ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

Research Fellowship (1 vacancy)

CEB-BI-42-2025

A call for applications is now open for the attribution of one research grant within the scope of the R&D project, STrengthS4WineChaiN – “Scientific and technological synergies for sustainable development of the wine chain in the North region” (NORTE2030-FEDER-01786100), supported by the Northern Regional Program 2021-2027 (Norte 2030), under the following conditions:

Scientific Area: Bioinformatics

Recipient category: The open position is intended for candidates holding a Master’s degree who, on the date of their hiring, prove their enrolment in one of the following courses:

- Non-academic degree course or doctoral programme.

Requirement for granting the fellowship:

• The applicants may apply without prior registration in the course for which the fellowship is open. The requirement to enrol 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 enrolment in a degree course or non-academic degree course, integrated into the educational project of a higher education institution, developed in association or cooperation with one or more R&D units, will be contracted, according to the type of the fellowship, indicating, respectively, the academic year or its duration (star and term).

Profile:

The following are eligible to apply for this competition:

• Nationals or citizens of other member states of the European Union;
• Citizens of third countries;
• Stateless persons;
• Citizens with political refugee status.

Candidate admissibility requirements:

Mandatory requirements:

• Hold a master’s degree in bioinformatics or related fields.

Contracting requirements:

• Enrolment in a doctoral programme or a non-academic degree course.
• Present proof of academic qualifications completed at the deadline for applications, including those resulting from academic degree recognition processes.

Preferential factors:

• Experience in the fields of Systems Biology and/or Bioinformatics
• Programming skills

Admissibility requirements:

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

• The candidate's curriculum vitae;
• Certificates of all the academic degrees obtained or the candidate's declaration of honour that he/she has completed the degrees by the application deadline (annex I);
• Statement proving that meets the conditions for the grant typology, according to the application requirements (annex II).
• For degrees obtained abroad, the record of recognition of the academic degrees and record of the conversion of the respective final classification to the Portuguese classification scale must be presented, or, alternatively, the candidate's declaration of honour; 

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: Development of bioinformatics tools for the modelling of pathogenic microorganisms, aimed at identifying alternative strategies for pest and disease control in Vitis vinifera, including the simulation of infection mechanisms; integration of omics and environmental data to enhance the accuracy, robustness and predictive power of the models.

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. 81, through dispatch no. 4998/2025 of 28-04-2025 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 the Centre of Biological Engineering of University of Minho, located in the University of Minho, Campus of Gualtar, in Braga, under the direction of Doctor Nuno Miguel Dias Cerca, coordinator of the host entity, and whose scientific guidance will be the responsibility of the Doctor Oscar Manuel Lima Dias.

Fellowship duration: The grant will take place for a period of 6 months, with a provisional starting date in October 2025.

The fellowship grant may eventually be renewed within the limits established for each type of scholarship, and cannot exceed the maximum duration of the project and if the project is extended.

Renewal conditions: BI research fellowships can be renewed for additional periods until they reach:

• 1 year: graduates or masters enrolled in non-conferring courses that do not award an academic degree (the total duration of the scholarship cannot exceed an accumulated period of 2 years, consecutive or interpolated; resuming, a fellow cannot accumulate more than 2 years in this typology of research fellowship) ;
• 4 years: Phd students]

Amount of the research grant: The value stipend (Monthly Maintenance Allowance) is 1.309,64 € 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.IP) and the Regulation of Scientific Research Fellowships of the University of Minho, 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 contract.

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 selection panel shall consist of three effective members and two substitute members.

President:

Oscar Manuel Lima Dias, Assistant Researcher at the Centre of Biological Engineering at the University of Minho;

Effective members: 

Miguel Francisco de Almeida Pereira da Rocha, Associate Professor with Habilitation at the Department of Informatics at the University of Minho;

Andreia Filipa Ferreira Salvador, Assistant Researcher at the Centre of Biological Engineering at the University of Minho;

Substitute members:

Ricardo Nuno Correia Pereira, Assistant Researcher at the Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, and António Augusto Martins de Oliveira Soares Vicente, Full Professor at the Department of Biological Engineering, University of Minho.

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 applications assessment will focus on the candidate's Merit, following evaluation criteria, valued on a scale of 1 to 5 values:

Applicant Merit - AM (100%):

A1 - Academic path (considering the classifications of academic degrees), with a weighting of 45%;

A2 - Personal curriculum (considering professional and scientific background), with a weighting of 45%

A3 – Motivation letter, with a weighting of 10%.

