24/ECUM/EC/2023 - NEI2023

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

Title: Research Fellowship for sudent with Master; 1 vacancy, 24/ECUM/EC/2023 - NEI2023

A call for applications is now open for the attribution of 1 (one) Research Fellowship (BI) for a student with Master enrolled in a Doctorate degree or in a non-academic degree course, within the scope of the project SCIEVER - Science for Everyone, Call HORIZON-MSCA-2022-CITIZENS-01, financed by European Commission - DG Research & Innovation, through Program Horizon Europe / Excellent Science (Pillar I) / Sklodowska-Curie Actions - European Researchers' Night, under the following conditions:

Scientific Area: Communication Sciences

Recipient category: Masters enrolled in a PhD or in non-academic degree courses integrated into the educational project of UMinho and developed in association or cooperation with one or more R&D units.

Requirement for granting the fellowship:

• The applicants may apply without prior registration in the course for which the fellowship is open. The requirement to enroll in a PhD or non-academic degree course will be verified on the date of contracting the fellowship;
• Only fellowships whose selected applicants present a valid proof of enrollment in a PhD or non-academic degree course will be contracted, according to the type of the fellowship, issued by the competent services of the Higher Education Institution, indicating, respectively, the academic year or its duration (start and term).

Candidates profile:

1. Mandatory Requirement: Candidates must have, at the time of application, a master’s degree in Communication Sciences.
2. Requirements for contractualization: document proving enrolment in a PhD in Communication Sciences or in a non-academic degree course integrated into the educational project of UMinho and developed in association or cooperation with one or more R&D units
3. Preferential factor: Proved experience in writing/editing content for different audiences and in digital content production.

Applicants eligibility: Applicants must comply with the eligibility conditions laid down in article 9 of the Research Grants Regulation of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (2019).

Workplan and objectives to be achieved:

The candidate will carry out activities aimed at the promotion of scientific culture, management and communication of science and technology, as part of the project SCIEVER - Science for Everyone/ European Researchers' Night 2023. The activity will focus on R&D activities within the scope of science communication, aiming to consolidate his/her scientific training within the PhD or non-academic degree course, namely on the production of content related to the scientific activities developed, on the management of digital media to promote the activities within the scope of the project, and in the evaluation and execution of the final report of the project.

Applicable legislation and regulations: Research Fellowship Holder Statutes, approved by Law no. 40/2004 of August 18, in its current version published by Decree-Law no. 123/2019 of august 28; Regulation of Scientific Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in “Diário da República”, 2nd serie, no. 119, through dispatch no. 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration no. 447/2021 of 22-06-2021 and Regulation of Research Studentships and Fellowships (RBI) of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. - in force.

Host/Contracting institution and scientific supervision: The work plan will be carried out at the School of Sciences of the University of Minho, in Braga, under the scientific supervision of Professor Hernâni Varanda Gerós.

Fellowship duration: The fellowship will have a duration of 3 months, starting in September 2023, not renewable.

Amount of the research grant: The value stipend (Monthly Maintenance Allowance) is 1.199,64 € per month, in accordance with the stipends values published by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT I.P.) in the country (Annex I – Monthly Stipends Values for the maintenance allowances of the FCT Regulation for Research Studentships and Fellowships) and Annex II of the Regulation of Scientific Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in “Diário da República”, 2nd serie, no. 119, through dispatch no. 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration no. 447/2021 of 22-06-2021, according to the applicable regulation.

Payment is made on the 23st of each month, through bank transfer to the Bank Identification Number of the fellow identified in the contractualization process.

Other components of the research grant: Not applicable.

Other benefits: personal accident insurance.

Exclusivity regime: The grantee will perform the activities under exclusivity, as foreseen in article 5º of the Research Fellow Statutes and applicable regulations.

Selection panel:

President:

Hernâni Varanda Gerós, Associate Professor with Habilitation at the Department of Biology, School of Sciences, University of Minho.

Effective members:

Inês Pereira Silva Cunha Sousa, Associate Professor at the Department of Mathematics, School of Sciences, University of Minho (replaces the President in case of impediment);

Nuno Filipe Silva Fernandes Castro, Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics, School of Sciences, University of Minho.

Substitute members:

Amélia Paula Martins Marinho Dias Reis, Assistant Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, School of Sciences, University of Minho.

Maria Dulce Silva Geraldo, Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry, School of Sciences, University of Minho.

The first effective member will substitute the President of the selection panel in case of impediment, being nominate the first substitute member in the place of the first effective member.

Criteria and procedures for applications assessment and selection: The applications assessment will focus on the candidate's Merit, following evaluation criteria, valued on a scale of 1 to 5 values:

Applicant Merit - AM (100%):

1. Academic path (considering the classifications of academic degrees, Undergraduate and Master degrees), with a weighting of 25%;
2. Personal curriculum (considering professional and scientific background), with a weighting of 65%
3. Motivation letter, with a weighting of 10%.

