4. ADMISSIBILITY

• Hold a degree or master's degree in the areas of social sciences, political sciences, and related fields.
• To be a permanent and habitual resident in Portugal at the starting date of the period of the work plan abroad, if the proposed work plan includes a period in foreign institutions (mixed grants), a requirement applicable to both Portuguese and foreign citizens.
• Not to have benefited from a PhD or in-company PhD grant directly funded by FCT, regardless of its duration.
• Not hold a PhD degree

The following documents must be annexed to the application:

• Elements of the identity card/citizen card/passport;
• Curriculum Vitae of the candidate;
• Certificates of the academic degrees held, specifying the final classification and, if possible, the classifications obtained in all the courses taken, or, alternatively, a declaration of honour from the candidate stating that he/she has concluded the Bachelor or Master’s degree by the end of the application deadline;
• A record of recognition of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions and a record of the conversion of the respective final classification into the Portuguese classification scale;
• Letter of motivation;
• Letters of recommendation (optional, maximum 2);
• To write the application and all the documents associated with it, including the letters of motivation and recommendation, in Portuguese or in English;
• Detailed work plan and timeline;
• Plan for collaboration with CEI-Iscte.

6. EVALUATION CRITERIA

The evaluation takes into account the quality of the work plan, the applicant's merit, the merit of the orientation, the plan of collaboration with the CEI-Iscte’s activity and an interview. The admissible applications will be scored on a scale from 0 to 100 in each of the following evaluation criteria:

• Criterion A - Quality of the work plan - 35%:
• Criterion B - Merit of the applicant - 30%:
• Criterion C - Merit of the supervision - 5%:
• Criterion D - Collaboration plan with CEI-Iscte's activity - 10%:
• Criterion E – Interview - 20%:

Please refer to the original call for complete requirements' information.

The fellowship holder shall receive a monthly maintenance allowance in accordance with the table in Annex I of the RBI (https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores), in the amount of EUR 1,144.64. The grant may also include other components, under the terms set out in Article 18 of the RBI and in the amounts set out in Annex II thereto.

All grant recipients shall be covered by personal accident insurance for research activities, supported by FCT.

All grant recipients who are not covered by any social protection scheme may exercise their right to social security by joining the voluntary social insurance scheme, under the terms of the Social Security Contributions Code, with Iscte paying the costs resulting from the contributions under the terms and within the limits set forth in article 10 of the EBI.

5. WORK PLAN AND SCIENTIFIC ORIENTATION

The plan of work to be submitted should be done according to the rules in the FCT Call for PhD Research Fellowships: Title of the Work Plan; Name of the PhD program to be attended; Four keywords that best identify the content of the work plan; Identification of the Objectives of the United Nations Agenda 2030 that align with the workplan; Suitability of the Supervisor’s Team and of the Host Institution; Summary; State of the Art; Methodological approach; Alignment of the proposal with the priority research lines of the CEI-Iscte; Expected deliverables; Chronogram; References.

6. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Important notice for applicants with diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions:

Applicants with diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions may apply and will be evaluated with the same criteria as applicants with diplomas issued by Portuguese institutions, provided that they present, in the application, proof of recognition of the academic degrees and of the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale under the terms of the applicable legislation.

- Applicants with recognised foreign degrees who do not submit proof of the conversion of the final classification into the Portuguese classification scale will be assessed with the minimum classification (10 points) in criterion B1.

- In any case, the grant contracts with applicants with diplomas issued by foreign institutions will only be concluded upon presentation of the proof of recognition of the academic degrees and conversion of the final classification, as indicated above.

7. EVALUATION

The evaluation panel of the applications is composed of the following elements:

• Doctor Luís Nuno Rodrigues, Full Professor at Iscte (panel coordinator)
• Doctor Ana Lúcia Sá, Assistant Professor at Iscte (effective member)
• Doctor Ana Mónica Fonseca, Assistant Professor at Iscte (effective member).

In the event of a conflict of interest situation of a member of the jury, he will be replaced by one of the substitute members:

• Doctor Helena Carvalho, Full Professor at Iscte (alternate member);
• Doctor Giulia Daniele, Integrated Researcher at CEI-Iscte (alternate member).

The evaluation panel shall assess the applications in accordance with the evaluation criteria set out in the present Notice of Call for Applications, weighing the elements of assessment.

For each application, the panel will produce a final evaluation sheet where, in a clear, coherent and consistent way, the arguments that led to the classifications attributed to each of the evaluation criteria and sub-criteria are presented.

14. TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF RENEWAL OF THE SCHOLARSHIP

The renewal of the grant always depends on a request presented by the grant holder within the 60 working days prior to the renewal start date, accompanied by the following documents

a) Statements issued by the supervisor(s) and by the host entity(ies) on the monitoring of the grant holder's work and the evaluation of his/her activities

b) up-to-date document proving compliance with the regime of exclusive dedication

c) document proving the renewal of the enrolment in the cycle of studies leading to a doctoral degree.

15. INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY ON FINANCING GRANTED

In all R&D activities directly or indirectly funded by the grant, namely in all communications, publications and scientific creations, as well as thesis, carried out with the support provided by the grant, financial support from FCT and the European Social Fund, through the Regional Operational Program of the North (NORTE 2020), the Regional Operational Program of the Center (Centro 2020) and the Regional Operational Program of Alentejo (Alentejo 2020) must be mentioned. To this end, the insignia of the FCT, the MCTES, the ESF and the EU shall be included in the documents relating to these actions, in compliance with the graphic standards of each operational program.

Dissemination of results of research funded under the RBI shall comply with the open access rules for data, publications, and other research results in force at the FCT.

In all grants, and in particular in the case of actions supported by EU funding, namely from the ESF, monitoring and control actions may be carried out by national and EU bodies, in accordance with the applicable legislation in this area, with the fellowship holders being required to cooperate and provide the requested information, which includes surveys and evaluation studies in this area, even if the grant has already ended.

17. APPLICABLE LAWS AND REGULATIONS

The Call is governed by this Opening Notice, by the FCT Research Fellowships’ Regulation, approved by Regulation no. 950/2019, published in the II Series of the DR of 16 December 2019, by the Research Fellowship Holder Statute approved by Law no. 40/2004, of 18 August, as amended, and by all other applicable national and EU legislation.