PhD Research Scholarships in Law

Announcement

Call for the Award of 3 (three) PhD Research Scholarships in Law

Portuguese version

Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) and Research Unit n. 4859, Centro de Estudos e Investigação em Direito – Católica Research Centre for the Future of Law (CEID-CRCFL), are announcing the award of 3 (three) PhD Research Scholarships, in the field of Law, under the FCT Research Scholarships Regulation (RBI) and the Research Fellowship Statute (EBI).

Scholarships will be financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), under the Collaboration Protocol for Financing the Multiannual Plan for Research Scholarships for PhD Students, signed between FCT, Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP), and Research Unit n. 4859, Centro de Estudos e Investigação em Direito – Católica Research Centre for the Future of Law (CEID-CRCFL).

1. APPLICATION

The call is open between September 15 and September 29, 2021 – 11:59 pm (Lisbon time).

Applications and supporting documents must be submitted by email to [email protected] .

Each candidate should submit one application only, under penalty of annulment of all the submitted applications.

False statements and plagiarism are reasons for cancelling the application, without prejudice to the adoption of other measures of a sanctioning nature.

2. SCHOLARSHIP TYPES AND DURATION

The research activities will take place at Centro de Estudos e Investigação em Direito - Católica Research Centre for the Future of Law – (CEID-CRCFL), Porto, of Faculty of Law, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, which will be the host institution of the fellow, without prejudice of any work that may be carried out in collaboration with more than one institution.

The research activities leading to obtaining the academic degree of doctor should be part of the strategic plan of the Centro de Estudos e Investigação em Direito – Católica Research Centre for the Future of Law – (CEID-CRCFL), Porto, of Faculty of Law, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, and must be developed under the Portuguese Doctoral Programme in Law of Porto Faculty of Law, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.

Scholarships are, as a rule, annual, renewable up to a maximum of four years (48 months), and cannot be awarded for a period of less than 3 (three) consecutive months.

4. ADMISSIBILITY

Admissibility Requirements

Applicants that fulfil the following requirements can apply:

• National citizens or citizens of other European Union states;

• Citizens of third States;

• Stateless persons;

• Citizens benefiting from political refugee status.

To apply for a PhD Research scholarship, it is necessary to:

• Hold a bachelor or a master’s degree in Law;
• Reside in Portugal permanently and habitually. If the work plan associated with the scholarship is partially carried out by foreign institutions (mixed scholarships), it is mandatory to reside in Portugal in the remaining period of the stay at a foreign institution, under the FCT Mixed Scholarship Regulation. Both requirements are applicable to both nationals and foreigners;
• Not having benefited from a doctoral or doctoral scholarship in companies directly financed by FCT, regardless of its duration.

4.2 Admissibility Requirements

It is mandatory, under penalty of not being admitted, to attach the following documents to the application:

• Elements of the identity card / citizen card / passport;
• Curriculum vitae;
• Certificates of qualification of the academic degrees held, specifying the final classification and, if possible, the marks obtained in all subjects taken. If this document does not indicate the final classification, the application will be evaluated following the evaluation criteria (point 6 of the present announcement);
• Registration of recognition of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions;
• Registration of the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale, for academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions. If this document is not delivered during the application period, the application will be evaluated following the evaluation criteria (point 6 of the present announcement);
• Letter of motivation;
• Writing of the application and all documents associated, including the letter of motivation, in Portuguese or in English;

Regarding the admissibility requirements, the following should be noted:

• In the case of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions, and in order to guarantee the application of the principle of equal treatment to candidates holding foreign and national academic degrees, the recognition of these degrees and the conversion of the respective final classification to the Portuguese classification scale is mandatory.

The recognition of foreign academic degrees and certificates, as well as the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale, may be required at any Portuguese public higher education institution, or at the Directorate-General for Higher Education (DGES, only in the case of automatic recognition). Regarding this matter, consultation of the DGES website at http://www.dges.gov.pt is advised.