The final classification of the applicant’s merit will be achieved through the following formula:

MC = (A1×0,45) + (A2×0,45) + (A3×0,1)

Candidates with a score of less than 3.5 points in the AM criterion will be excluded.

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 (annex I). 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 in accordance with articles 12 of the FCT's RBI (FCT funding) or the UMinho RBI (other funding subject to the UMinho regulation).

In 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 by final grade obtained on the site of the Centre of Biological Engineering of UMinho (https://empregoceb.wordpress.com/ ), 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 submit an optional hierarchical appeal, addressed to the Pro-Rector for Scientific Projects and Research Management, Professor Doctor Sandra Paiva.

Constitution of a selection reserve list: The applicants ranked in the next positions on the ordered list will be included in a selection reserve list, which can be used until 30/11/2025.

Application deadline and submission: The call for applications is open for a minimum period of 10 working days after the notice publication on the European Scientific Mobility Portal Euraxess.

Applications must be formalized by sending an application letter with the following documents:

• curriculum vitae;
• qualifications certificates of all the academic degrees obtained or declaration of the applicant (Annex I)
• motivation letter;
• statement proving that meets the conditions for the grant typology, according to the application requirements (annex II);
• other documents important to the evaluation process.

Applications must be sent by email to bolsas@ceb.uminho.pt , indicating the reference of the call - CEB-BI-42-2025, in Subject. Applications submitted by other means will not be accepted.

Failure to indicate the competition reference, the lack of any of the documents required in the application, or the sending/delivery of the application to a location other than that indicated above, may result in its exclusion.

Fellowship contract: The fellowship will be attributed by signing a fellowship contract between the University of Minho and the fellow, accordingly with the contract minute (annex II of the Regulation of Research Fellowships of the University of Minho, published in Diário da República, 2nd Série, no. 81 - dispatch no. 4998/2025 of 28-04-2025) in its updated version, as indicated in 2.4 of the “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 fellowship 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 60 working days after the end of the fellowship.

The final report must be prepared in accordance with Annex I of the Scientific Research Fellowships Regulation of the University of Minho, published in Diário da República, 2nd Série, no. 81, through dispatch no. 4998/2025 of 28-04-2025.

Non-discrimination and equal access policy: UMinho 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 due to, in particular, 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 union membership.

ANNEX I

Declaration of Honor

Academic habilitations

I XXXXXX (Full name), applicant to the research fellowship vacancy under the R&D project STrengthS4WineChaiN – “Scientific and technological synergies for sustainable development of the wine chain in the North region” (NORTE2030-FEDER-01786100), supported by the Northern Regional Program 2021-2027 (Norte 2030), published on the Euraxess portal, with the reference CEB-BI-42-2025, declare on my honor to have completed the academic degree of XXXXX(academic degree), qualifying for the type of scholarship in the competition, namely the course XXXXXXX (name of the course), concluded in the University of XXXX, on the XX/XX/XXXX (conclusion date), with the final grade of XX values on the YY scale[1].

I have submitted my diploma for recognition at the University of XXXXX, according to the Decree-Law nº 66/2018 of August 16th([2] ), concluded in the XX/XX/XXXX, with the final grade of XXXXX out of YY.

I also declare that I commit to provide proof of my diploma recognition obtained under the Portuguese Law, until the date of the contracting phase 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).

__________________________

(name)

ANNEX II

Declaration of Honor

History of Research Grants

I, XXXXXXX (Full name), bearer of identification document number XXXXXXX, applicant to the research fellowship vacancy under the R&D project STrengthS4WineChaiN – “Scientific and technological synergies for sustainable development of the wine chain in the North region” (NORTE2030-FEDER-01786100), supported by the Northern Regional Program 2021-2027 (Norte 2030), published in the Euraxess portal with the reference CEB-BI-42-2025, hereby declare that until now have never received any research grant under the Research Fellow Statute.

Or

have received the following research grants under the research fellowship statutes.

(fill in as appropriate):

Starting date

End date

Fellowship duration (month)

Type of fellowship

Fellowship Reference

Host/Contracting institution

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

(Place), (date).

__________________________

(name)

[1] The declaration can only certify facts that occurred on a date prior to the application.

   In situations of discrepancy between the information contained in the declaration and the documentation submitted for the purpose of contracting the fellowship, only the information contained in the latter will be considered.

[2] 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