PhD RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP FOR THE DOCTORAL PROGRAM CIVIL ENGINEERING - CERIS

The scholarships awarded under this call will be financed by the FCT with funds from Orçamento de Estados and, when eligible, with funds from the European Social Fund, to be made available under PORTUGAL2020, namely, Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (NORTE 2020), Programa Operacional Regional do Centro (Centro 2020) e do Programa Operacional Regional do Alentejo (Alentejo 2020), in accordance with the regulatory provisions established for that purpose.

The CERIS, trough the Association of Instituto Superior Técnico for Research and Development (IST-ID), is pleased to announce the opening of a call for 3 (Three) PhD Grant at the research area of Civil Engineering, under the Research Fellowship Holder Statute and the FCT Regulation for Research Studentships and Fellowships.

The grants to be awarded will be funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) under the collaboration agreement between FCT and CERIS - Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, number 4625, for Funding the Multiannual Plan of Research Scholarship for PhD Students.

PhD Scholarships aim to finance research activities leading to a doctoral degree at Instituto Superior Técnico.

The research activities leading to the academic doctoral degree will take place at CERIS - Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, which will be the host institution of the scholarship holders, without prejudice that the work may be carried out in collaboration with more than one institution.

The research activities leading to the doctoral degree of the selected candidates must be framed in the activity plan and strategy of CERIS and one of its research groups, and should be developed within the scope of a Doctoral Program at IST at the area of Civil Engineering.

The work plan may occur entirely or partially in a national institution (scholarship in the country or mixed, respectively). The scholarships' duration is, as a rule, annual, renewable up to a maximum of four years (48 months), and scholarships cannot be awarded for less than three consecutive months. In the case of a mixed scholarship, the work plan period in a foreign institution cannot exceed 24 months.

Application Admissibility Requirements

It is essential, under penalty of not being considered to the Call, to submit the following documents:

• Identification elements contained in the citizen's card or legal equivalent or in the passport;
• Curriculum vitae;
• Qualification certificates of the academic degrees held, specifying the final classification and, if possible, the classifications obtained in all the subjects taken, or, alternatively, a declaration of honor by the candidate that he/she completed the bachelor's or master's degree (and where indicate the referred classifications) until the end of the application deadline;
• Registration of recognition of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions and registration of the conversion of the respective final classification to the Portuguese classification scale, or, alternatively, declaration of honor by the candidate that he will obtain recognition of the foreign degree equivalent to that of Bachelor's or Master's degree by the end of the application period, indicating the final classification in the Portuguese classification scale;
• Motivation letter, indicating the area(s), topic(s) of work and preferred supervisor(s);
• Letters of Recommendation (optional).

The application and all associated documents, including motivation and recommendation letters, must be written in Portuguese or in English.

Regarding the aforementioned admissibility requirements, the following should be noted:

• In the case of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions, and in order to ensure the application of the principle of equal treatment to candidates who hold foreign and national academic degrees, it’s compulsory the recognition of these degrees and the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale.

• The recognition of foreign academic degrees and diplomas as well as the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale may be required in any public higher education institution, or at Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior (DGES, just for automatic recognition). For more about this subject please check http://www.dges.gov.pt.

• Only applicants who have completed the studies cycle leading to a bachelor or master degree until the end of the application period, will be admitted. If they do not yet have the course certificate, a declaration of honor from the candidates will be accepted. The granting of the scholarship will depend on the presentation of proof of the academic qualifications required.

WORK PLANS AND SCIENTIFIC SUPEERVISION

The work plan will be developed in one of the CERIS Research Groups, according to the unit's strategic plan and having as one of the supervisors any of the Doctorate members of the CERIS groups linked to IST.

Scholarship contracts are signed directly with FCT.

The following documents must be sent, when the grant is awarded, for the purposes of contracting:

1. Identification elements contained in the citizen's card or legal equivalent or in the passport;
2. Copy of certificates of the academic degrees held;
3. Presentation of the recognition record of foreign academic degrees and conversion of the final classifications to the Portuguese classification scale, if applicable;

d) Document proving registration and enrollment in one of the Doctoral Programs identified in this Call;

e) Statement by the supervisor (s) taking responsibility for supervising the work plan, according Article 5-A of the Research Fellowship Statute (template to be made available by FCT);

f) Document proving the candidate's acceptance by the institution where the research activities will take place, guaranteeing the conditions necessary for its good development, as well as the fulfillment of the duties provided according 13 of the Research Fellowship Statute (template to be made available by FCT);

g) Updated document proving compliance with the exclusive dedication regime (template to be made available by FCT). The granting of the scholarship is still dependent on:

• compliance with the requirements of this Call;

• the result of the application evaluation;

• the absence of unjustified non-compliance with the candidate’s duties under a previous scholarship contract financed, directly or indirectly, by FCT

• FCT's budget availability.

Failure to deliver any of the documents necessary to complete the scholarship contracting process, within 6 months from the date of communication of the conditional grant decision, implies the expiration of the referred grant and the end of the process.

RENEWAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The renewal of the scholarship will depend on an application submitted by the holder, within 60 working days prior to the renewal starting date, with the following documents:

1. statements issued by the supervisor/s and the host entity/s reporting the monitoring of the holder’s work and the evaluation of his activities;
2. updated document proving compliance with the exclusive dedication regime;
3. document proving the renewal of enrollment in the cycle of studies leading to the doctoral degree.