• Only candidates who have completed the cycle of studies leading to a bachelor or master’s degree by the end of the application period will be admitted.

5. WORK PLAN AND SCIENTIFIC ORIENTATION

If the candidate already has an advisor, an opinion from the advisor must be submitted.

6. EVALUATION CRITERIA

• Criterium A – Academic training, weighing 40%
• Criterium B – Motivation letter and work plan, weighing 35%
• Criterium C – Foreign languages useful for research, weighing 10%
• Criterium D – Professional and research experience, weighing 15%

For the purpose of deciding on the award of scholarships, applicants will be ranked according to the weighted average of the classification obtained in each of the three criteria, translated by the following formula:

Final classification =(  0,4×A+ 0,35×B+ 0,1×C+(0,15×D)

Important advice for candidates with certificates attributed by foreign higher education institutions:

• Candidates with certificates attributed by foreign higher education institutions can apply and will be evaluated using the same criteria as candidates with diplomas issued by Portuguese institutions, provided that they present proof of recognition of academic degrees, under the terms of the applicable legislation, until the end of the application period.
• Candidates with foreign degrees that do not show proof of conversion of their final classification to the Portuguese classification scale will be assessed with the minimum classification in criterium A (10 points).
• In any case, the establishment of scholarship contracts with candidates with certificates attributed by foreign institutions can only be signed upon presentation of proof of recognition of academic degrees and conversion of the final classification.

Candidates whose application is evaluated with a final classification of less than 16 points are not eligible for obtaining a PhD research scholarship.

7. EVALUATION

The candidates’ evaluation panel consists of the following elements:

• Professora Doutora Maria Rita Aranha da Gama Lobo Xavier, Porto Faculty of Law, Universidade Católica Portuguesa
• Prof. Doutora Raquel Maria Resende Duarte de Carvalho, Porto Faculty of Law, Universidade Católica Portuguesa
• Prof. Doutor António Agostinho Cardoso da Conceição Guedes, Porto Faculty of Law, Universidade Católica Portuguesa
• Prof. Doutora Marta Vaz Canavarro Portocarrero de Carvalho, Porto Faculty of Law, Universidade Católica Portuguesa

The evaluation panel will assess applications following the evaluation criteria contained in this Announcement, considering the elements of evaluation.

All panel members, including the coordinator, make a commitment to respect a set of responsibilities essential to the evaluation process, such as the duties of impartiality, the declaration of any potential conflict of interest situations, and of confidentiality. At all times during the evaluation process, confidentiality is fully protected and ensured in order to guarantee the independence of all advises produced.

For each application, a final evaluation form will be produced by the panel where the arguments leading to the classifications attributed to each of the evaluation criteria are presented in a clear, coherent and consistent way, also explaining any bonuses attributed.

Minutes under the responsibility of all its members will be produced from the meetings of the evaluation panel. The minutes and their annexes must include the following information:

• Name and affiliation of all members of the evaluation panel;

• Identification of all excluded applications and respective reasons;
• Methodology adopted by the panel for cases considered particular;
• Final Assessment Forms for each candidate;
• Provisional list of classification and ranking of candidates, in descending order of the final classification, of all applications evaluated by the panel;
• Conflict of Interests statements from all panel members;
• Possible delegations of votes and powers due to justified absence, if applicable.

8. DISCLOSURE OF RESULTS

The results of the evaluation are communicated via e-mail to the e-mail address used by the applicant to send the application, as well as published by posting the list with the ranking of candidates on the information board of the Board of Porto Faculty of Law, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.

The successful candidates are also disclosed on the websites of Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) and R&D Unit No. 4859, Centro de Estudos e Investigação em Direito – Católica Research Centre for The Future of Law (CEID-CRCFL).

9. DEADLINES AND PROCEDURES FOR PRIOR HEARING, CLAIM AND APPEAL

After the communication of the provisional list of the evaluation results, candidates have a period of 10 working days, if they wish, to give their opinion at the prior hearing of interested parties, under the terms of article 121º and followings of the Code of Administrative Procedure.

