Notice of Open Call For Applications For Award of a Scientific Initiation Scholarship - Reference...

Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon (https://www.iscte-iul.pt/ ) opens a call for applications for award of one Scientific Initiation Grant, hereinafter referred to as Scientific Initiation Scholarship, for a student enrolled in a Portuguese higher education institution pursuing a Master degree, or enrolled in a non-degree course, within the scope of the research project DSAIPA/AI/0122/2020 "Mobile Applications Based on Artificial Intelligence for Public Health Response" in the scientific area of Computer Science. The Grant is intended to fund the grantee, according to FCT standards, during the development of the workplan described below.

Link to the portuguese version of this job offer here https://istar.iscte-iul.pt/portfolio-posts/aviso-de-abertura-do-cconcurs...

2. APPLICATION SUBMISSION

The application period begins on the 15th June 2022 at 9h00 and ends on the 1st July 2022 at 17h00 (Lisbon Time).

It is mandatory that participants submit their applications, including all the required documents in this call for applications, via email to istar@iscte-iu l.pt with the subject/Title: AIMHEALTH A52_2 BIC <Candidate Name>

3. DURATION OF THE RESEARCH GRANT

The duration of the scholarship is 5 months. This may be extended for equal periods, subject to a positive evaluation of the grantee's scientific initiation activities.

4. WORK PLAN AND SCIENTIFIC ORIENTATION OF THE SCHOLARSHIP

The grant aims to consolidate scientific training through the development of research and integration work and the achievement of interoperability between all elements of the AIM Health Platform. The plan of activities to be carried out is as follows:

• Definition of the functional and usability requirements of the AIM Health smartphone application, a secure app based on Artificial Intelligence. To this end, the grant holder will use a methodology of requirements definition and prototyping based on Design Thinking, a creativity exercise that will allow the design, through rapid prototyping (in 2 iterations: low fidelity and high fidelity developed with GUI - Graphical User Interface optimized for smartphones), of the best solution that responds to a correct problematization, including its validation and iterative improvement.
• Design of the GUI smartphone application in accordance with the requirements and with the results of the evaluation of the prototypes;
• Development of the app, integration with the secure platform of the AIMhealth system with elements on the smartphone and in the cloud (developed in other activities of the project and made available for this activity), and operationalization of the app, including all the assumptions regarding privacy and data transmission. The app will provide:
  • Collection of biometric health data of the user, in real time or deferred via a "Digital Health Record" of the user, with preservation of privacy and data protection, using devices (sensors) developed by the project in other activities;
  • Analysis of the collected data using data science techniques;
  • Pandemic exposure diagnostic alert (to help and alert users and their formal and informal caregivers), advising the user to perform a pandemic infection test;
  • Predictive alerts for decompensation of user´s health condition, using AI systems developed by the project in other activities;
• Certification tests to the application and evaluation with users in a laboratory and real environments;
• Writing and submission of a scientific paper to a conference or indexed journal (English language);
• Realization and completion of the master's thesis on the subject of this activity plan.

Activities include applying knowledge of software development, user-centered application design, and data science.

5. BENEFITS

The scholarship holder is granted a monthly maintenance allowance in accordance with the table in Annex I of the RBI (https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores ), amounting to 486,12 €. All scholarship holders benefit from personal accident insurance for research activities.

All scholarship holders, who are not covered by any social protection scheme, may join the voluntary social insurance scheme, under the terms of the Social Security System. Iscte will reimburse the charges resulting from contributions within the limits provided in Article 10 of the EBI.

The research scholarship contract will follow FCT guidelines available on the website www.fct.pt . The payment of the scholarship will start after the return, by the candidate, of the duly signed scholarship contract, as well as all the documentation required by FCT Regulations. Payments are made via bank transfer to the account provided by the beneficiary.

6. LEGAL FRAMEWORK

This scholarship follows the rules set out by the Portuguese Agency for Science, Technology (FCT) in “Regulamento de Bolsas de Investigação da FCT (RBI)” approved by Regulation No. 950/2019, published in the II Series of the DR of December 16th , “Estatuto do Bolseiro de Investigação (EBI)” approved by Law 40/2004, of 18th of August 2004, in the current wording, by Código do Procedimento Administrativo (CPA), approved by Decree-Law nr. 4/2015, 7th of January 2015, by this Call for Applications and by other applicable national and community legislation, approved by Law 40/2004, of 18th of August, in the current wording, and by other applicable national and community legislation (https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/regulamentos.phtml.pt ).

7. REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

It is essential, under penalty of not being admitted to the call, to write the application and all the documents associated with it in Portuguese, or in English, and attach to the application a document, in pdf format, that includes all of the following documents, in accordance with article 14 of the FCT Scholarship Regulations:

• The elements in the identity citizen card/passport;
• The applicant’s contacts;
• A detailed Curriculum Vitae of the applicant;
• A motivation letter (limit of 300 words);
• 1 Letter of recommendation;
• A Doctoral degree certificate recognized in Portugal;

Other relevant qualification certificates that the applicant has or certificates stating that he/she is attending a course and where he/she has passed, detailing the classifications obtained.

8. SOURCE OF FUNDING & PUBLICIZING

The scholarship will be financed through the project DSAIPA/AI/0122/2020 " AIM-Health - Mobile Applications Based on Artificial Intelligence for Public Health Response" under contract with the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) - on the FCT Call AI 4 COVID-19, with the financial support of the FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC), in accordance with the applicable legislation and regulations described in point 6.

