The grants will be financed by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under the Collaboration Protocol for the Funding of the Multiannual Plan for Research Grants for Doctoral Students, signed between FCT and the R&D Unit iNOVA4Health - Translational Medicine Program (iBET, CEDOC/FCM, IPOLFG and ITQB), (UIDP/04462/2020).
Read the complete notice in the PDF to the left or at the Euraxess site
1. APPLICATION SUBMISSION
The contest is open between February 23, 2022, and 24:00 (Lisbon time) on March 19, 2022.
Applications and supporting documents for the application provided for in this Opening Notice must be submitted, mandatorily, by email sent/submitted to applications@nms.unl.pt.
Each candidate may submit only one application, under penalty of cancellation of all submitted applications.
The provision of false statements or the performance of acts of plagiarism by candidates is reason for cancellation of the application without prejudice to the adoption of other measures of a sanctioning nature.
2. TYPE AND DURATION OF SCHOLARSHIPS
Research grants for doctoral studies are intended to finance the carrying out, by the grantee, of research activities leading to the achievement of the academic degree of doctor by the Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
The research activities leading to the academic degree of doctor will take place in iNOVA4Health - Translational Medicine Program, which will be the host institution for the grantees, without prejudice to the work being carried out in collaboration between more than one institution.
The research activities leading to the academic degree of Doctor of the selected scholarship holders must be framed in the plan of activities and strategy of the R&D Unit iNOVA4Health - Translational Medicine Program and must be developed within the scope of the following Doctoral Program:
- Doctoral Program in Health Sciences (NMS|FCM - NOVA).
The work plan may take place in full or in part (for mixed scholarships) at CEDOC-NMS or IPOLFG. In the case of Mixed Scholarships, the scholarship holders may carry out part of the work abroad, however, they must have a supervisor belonging to the CEDOC-NMS.
The duration of the scholarships is, as a rule, annual, renewable up to a maximum of four years (48 months), and the scholarship cannot be awarded for a period of less than 3 consecutive months.
In the case of a mixed scholarship, the period of the work plan that takes place in a foreign institution cannot exceed 24 months.
3. RECIPIENTS OF SCHOLARSHIPS
Research Scholarships for PhDs are intended for registered candidates or candidates who meet the necessary conditions to register for the Doctoral Program mentioned in point 2 of this Notice and who intend to develop research activities leading to the academic degree of Doctor in the CEDOC-NMS or IPOLFG and whose work plan is part of the scientific program of the R&D unit INOVA4Health - Translational Medicine Program.
4. ADMISSIBILITY
4.1 Candidate Eligibility Requirements
May apply for this competition:
- National citizens or citizens of other member states of the European Union;
- Citizens of third States;
- Stateless persons;
- Citizens benefiting from the status of political refugee.
To apply for a PhD Research Scholarship, you must:
-Have a degree or master's degree in the areas of life sciences, health sciences or in scientific and technological areas considered to be related;
- Permanently and habitually reside in Portugal, at the start of the work plan period abroad, if the work plan proposed for the scholarship includes a period in foreign institutions (mixed scholarships), a requirement applicable to both national and foreign citizens.
- Not having benefited from a doctoral or doctoral grant in companies directly financed by the FCT, regardless of its duration.
- Not hold a Doctor's degree.
4.2 Application Eligibility Requirements
It is essential, under penalty of non-admission to the Competition, to attach the following documents to the application, being necessary to write the application and all documents associated with it, including the motivation letters, in English:
- Elements of the identity card/citizen card/passport;
- Candidate's Curriculum vitae with reference to CiênciaVitae and candidate's ORCID (maximum of 5 pages);
- Qualification certificates of the academic degrees held, specifying the final classification and, if possible, the classifications obtained in all the subjects taken, or, alternatively, a declaration of honor by the candidate that he/she completed the bachelor's or master's degree until the end the application deadline;
- Registration of the recognition of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions and registration of the conversion of the respective final classification to the Portuguese classification scale, or, alternatively, declaration under the candidate's honor that he/she obtained the recognition of the equivalent foreign degree to graduate or master until the end of the application period;
- Motivation letter (maximum 1 page).
Regarding the aforementioned admissibility requirements, the following should be noted:
- In the case of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions, and in order to ensure the application of the principle of equal treatment to candidates who hold foreign and national academic degrees, the recognition of these degrees and the conversion of the respective final classification is mandatory. for the Portuguese rating scale.
