Rsearch Grant - Edital BI-CTAC-UMINHO- PTDC/ECI-EGC/30877/2017.2021.3 (# of pos: 2)

A call is open to award 2 research grant within the R&D Project “Esco-Ensembles – Estuarine and coastal numerical modeling ensembles for anthropogenic, extreme events and climate change scenarios”, with reference PTDC/ECI-EGC/30877/2017 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030877), funded by National Funds (PIDDAC) through the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. /MC and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union under the Portugal 2020 Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Programme, in the following conditions:

RESEARCH FIELD: Civil Engineering

Mandatory requirements:

In order to apply, the candidates must possess:

• A Master's degree in the field of Civil Engineering, Urban Engineering, or related fields.
• 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).

At the time of the respective hiring, candidates must prove that they are enrolled in one of the following courses:

• PhD in the field of Civil Engineering;
• In a Course that do not confer an academic degree, integrated in the educational project of a higher education institution, in the area or area related to that requested in the tender (e.g.: postgraduate studies, advanced studies, specialized training).

Preferential factors:

• Hydrodynamic modeling, morphodynamic modeling, knowledge of coastal dynamics;
• Portuguese language proficiency;
• English language proficiency.

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 degree course 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 degree course or non-academic degree course will be contracted, according to the type of the fellowship, issued by the academic services of the Higher Education Institution, indicating, respectively, the academic year or its duration (start and term).
• Enrollment in non-certified courses (without curricular units) will not be considered as proof of enrollment.

APPLICATION / ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

The call is open from 18/01/2022 to 02/02/2022 (23:00 – Europe/London).

Applications must be sent exclusively by e-mail to [email protected] , with the subject “Edital BI-CTAC-UMINHO- PTDC/ECI-EGC/30877/2017.2021.3”, with the following documents:

• Elements of the National Identity Card/Citizen Card/Passport/Visa/Title of Residence;
• Curriculum Vitae of the candidate, in Portuguese or in English;
• Certificates of the academic degree(s) required, specifying the final grading (mandatory) and, if possible, the grades obtained in all the attended curricular units, or, alternatively, the candidate's declaration of honor that the degree was obtained until the end of the term of application;
• Motivation letter, in Portuguese or in English.

Regarding the above mentioned admissibility requirements, the following should be noted:

• In the case of a degree granted by a foreign higher education institution, and in order to ensure the application of the principle of equal treatment to candidates holding foreign and national academic degrees, it is mandatory to recognize the degree and convert the respective final grading to the Portuguese grading scale. 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.
• 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 respective criteria. Candidates will be evaluated on the remaining parameters.
• Only candidates who have completed the required qualification by the end of the application period will be admitted. If they do not yet have the official degree certificate, a declaration of honor from the candidate stating that he/she has completed the qualifications required by the end of the application period, will be accepted. At the time of the respective hiring the candidate must present the official degree certificate.

DURATION OF THE RESEARCH GRANT

The research grant will last for 4 months, with a provisional starting date on February, 2022.

The grant may be renewed until the end of the project and/or applicable legislation, if it is necessary to complete the academic degree, the course that do not confer an academic degree or to carry out activities that are essential for the conclusion of the project.

WORK PLAN

The work to be developed is aimed at consolidating the scientific training of the scholarship holder in the context of the postgraduate course that he attends during the period of the scholarship and will be integrated in the Esco-Ensembles project in which models of the Minho and Douro estuaries were implemented using the software Delft3D and Delft3DFM for evaluating different environmental scenarios, including climate change scenarios. The work consists of collaboration in carrying out activities/tasks associated with the period referring to the effective course of the research grant. It is planned to carry out simulations, analysis of results and processing of relevant results for the results database and collaboration in the production of papers to disseminate the obtained results.