The final classification of the applicant’s merit with the achieved through the following formula:

AM = (a×0,25) + (b×0,65) + (c×0,10)

Disclosure of results: The provisional results of applications, based in the selection panel minutes, will be send to the applicants by email, in accordance with article 13º of UMinho RBIC.

If case of unfavourable results, the candidates have a period of 10 working days to comment, if desired, in a prior hearing to interested parties, pursuant to articles 121 and 122 of the Code of Administrative Procedure (DL no. 4 / 2015 of January 7th).

Complaint and appeal procedures: The final results of the evaluation will be published through an ordered list by final grade obtained, posted in a visible and public place of the host unit, as well as by email to all applicants, enclosing for that purpose, the minutes of the jury deliberations.

The selected candidate must inform its willingness to accept the grant, in writing. In case of rejection, the fellowship will be awarded to the next candidate in the ordered list of applicants.

The final decision can be contested within 15 working days, by sending to the President of the jury the corresponding claim. Interested parties may also submit an optional hierarchical appeal, addressed to the Pro-Rector for Research and Projects, Professor Sandra Cristina Almeida Paiva.

Application deadline and submission: The tender is open for a period of 10 working days, counting from the date of publication of the advertisement on the Euraxess.

Applications must be sent by email to sec@ecum.uminho.pt, indicating the reference of the call for applications in Subject 24/ECUM/EC/2023 - NEI2023. Applications submitted by other means will not be accepted.

Applications must be formalized by sending an application letter with the following documents: certificate of qualifications proving academic degrees ownership, Undergraduate and Master degrees, with final average; detailed Curriculum Vitae; motivation letter; document proving enrolment in a PhD or in a non-academic degree course, or declaration of the applicant certifying he/she meets the requirements for granting the fellowship; other documents proving the professional and scientific background relevant to the evaluation process, namely proof of experience in writing/editing content for varied audiences, proof of experience in the production of digital content (video and image) and proof of complementary training (with number of hours) in digital marketing, photography, image and video editing. All documents must be sent in PDF format.

The academic degrees and diplomas documents, or their respective recognition when awarded by foreign higher education institutions are not mandatory in the application phase, being replaced by a declaration of honor of the candidate with the contents of academic results. The documents of academic qualification or respective recognition will be required in the contracting phase and must attest facts that occurred on a date prior to the application. In situations of divergence between the information contained in the declaration and the documentation submitted for contracting the grant, only the information contained in the latter will be consider. If the documents proving the ownership of the academic degree and diploma, or the respective recognition under the terms of Decree-Law No. 66/2018, of August 16, do not correspond to the classifications awarded in the evaluation of the academic path, which can change the candidate's ranking, the fellowship won’t be contracted.

Notes: Applicants with degrees obtained abroad must present proof of recognition of qualifications in Portugal and conversion of the final classification obtained in them to the Portuguese classification scale or declaration under the terms indicated in the previous point. Candidates who do not comply with one of these provisions, the selection panel will assign “0” in the grade of the graduation and/or master course. Candidates will be evaluated on the remaining parameters.

Fellowship contractualization: The fellowship will be attributed by signing a fellowship contract between the University of Minho and the fellow, accordingly with the contract minute (annex IV of the Regulation of Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in Diário da República, 2nd Série, no. 119, through dispatch no. 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration no. 447/2021 of 22-06-2021, as indicated in 2.4 of the FCT document: “Rules for Granting and Management of Grants within the scope of R&D projects, including infrastructure projects, the multi-annual financing program for R&D units and other FCT financing instruments (Version 2021)”.

The contract may only be concluded after all the documentation required is collected, which must take place within a maximum period of 6 months [including evidences of the academic degrees or diplomas and enrolment in degree courses or non-conferring courses, depending on the type of scholarship].

Once all the documentation has been received, the contracting entity has a period of 15 working days to conclude the scholarship contract, in accordance with number 2 of article 13º of UMinho RBIC . Once received, the fellow must return the contract duly signed within 15 working days. The activities under the fellowship contract can only began after proper authorization by the contracting entity.

Term and cancellation of fellowship contracts: Without prejudice to the other causes provided the fellowship regulations (FCT and UMinho) and in the Statute of the Research Fellow, the fellowship ends with the completion of the work plan, as well as with the expiration date for which it was granted or renewed.

At the end of the fellowship, the grantee is obliged to present a Final Report of the work carried out, in accordance with the objectives and evaluation criteria defined with the scientific advisor, within 30 days after the end of the scholarship.

The final report must be prepared in accordance with Annex I of the Scientific Research Fellowships Regulation of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in Diário da República, 2nd Série, no. 119, through dispatch no. 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration no. 447/2021 of 22-06-2021.