ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP BI; Be.Neutral-05/2024; 2 vacancies

University of Minho, Portugal

Updated: about 1 month ago

Job Type: FullTime

Deadline: 27 Mar 2024

13 Mar 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company: University of Minho
Research Field: Computer science » Informatics
Researcher Profile: First Stage Researcher (R1)
Country: Portugal
Application Deadline: 27 Mar 2024 - 23:59 (Europe/Lisbon)
Type of Contract: Permanent
Job Status: Full-time
Hours Per Week: 35
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?: Not funded by an EU programme
Reference Number: Be.Neutral-05/2024
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?: No

Offer Description

A call for applications is now open for the attribution of two research grants for Bachelor degree - within the scope of the I&D project Be.Neutral - Agenda de Mobilidade para a neutralidade carbónica nas cidades, with the reference Be.Neutral-05/2024, financed by the European Union, through the Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência (PRR) Português, managed by the Agência para a Competitividade e Inovação - IAPMEI, I.P., under the following conditions:

Scientific Area: Computer Science / Informatics

Recipient category: Students enrolled in the Master's program in the specified field in the notice or a related field or in a non-degree-granting course.

Requirement for granting the fellowship: Candidates must hold, at the date of application, a Bachelor's degree in the area requested in the call for applications or in a related area. At the date of hiring, candidates must provide proof of enrolment (issued by the Academic Services of the Higher Education Institution) in a Mater's in the area requested in the call for applications or in a related area or proof of enrolment in a non-degree-granting course.

Candidates' profile:

Mandatory requirements:

-Knowledge in data analysis and exploration

Preferential factors:

- Knowledge of learning and knowledge extraction;

- Knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

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 fellow will be part of the project in WP2 and will apply their knowledge of data analysis, data extraction, and transformation, and particularly knowledge extraction, assist in the data integration layer, data visualization, and the construction of the platform for integrating artificial intelligence tools, working collaboratively and dynamically to achieve the intermediate objectives as they are proposed.

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 workplan will be carried out in Centro Algoritmi of Engineer School of University of Minho, located in the Gualtar Campus under the scientific supervision of Professor Doctor José Manuel Ferreira Machado.

Fellowship duration: The grant will take place for a provisional period of 12 months, with a provisional starting date on april 2024. The fellowship grant may eventually be renewed up to 31th December 2025 or applicable legislation.

Amount of the research grant: The value stipend (Monthly Maintenance Allowance) is 990,98€ 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 23rd 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: (define the other components of the research grants, in accordance with the no. 5 of the article 18º of the FCT Regulation for Research Studentships and Fellowships, no. 950/2019 of 16-12-2019 or article 21º of the Regulation of Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), accordingly with the regulations applicable).

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:

The jury has the following composition:

President of the jury: José Manuel Ferreira Machado.

Member of the jury: António Carlos da Silva Abelha.

Member of the jury: Hugo Daniel Abreu Peixoto.

Alternate Member of the jury: Paulo Jorge Freitas Oliveira Novais.

Alternate Member of the jury: Victor Manuel Rodrigues Alves.

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 evaluation of the applications will focus on the merit of the candidate, according to the following criteria and sub criteria and corresponding weightings, on a scale of 0 to 20 values:

A. Curricular assessment, weighted at 40%:

A1: Final course average, weighted at 60%.

A2: Relevance of the training area in the work plan (according to Table 1), weighted at 30%.

A3: Motivation letter and/or letters of recommendation, weighted at 10%.

B. Consolidated knowledge of Knowledge Engineering, Analysis and Data Processing, weighted at 60%:

B1: Knowledge in data analysis and exploitation, weighted at 30%.

B2: Knowledge of learning and knowledge extraction, weighted at 30%.

B3: Knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, weighted at 20%.

B4: Knowledge with Python, weighted at 20%.

