out by the “Territories and Organizations for Sustainable Development” group of REMIT.

The 4 top-scoring applicants in the curricular assessment will be invited for an interview (I), to take place remotely or in person, provided that the CA scores are higher than 14 points. The interview is aimed at evaluating the applicant according to the criteria below, on a scale from 0 to 20 points, and is calculated as follows:

I = (I1 * 0,5) + (I2 * 0,25) + (I3 * 0,25)

I1 – Knowledge and motivation to pursue the work plan

I2 – Soft skills (time management, problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork, proactivity)

I3 – Communication skills and proficiency in English:

The Final Score (FS) is given by the weighted average of the classification obtained in each of the selection methods, in which the Curriculum Assessment (CA) has a 70% weight and the Interview (I) 30%. If the minimum score of 14 points is not achieved by any of the applicants, the fellowship will not be awarded.

Selection panel composition

The selection panel is composed of the following Professors at UPT:

Chair of the panel — Professor António Jorge da Costa Leite

Panel member— Professor Luís Miguel da Mata Artur Dias Pacheco

Panel member — Professor João Manuel Silva Carvalho

Deputy member — Professor Sónia Rolland Sobral

Deputy member – Professor Pedro Ferreira

Notification of results

The applicants will receive notification of the evaluation results by email, at the email address provided in the application submission, within a maximum of 90 working days, by article 12 of the FCT RBI. This notification will include, in addition to the applicant ranking list, the minutes of the selection panel meetings. If the selected candidate withdraws, the fellowship will be granted to the next highest scoring applicant on the ranking list, provided that the minimum required score is attained.

Deadlines and procedures for pre-hearing, complaint, and appeal

After notification of the provisional evaluation results, applicants have a 10-working day pre-hearing period to argue against, pursuant to Article 121 et seq. of the Portuguese Code of Administrative Procedure. After the selection panel examines the cases presented in the pre-hearing of interested parties, the applicants will be notified of the final decision. In case of disagreement with the final decision, the applicants may lodge a complaint within 15 working days from the final decision notification or an appeal to the UPT Rectory within 30 working days from said notification.

Contacts

Any inquiries related to this call can be addressed to gai@upt.pt.

Additional information

The templates of the fellowship contract and fellowship final report, including evaluation criteria, are available on the UPT website.