HOST INSTITUTION AND SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISION

The work will be carried out at CTAC – Center of Territory, Environment and Construction – of the Civil Engineering Department, School of Engineering of the University of Minho, under the scientific supervision of Doctor José Luís da Silva Pinho.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

The evaluation of the applications will focus on the merit of the candidate, by applying the following criteria on a scale of 0 to 5 points:

Candidate's Merit – CM (100%):

• Criterion A - Motivation letter, with a weighting of 10%;
• Criterion B – Academic path (Final classification obtained in the Integrated Master), with a weighting of 50%;
• Criterion C - Personal curriculum (considering professional and scientific background), with a weighting of 40%.

Sub‐criterion C1 - Relevant professional experience – 40%;

Sub‐criterion C2 – Experience with coastal and estuary modeling software – 60%;

The final classification of the Candidate’s Merit (CM) will be obtained by applying the following formula:

CM = (A*0,1) + (B*0,5) + (0,4 * (C1*0,4) + (C2*0,6))

SELECTION PANEL

The Selection Panel is composed by the following elements:

• President: Doctor José Luís da Silva Pinho, Associate Professor, CTAC, University of Minho.

• Effective members: Doctor Maria Manuela Lemos Lima and Doctor Paulo Ramísio Pernagorda, Professors, CTAC, University of Minho.
• Substitute members: Doctor José Manuel Pereira Vieira and Naim Haie, Professors, CTAC, University of Minho.

If the President of the Selection Panel is unavailable, he/she shall be replaced by the first effective member. The first substitute member will replace the effective member.

The Selection Panel, including the President, undertake the commitment to respect a set of responsibilities essential to the evaluation process, such as the duties of impartiality, of stating any potential situations of conflict of interest and confidentiality.

COMUNICATION OF RESULTS

The evaluation results, based on minutes, will be sent to the candidates by e-mail.

If the result is not in favor of the applicant, he/she has a period of 10 working days to comment the results, if he/she wishes it so, in the context of a prior hearing with the interested parties, under the terms of article 121 and 122 of the Administrative Procedure Code (DL nº 4 / 2015 of January 7).

COMPLAINT AND APPEAL PROCEDURES

The final results of the evaluation will be sent by email to all candidates, enclosing for that purpose, the minutes of the Selection Panel deliberations.

The selected candidate must indicate, in writing, the intention to accept the grant. In case of rejection, the grant will be awarded to the next candidate in the ordered list of candidates.

The candidates ranked in the next positions on the ordered list will be included in a selection reserve list, which is valid for a period of three months.

The final decision can be contested, having 15 working days for this purpose, by sending to the President of the Selection Panel the corresponding claim. Interested parties may also submit an optional hierarchical appeal, addressed to Mrs. Pro-Rector for Research and Projects, Professor Doctor Sandra Paiva.

REQUIREMENTS FOR FINAL AWARDING OF THE GRANT

Research grant contracts are signed with the University of Minho, accordingly with the contract minute (annex IV of the Regulation of Research Fellowships of the University of Minho).At the time of hiring, the following documents must be sent:

The contract may only be concluded after all the documentation required is collected, which must take place within a maximum period of 6 months.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.

MONTHLY MAINTENANCE ALLOWANCE

The Monthly Maintenance Allowance corresponds to the basic value of 1104,64 euros per month, according to the table of grants of FCT, I.P. in the country (Appendix I - Table of monthly maintenance allowances for the FCT I.P. Research Grant Regulation): http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores .

Payments are made by bank transfer on the 23rd of each month to the account identified by the grant holder.

OTHER BENEFITS

Reimbursement of the Voluntary Social Insurance, corresponding to the 1st tier of the contribution base (for grants of 6 months or more) 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.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR GRANT RENEWAL

Grant may be renewed for additional periods, if this information is provided in “DURATION OF THE RESEARCH GRANT" and in the contract. This additional period may not exceed the regulatory limits or the end of the project.

The renewal of the grant always depends on a petition submitted by the grant holder, on a date prior to the end of the grant contract, accompanied by the following documents:

TERM AND CANCELLATION OF GRANT CONTRACTS

At the end of the grant, 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 grant.

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.

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.