The recognition of foreign academic degrees and diplomas as well as the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale can be requested at any public higher education institution, or at the Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior (DGES, only in the case of automatic recognition). Regarding this matter, we suggest consulting the DGES portal at the following address: http://www.dges.gov.pt/.
- Only candidates who have completed the cycle of studies leading to a Bachelor's or Master's degree by the end of the application period will be admitted. If they still do not have a course completion certificate, a declaration of honor from candidates that they have completed the necessary qualifications for the purposes of the competition will be accepted by the end of the application deadline. The granting of the grant is always dependent on the presentation of proof of ownership of the academic qualifications necessary for the granting of the grant.
5. WORK PLANS AND SCHOLARSHIP SCIENTIFIC GUIDANCE
The student must choose the supervisor and the work plan that intends to develop for the realization of the thesis until the end of the first year of the course. Course coordinators will provide a list of topics (including a project summary) and advisors available to accept students at the beginning of the course. To ensure an informed choice, the selection of the advisor and work plan should be preceded by at least three laboratory rotations. Below is a description of the three (3) thematic lines and associated researchers that are available to guide PhD students.
- TL1 – Neuro-Vision disorders – Theme: Ageing micro-environments: translational
platforms for drug discovery.
Supervisors: Miguel Seabra, Paulo Pereira, Gabriela Silva, Sandra Tenreiro, Cláudia
Almeida, Rosalina Fonseca, Hugo Miranda, Miguel Viana Baptista, Rita Teodoro, Cláudia
Nunes Santos, José Alves, César Mendes, João Ferreira.
- TL2 – Cardio-Nephro-Metabolic and musculoskeletal disorders - Theme: Mechanisms of
disease and phenotyping of human cohorts.
Supervisors: Emilia Monteiro, José Belo, Otília Vieira, Paula Macedo, João Raposo, Silvia
Conde, Sofia Pereira, Judit Morello, Helena Pité, Paulo Vera-Cruz, Susana Lopes, Helena
Soares, Fernando Pimentel, Anibal Ferreira, Fernando Nolasco.
- TL3 – Cancer - Themes: Pathways to aggressiveness: from membrane trafficking
regulation & cytoskeleton dynamics subversion to microenvironment-driven resistance and
Familial Cancer Risk - uncovering new susceptibility genes & carcinogenic pathways.
Supervisors: Branca Cavaco, Marta Pojo, Jacinta Serpa, Rune Matthiesen, Catarina
Homem, Alisson Gontijo, Duarte Barral, António Jacinto, Ana Félix.
6. EVALUATION CRITERIA AND BONUS
6.1 Evaluation Criteria
The evaluation takes into account the candidate's merit, the motivation letter and an individual interview. The evaluation process will have two mandatory, distinct and successive stages, according to the following evaluation criteria (detailed in the minutes):
- The first stage (E1) (scored from 0 to 20 and rounded to the nearest tenth) will focus on the Curriculum Analysis (AC) and the Motivation Letter (CM).
The Curriculum Analysis and the Motivation Letter will respectively have a weighting of 60% and 40% in the final classification of the first stage of the competition, which is expressed by the following formula:
E1 = ACx60% + CMx40%.
The Curriculum Analysis (AC) - scored from 0 to 20 and rounded to the nearest tenth - has a weighting of 60% in the final classification of the first stage of the competition and will focus on:
a) Bachelor's (licenciatura) or integrated Master's grade (G): 40%
b) Master's grade: 10%
c) Research experience, especially scientific publications in international peer-reviewed journals (I): 30%
d) Professional activity, courses, internships or other relevant scientific or research experience (AP): 20%
The Curriculum Analysis (AC) classification is calculated using the weighted average of the criteria evaluated:
AC = Gx40% + Ix40% + APx20%.
The motivation letter (CM) for carrying out this Doctorate - scored from 0 to 20 and rounded to the nearest tenth - has a weighting of 40% in the final classification of the first stage of the competition.
- The first 20 candidates with a final classification of the highest E1 and equal to or greater than 10 values in the first stage of the competition (E1) will be admitted to the second stage of the competition (E2), ordered in descending order of score - "Admitted to the Interview" ("Admitido à Entrevista");
- In the event of a tie in the attribution of the final classification of the last candidate admitted to the interview in the first stage of the competition, all candidates who have the same final classification of the E1 of the last candidate "Admitted to the Interview" ("Admitido à Entrevista") will be admitted to the second stage;
- All Candidates with a score lower than 10 in the first stage of the competition (E1) or with a score equal to or greater than 10 in the first stage of the competition (E1) but classified after the 20th position will be excluded from the competition - "Excluded" ("Excluído");
- The second stage (E2) (scored from 0 to 20 and rounded to the nearest tenth) consists of conducting an individual interview (EI) of the candidate and has a weighting of 100% in the final classification of the second stage of evaluation of the competition.