9. POLICY OF NON-DISCRIMINATION AND EQUAL ACCESS

ISCTE promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access, whereby no candidate may be privileged, benefited, harmed or deprived of any right or exempt from any duty on grounds, namely, of ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family situation, economic situation, education, origin or social condition, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin or race, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions and affiliation union.

The Scientific Initiation Grant is intended for student candidates with a degree enrolled in a Portuguese higher education institution in a course leading to a Master degree or enrolled in a non-degree course and who intend to develop research activities as described in Article 4 of this announcement. Candidates should be enrolled in a Master degree in Computer Engineering, Informatics, Telecommunications and Computer Engineering, Information Systems and Technologies, Data Science or equivalent. Additionally, candidates should have:

a) Professional and/or academic experience in the areas of Computer Science, Programming, Computer Networks, and Data Science.

b) Specific requirements: Mastered written and spoken English.

c) Preferential factors: Previous experience in software development using Python and/or Java.

Mastered written and spoken English.

Professional and/or academic experience in the areas of Computer Science, Programming, Computer Networks, and Data Science

Previous experience in software development using Python and/or Java.

Candidates cannot exceed with the conclusion of the grant contract, including the renewals provided for in this call, a period of three years in this type of grant, financed directly or indirectly by FCT.

14. BENEFITS

• Monthly maintenance allowance
• Personal accident insurance for research activities
• Voluntary Social Insurance

15. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Who can apply for this competition:

• National citizens or citizens of other Member States of the European Union;
• Nationals of third countries;
• Stateless persons;
• Citizens who hold a political refugee status.

To apply for the Scientific Initiation Grant for a degree holder it is mandatory to reside in Portugal on a permanent and usual basis, a requirement applicable to both national and foreign citizens.

16. SELECTION PROCESS

16.1. Rating Criteria

The evaluation takes into account the merit of the candidate in terms of his/her qualifications, the motivation and involvement of the student and an interview. Mastery of the written and spoken English language and demonstrated experience in Windows and Linux operating systems (as well as associated programming languages) will be valued, in curricular units attended either in the Bachelor's Degree or Master's Degree, or in duly proven professional experience. Additionally, knowledge and proven experience in the following programming environments will be valued: Java, Python.

Applications considered eligible will be scored on a scale from 0 to 100 in each of the following evaluation criteria:

- Criterion A - Candidate merit, with a weight of 55%:

• Sub-criterion A1 - Academic CV (average of academic grades), with a weight of 20%.
• Sub-criterion A2 - Performance in curricular units that are directly related to the theme of the activity plan (simple average), with a weight of 25%;
• Sub-criterion A3 - Professional experience aligned with the research topic and activity plan, with a weight of 10%.

- Sub-criterion B - Motivation of the candidate for the plan of activities through a motivation letter, with a weight of 15%:

- Criterion C - Interview, with the weight of 30% In the interview, perseverance, commitment, suitability of the profile to the needs of the project and knowledge in the area of the work plan will be valued.

For the purposes of the decision on the award of the scholarships, the candidates will be ranked according to the weighted average of the classification obtained in each criteria, translated by the following formula:

Final Classification =(0,20 ×A1+ 0,25 ×A2+ 0,10 ×A3+0,15 ×B+(0,30 ×C)

16.2. Evaluation panel

The evaluation board responsible for selection consists of:

• Miguel Sales Dias, Associate Professor with Habilitation at Iscte (Coordinator).
• Carlos Serrão, Associate Professor at Iscte (Board member).
• João Ferreira, Assistant Professor with Habilitation at Iscte (Board Member).

The evaluation board will evaluate the applications in accordance with the evaluation criteria contained in this call for proposals, weighing the elements of appreciation. All board members, including the coordinator, establish a commitment to respect a number of responsibilities essential to the evaluation process, such as the duties of impartiality, declaration of any potential conflict of interest situations and confidentiality. At all times during the evaluation process, confidentiality is fully protected and ensured in order to guarantee the independence of all opinions produced. Board members, including the coordinator, may not be advisors or supervisors of candidates with applications submitted to the competition. In the event of a conflict of interest of a member of the effective jury, he/she shall be replaced by a substitute member of the jury:

• Ana Maria de Almeida, Associate Professor at Iscte (Substitute Member).
• Maurício Breternitz Jr., Integrated Researcher of Istar-Iscte (Substitute Member).

Minutes of the meetings of the evaluation panel will be produced under the responsibility of all its members.

16.3. Disclosure

The evaluation results are communicated via e-mail to the e-mail address used by the candidate to submit the application.

16.4. Terms and procedures for prior hearing, claim and appeal

After communicating the provisional list of the evaluation results, there is a period of prior hearing of interested parties, before the selection procedure is closed. Candidates have 10 working days to express their opinion, claims or appeal against the decision.

17. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

The Contract template may be found here https://www.fct.pt/apoios/Minuta_Contrato_Bolsa.docx .

The final Grant Report should comply with RBI, Art 24.

The final Grant Report should be delivered to the funding entity by the end of the contract, in a 2-3 page format, having attached the supervisor(s) opinion statement. The final report should include the following: