ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

Post-Doctoral research Fellowship - 1 vacancy

26/ECUM/CFUM/2024-PRR n.º 58 - NGS

A call for applications is now open for the attribution of 1 (one) grant of Post-Doctoral research fellowship within the scope of the R&D project NGS – New Generation Storage, refª C644936001-00000045, investment project nº. 58, from the Incentive System to Mobilising Agendas for Business Innovation, financed by Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation – IAPMEI , I.P., whithin the aim of component nº5 Capitalization and Business Innovation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan and by European Funds NextGeneration EU, under the following conditions:

Scientific Area:  Physics, Chemistry, Electronic Engineering, Materials Engineering and related areas;

Recipient category: The BIPD are intended for doctorates in the area of Physics, Chemistry, Materials Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Environmental Sciences or related areas, who cumulatively meet the following requirements:

• Holders of a PhD degree obtained in the three years prior to the date of submission of the fellowship application***;
• Have carried out the research work that led to the attribution of a PhD degree in an entity other than the host unit (Centre of Physics - University of Minho) **;
• Do not exceed, with the conclusion of the contract in question, including possible renewals, a cumulative period of three years in this type of fellowship, consecutive or interpolated.

Candidates who do not cumulatively meet the requirements described will be excluded.

Other requirements: The candidate must have knowledge in the area of advanced polymers and polymer composites, their characterization in terms of mechanical, thermal and electrical properties as well as their implementation in functional applications. Knowledge in the areas of natural polymers and energy storage systems will be positively valued.

** Different R&D Units are included, even if located in the same Organic Unit (UOEI) of UMinho (no. 4 and 5 of article 7 of the FCT I.P Research Grant Regulation, in force)

***Documents proving the ownership of academic degrees and diplomas, or their respective recognition when they have been awarded by foreign higher education institutions, when applicable for the type of scholarship in the call for applications, may be waived at the application stage, being replaced by declaration of honor of the candidate, with the verification of this condition occurring only in the phase of contracting the scholarship. This statement 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 the purpose of contracting the grant, only the information contained in the latter will be considered. If it is verified that 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 and may, consequently, change the candidate's ranking, the fellowship contracting will not be done.

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 workplan relates with the proposed project tasks.

The work plan includes: 

• Processing of polymer membranes with tailored porosity based on natural polymers, such as cellulose;
• Processing of natural based polymer composites with ionic conductive fillers to improve ionic conductivity of the materials;
• Processing of natural based polymer composites with one or two fillers to tune functional response and electrical conductivity; 
• Interface modification of the materials, if required, to improve functional response;
• Characterization of the physical-chemical and morphological properties of the composites.
• Characterization of the functional response of the developed materials as battery components.

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 series, 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 workplan will be carried out in the Centre of Physics of University of Minho, located in the Campus de Gualtar, Braga, under the scientific supervision of the Carlos Miguel da Silva Costa, Auxiliary Researcher and Senentxu Lanceros-Mendez, Researcher.

Fellowship duration: The grant will take place for a period of 12 months, with a provisional starting date on October of 2024. The fellowship may be eventually renewed until the end of the project.

Amount of the research grant: The value stipend (Monthly Maintenance Allowance) is 1.801,00 euros, 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 series, 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 benefits: Reimbursement of Voluntary Social Security (Social Security contributions), corresponding to the 1st level of discounts (for research grants with a total duration 6 months or higher) and 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: Carlos Miguel da Silva Costa, Assistant Researcher, Center of Physics, School of Science, University of Minho

Effective members: Senentxu Lanceros-Méndez, Researcher, Center of Physics, School of Science, University of Minho; António Mário Lourenço Fonseca Almeida, Assistant Professor, Physics Department, School of Science, University of Minho

Substitute members: Mário Rui Cunha Pereira, Assistant Professor, Physics Department at the University of Minho, Stanislav Lazarov Ferdov, Assistant Researcher, Center of Physics, 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 (or another scale):

Applicant Merit - AM (100%):

A.1: Academic path based on academic degree classifications (30% weighting);

A.2: Adequacy of the profile to the work plan and intended functions, including in the scientific and professional path (weighting 50%).

A.3:  Letter of motivation and/or letters of recommendation (weighting 20%).

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

MC=(a*0,3)+(b*0,5)+(c*0,2)

Candidates who do not achieve the minimum score of 3.5 on Candidate Merit (MC) will be excluded from the competition. 

The final classification (CF) is equal to the classification obtained in the Candidate Merit (MC).

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.

Disclosure of results: The provisional results of applications, based in the selection panel minutes, will be send to the applicants by email until 90 working days from the applications deadline.

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 (alphabetically, 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 Paiva.

Constitution of a selection reserve list: The applicants ranked in the next positions on the ordered list will be included in a selection reserve list, which can be used until 31/12/2024.

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.

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 portal.

Applications must be formalized, mandatorily, by sending an application letter accompanied by the following documents: curriculum vitae; certificate of qualifications or declaration of the candidate (if applicable); letter of interest; letters of recommendation (two); other documents considered relevant to the assessment of the scientific and professional path.

Applications must be sent by email to bolsas@ecum.uminho.pt, indicating the reference 26/ECUM/CFUM/2024-PRR n.º 58 - NGS of the call for applications in Subject. Applications submitted by other means will not be accepted.

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 doctoral degree our its recognition in Portugal, under Decree-law no. 66/2018 of august 16th].

Once all the documentation has been received, the contracting entity has a period of 60 working days to conclude the scholarship contract. 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.