The final classification of the second evaluation stage (E2) is the final classification of the Individual Interview (EI), which will result from the arithmetic average of the scores of all the criteria evaluated in the EI by the elements present in the Jury:
E2 = Final Classification EI.
The Individual Interview (EI) - scored from 0 to 20 and presented to the tenth - has a weighting of 100% in the final classification of the second stage of the competition and will focus, among others, on the following points: motivation and availability to carry out the course, scientific knowledge and general culture, research experience, communication skills (including knowledge of English), interpersonal relationships and the candidate's vocational and professional experience (100%).
This EI criterion will be evaluated (from 0 to 20 values), by the Jury elements present at the EI (at least 3 Jury elements will be present in each EI).
The invitation to the interview, with indication of the date and time, will be sent to the candidates to the e-mail address indicated in the application. The interview will be conducted by videoconference.
- After the end of the second stage of the contest (E2) - interview -, and according to the criteria identified above and the limit of vacancies set (8), candidates with the highest final classification of E2 (Individual Interview) and equal to or greater than 16 values (on a numerical scale from 0 to 20 values) are ""Approved - Placed" - "Aprovado - Colocado".
- Candidates with a final classification of E2 (EI) equal to or greater than 16 values, but classified after the 8th position, will be considered alternates - "Approved - Not Placed" ("Aprovado - Não Colocado"). Approved - Not Placed candidates (alternates) who meet these criteria will be automatically placed in descending order of the final classification of the E2 (EI), in the event of withdrawals from Approved - Placed candidates before the beginning of the PhD, or in the case of Approved - Placed candidatesdo not register and not enroll in this Doctorate within the deadlines established for this purpose in this Public Notice.
- Candidates with a final E2 classification (EI) of less than 16 will be automatically excluded - "Excluded" ("Excluído").
For the purposes of breaking the tie in the final classification of E2 (EI), candidates will be ranked based on the classifications attributed to each of the evaluation criteria in the following order of precedence: (i) motivation and availability, (ii) research experience and (iii) communication and interpersonal skills.
Important notice for candidates with degrees issued by foreign higher education institutions:
- Candidates with diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions may apply and will be evaluated with the same criteria as candidates with diplomas issued by Portuguese institutions, provided that they present, in their application, proof of recognition of academic degrees and conversion of final classification for the Portuguese classification scale under the terms of the applicable legislation.
- Candidates with foreign diplomas who do not present proof of conversion from the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale will be evaluated with the minimum classification (12 points) in the criterion (AC).
- In any case, scholarship contracts with candidates with diplomas issued by foreign institutions will only be concluded upon presentation of proof of recognition of academic degrees and conversion of the final classification, as indicated above.
7. ASSESSMENT
The candidate evaluation panel is made up of the following elements:
Panel Coordinator:
- Paulo Pereira, NOVA Medical School;
Effective members:
- Emília Monteiro, NOVA Medical School;
- Miguel Seabra, NOVA Medical School;
- Valeriano Leite, Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil, EPE.
Alternate members:
- António Jacinto NOVA Medical School;
- Duarte Barral NOVA Medical School;
The evaluation panel will assess the applications in accordance with the evaluation criteria contained in this Opening Notice, weighing the assessment elements.
All panel members commit to respect a set of responsibilities essential to the evaluation process, such as the duties of impartiality, the declaration of any potential situations of conflict of interest 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.
Panel members cannot be supervisors or co-supervisors of candidates with applications submitted to the competition.
A final evaluation form will be produced by the panel for each application, where the arguments that led to the classifications attributed to each of the evaluation criteria and sub-criteria are presented in a clear, coherent and consistent manner.
Minutes of the evaluation panel's meetings will be produced by all its members.
The minutes and their annexes must include the following information:
- Name and affiliation of all evaluation panel members;
- Identification of all excluded applications and their reasons [if applicable];
- Methodology adopted by the panel for cases considered particular [if applicable];
- Final Evaluation Sheets for each candidate;
- Provisional list of classification and ranking of candidates, in descending order of final classification, of all applications evaluated by the panel;
- CDI statements from all panel members;
- Possible delegation of votes and powers due to justified absence [if applicable].