The final decision will be rendered after the analysis of the pronunciations presented at the prior hearing of the interested parties. The final decision may be lodged within 15 working days, or, alternatively, an appeal may be filed within 30 working days, both counting from the respective notification. Candidates who choose to submit a complaint must address their pronunciation to the member of the FCT Board of Directors with delegated competence. Candidates who choose to submit an appeal must address it to the FCT Board of Directors.

10. SCHOLARSHIP REQUIREMENTS

Research scholarship contracts are signed directly with FCT.

The following documents must obligatorily be sent, upon the eventual granting of the scholarship, for the purpose of the scholarship contract signing:

The granting of the scholarship is still dependent on:

• compliance with the requirements provided for in this Announcement;
• the results of the scientific evaluation;
• the absence of unjustified non-compliance with grantees’ duties under a previous scholarship contract financed, directly or indirectly, by FCT;
• FCT’s budget availability.

Failure to deliver any of the documents necessary to complete the scholarship contracting process within 6 months from the date of communication of the decision to grant the scholarship implies the loss of said scholarship and the closure of the process.

11. FINANCING

12. SCHOLARSHIP COMPONENTS

Scholarship recipients will receive a monthly allowance, in accordance with the table available in Annex I of the RBI. The scholarship may also include other components, under the terms set out in article 18 of the RBI and considering the amounts provided for in its Annex II. All scholarship holders benefit from personal accident insurance for research activities, supported by FCT. All scholarship holders who are not covered by any social protection regime can ensure the exercise of the right to social security through adherence to the voluntary social insurance regime, under the terms of the Contributory Schemes of the Social Security System, ensuring the FCT charges resulting from contributions under the terms and with the limits provided for in article 10 of the EBI.

13. PAYMENTS OF THE COMPONENTS OF THE SCHOLARSHIP

Payments are made by bank transfer to the account identified by the grantee. Monthly maintenance allowances are paid on the first business day of each month. Payments regarding the registration, enrolment and tuition components are made by FCT directly to the national institution where the fellow is enrolled in the PhD.

14. SCHOLARSHIP RENEWAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The renewal of the scholarship always depends on the request submitted by the fellow, within 60 working days prior to the start date of the renewal, accompanied by the following documents:

15. INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY OF THE SCHOLARSHIP FINANCING

In all the R&D activities directly or indirectly financed by the scholarship, namely, in all communications, publications and scientific creations, including theses, carried out with the support provided for in the scholarship, the mention of financial support from FCT and the European Social Programme must be expressed, namely through the Northern Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), the Regional Operational Programme of the Centre (Centro 2020), and the Regional Operational Programme of Alentejo (Alentejo 2020). For this purpose, FCT, MCTES, ESF and EU logos must be inscribed in the documents, according to the graphic rules of each operational programme.

Dissemination of results of research funded under the RBI must comply with the rules for open access to data, publications and other research results as defined by the FCT.

In all scholarships, and in particular in the case of actions supported by community financing, namely from the ESF, monitoring and control actions may be carried out by national and community bodies, in accordance with the applicable legislation in this matter, with the scholarship recipients being obliged to collaborate and provide the requested information, which includes carrying out surveys and evaluation studies in this area, even if the scholarship has already ceased.

16. NON-DISCRIMINATION AND EQUAL ACCESS POLICY

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

17. APPLICABLE LEGISLATION AND REGULATION

The Announcement is governed by this Opening Notice, by the FCT Research Scholarship Regulation, approved by Regulation No. 950/2019, published in the II Series of the DR of December 16, 2019, by the Research Scholarship Statute approved by the Law 40/2004, of August 18, in its current wording, and by further applicable national and community legislation.

[1] The availability of these documents can be replaced, at the option of the candidate, by the presence in person at the financing entity, which will keep the elements contained therein that are relevant for the validity and execution of the contract, including the civil, tax and security identification numbers, as well as the validity of the respective documents.