According to the following formula:

MC = (A*0,4) + (B*0,6)

where:

A = (A1*0,6) + (A2*0,3) + (A3*0,1)

and

B = (B1*0,3) + (B2*0,3) + (B3*0,2) + (B4*0,2)

The jury may resort to interviews to select the three (3) candidates with the highest scores.

If the selection board does conduct interviews, the selection methods will change to the following:

A. Curricular assessment, weighted at 40%:

A1: Final course average, weighted at 60%.

A2: Relevance of the training area in the work plan (according to Table 1), weighted at 30%.

A3: Motivation letter and/or letters of recommendation, weighted at 10%.

B. Consolidated knowledge of Knowledge Engineering, Analysis and Data Processing, weighted at 30%:

B1: Knowledge in data analysis and exploitation, weighted at 30%.

B2: Knowledge of learning and knowledge extraction, weighted at 30%.

B3: Knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, weighted at 20%.

B4: Knowledge with Python, weighted at 20%.

C. Interview with a weighting of 30%:

C1: Interpersonal Skills, weighted at 30%.

C2: Demonstrated knowledge in the project area, weighted at 30%.

C3: Motivation, weighted at 30%.

C4: Language Skills, weighted at 10%.

According to the following formula:

MC = (A*0,4) + (B*0,3) + (C*0,3)

Where:

A = (A1*0,6) + (A2*0,3) + (A3*0,1)

and

B = (B1*0,3) + (B2*0,3) + (B3*0,2) + (B4*0,2)

and

C = (C1*0,3) + (C2*0,3) + (C3*0,3) + (C4*0,1)

Reference Table for A2 sub criteria -Relevance of the training area
Degree Area	Weight
Biomedical Engineering	20
Informatics Engineering	20
Related areas	12
Not related areas	0

Candidates will only be admitted if they score at least 9.5 points in each of the criteria, A, B or C (optional). The jury reserves the right not to award the grant if candidates with the appropriate profile do not apply.

The evaluation parameters and respective weighting of the selection method are included in the minutes of the Selection Committee meeting, to be made available to the candidates whenever requested.

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 honour 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.

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 file an optional hierarchical appeal, pursuant to paragraph 3 of article 13 of the RBIC.

Application deadline and submission: The call for applications 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 by sending an application letter with the following documents: curriculum vitae; qualifications certificate or declaration of the applicant; motivation letter; statement proving that meets the conditions for the grant typology, according to the application requirements; other documents important to the evaluation process).

Applications must be sent by email to [email protected] , indicating the reference 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 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 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.

Declaration of Honor Academic habilitations

(Full name), applicant to the research fellowship vacancy under the I&D project (title or reference of the project), published in the Euraxess portal, reference (notice reference), hereby declares to have a degree on (name of the course), concluded in the University of (name the University that awarded the degree), on the (degree conclusion date XX/XX/XXXX), with the final grade of (XXXX).

I have submitted my diploma for recognition at the University of XXXXX, according to the Decree-Law nº 66/2018 of August 16th([1] ), concluded in the (degree conclusion date XX/XX/XXXX), with the final grade of (XXXX), on a scale from (XX to YY).

I also declare that I commit to provide proof of my diploma recognition obtained under the Portuguese Law, until the date of the conclusion of the fellowship contract, in case of being selected for the vacancy in this competition.

As this is true, this declaration will be dated and signed by me.

(Place), (date),

__________________________

(Full name)

[1] DGES (Foreign Degrees and Diplomas): https://www.dges.gov.pt/en/pagina/degree-and-diploma-recognition?plid=1536 ; University of Minho: Recognition of foreign degrees and diplomas: https://www.uminho.pt/EN/education/Pages/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications.aspx

Requirements

Research Field: Computer science » Informatics
Education Level: Bachelor Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

Declaration of Honor Academic habilitations

As this is true, this declaration will be dated and signed by me.

(Place), (date),

__________________________

(Full name)

Specific Requirements