Position for one post-doctoral research grant, within in the scope of the project: 412223 PURPEST 101060634 – “Plant pest prevention through technology-guided monitoring and site-specific control”.

Open Call Nº08/2023/BIPD

INIAV, IP (Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária)

Fellowship under the project PurPest (412223 PURPEST 101060634)

The National Institute of Agrarian and Veterinary Research, I.P. (INIAV, I.P.) opens a position for one post-doctoral research grant, within in the scope of the project: 412223 PURPEST 101060634 –“Plant pest prevention through technology-guided monitoring and site-specific control”.

This fellowship will be funded by the Horizon Europe Framework (HORIZON-CL6-2021-FARM2FORK-01).

1. Legislation and Regulations:

Statute of Scientific Research Fellow, approved by Law nr. 40/2004, of August 18, amended and republished by Decree-Law No. 202/2012 of August 27 and amended by Decree-Law No. 233/2012 of October 29, Law No. 12/2013 of January 29 and Decree-Law No. 89/2013 of July 9 and Decree-Law No. 123/2019. Regulation No. 950/2019, of December 16, which approves the FCT Research Scholarship Regulation, I.P. available on (https://www.iniav.pt/images/INIAV/Recursos-humanos/Bolsas_estagios/BE_2…) pursuant to Decree-Law No. 123/2019 of August 28, which updated several provisions of the EBI.

1.  Admission requirements:

PhD in the areas of Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics or similar, obtained no longer than 3 years, from the date of submission of the Fellowship application.

1. Preferential factors:

1. Proven laboratory experience in the set up and management of large greenhouse and/or field assays; the chemical and/or biochemical characterization of plant extracts; in analytical chemistry techniques for the analysis of plant volatiles (chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry) and in plant-parasite interactions;
2. Experience on participating and managing research projects, namely in communication, dissemination and exploitation of scientific results, e.g., in writing reports / scientific publications and dissemination on digital channels;
3. Proficiency in Portuguese and English, written and spoken;
4. Availability to work in partner institutions;
5. Autonomy, resilience, critical spirit and ability to work in team environment.

1. Work plan:

The fellow will be responsible for developing the on-going work of the project’s tasks, with special emphasis in the management and maintenance of Pinus plant cultures under greenhouse conditions, on designing and implementing controlled infection experiments with the pinewood nematode, the optimization of extraction techniques of volatiles, their chemical and biochemical characterization and respective statistical treatment. Additionally, the fellow is expected to perform project management tasks and communication, dissemination and exploitation duties.

1. Workplace:

The workplace will be the Plant Nematology Lab of INIAV, I.P. in Oeiras, with regular stays at HERCULES-UÉ (University of Évora), a partner institute of PurPest.

1. Technical guidance:

The grantee will be supervised by the Researcher Jorge Miguel Silva Faria.

1. Duration of the Grant:

The fellowship will have the duration of 6 months, expected to start in May 2023, eventually renewable to a maximum of 36 months.

1. Monthly maintenance allowance:

According to the values for Research Fellowships awarded by FCT in Portugal (http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores), the amount of the monthly maintenance allowance is 1741,00€ /month, being the payment method for the Fellow by Wire Transfer. The monthly value of the scholarship is, according to the stock chart of the exchanges awarded directly by FCT, I.P., in the Country (https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores) Regulation No 950/2019 of 16 December. The research fellowship will receive personal accident insurance and, if they are not covered by any social protection scheme, they can ensure the exercise of the right to social security by adhering to the voluntary social insurance scheme in accordance with the Code of Contributory Schemes of the Social Security System.

1.  Deadline for submitting applications:

The deadline for submitting the application shall be within 10 working days of the publication of this notice.

1. Selection Criteria:

The selection method, with an eliminatory character, will consist of a curricular evaluation and interview, if the jury deems it necessary. The criteria for evaluating applications shall be based on the combined assessment of the following criteria:

• AQ – Academic qualifications (favoring the final qualification of PhD)
• ET – Professional Training (professional experience)
• PA – Profile Adequacy
• I – Interview, If the jury deems it necessary, an individual interview will be conducted with the candidates to assess the adequacy of the profile.
• Formula: SC= 0,2AQ + 0,5ET+ 0,3PA or SC = 0,2AQ + 0,4ET + 0,3PA+ 0,1I

1. Application Documents:

The application must contain the following documents:

1. Detailed curriculum vitae (dated and signed) - mandatory.
2. Letter of presentation (dated and signed) addressed to Dr. Jorge Faria, which must include the full identification of the candidate and the reference to this announcement No. 08/2022/BIPD;
3. Documents (digital copies) proving the elements considered most relevant and certificates of academic qualifications - mandatory.
4. Declaration of honour regarding conditions not met in official documents, namely the availability for the development of field work, in compliance with the opening hours of INIAV, I.P.
5. Other documents which the applicant considers relevant to the assessment of its technical and scientific merit.

All the above documents must be organized in PDF format and sent mandatorily via e-mail to bolsas@iniav.pt with reference announcement No. 08/2023/BIPD. Applications delivered by hand or CTT will not be accepted.

12. Composition of the Selection Jury:

President – Dr. Jorge Faria

1st and 2nd effective members – Dr. Maria de Lurdes Inácio and Dr. Cláudia Vicente

Substitute member - Dr. Rita Varela

Any doubts regarding the application may be clarified by Dr. Jorge Faria (jorge.faria@iniav.pt).

13. Announcement/ notification of the results:

After the results have been published, applicants must be considered automatically notified so that, if they wish to comment on the hearing of interested parties, they can do so within 10 working days of the date of publication. At the end of this period, the selected candidate will be notified in writing of the grant assignment and communication of the effective start date. In case of resignation or withdrawal of the selected candidate, the candidate immediately best ranked will be notified and thus successively.