Notice Call | PhD Research Grants

21 august, 2020≈ 20 min read

The University of Coimbra (UC) is opening a competition for the award of 2 (two) Research Grants, hereinafter referred to as Doctoral Research Grants, in the area of Contemporary Studies, under the Regulation of Research Grants of the FCT (RBI) and the Research Fellow Status (EBI).

The scholarships will be financed by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the Collaboration Protocol for Financing the Multiannual Plan for Research Scholarships for Doctoral Students, signed between FCT and the R&D Unit Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the 20th Century , UIDP/00460/2020.

1. SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION

The competition is open between August 21, 2020 and 11:59 pm (Lisbon time) on September 4, 2020.

Applications and application support documents provided for in this Competition Opening Notice must be submitted by email sent to direcao.ceis20@uc.pt.

Each candidate may submit only one application, under penalty of cancellation of all applications submitted.

Providing false statements or carrying out acts of plagiarism by candidates is grounds for cancellation of the candidacy without prejudice to the adoption of other sanctioning measures.

2. TYPE AND DURATION OF SCHOLARSHIPS

Doctoral research grants are intended to finance the grantee's carrying out of research activities leading to obtaining the academic degree of doctor in Portuguese universities.

The research activities leading to obtaining the academic degree of doctor will take place at the R&D Unit Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the 20th Century, which will be the host institution for the scholarship holders, without prejudice to the fact that work can be carried out in collaboration between more than one institution .

The research activities leading to the obtaining of the academic degree of doctor of the selected scholarship holders must be framed in the activity plan and strategy of the R&D Unit Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the 20th Century, and must be developed within the scope of the following Doctoral Program:

Doctoral Program in Contemporary Studies, at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the 20th Century at the University of Coimbra;
The work plan may take place entirely or partially at a national institution (in-country scholarship or mixed scholarship, respectively).

The duration of scholarships is, as a rule, annual, renewable for a maximum of four years (48 months), and scholarships cannot be granted for a period of less than 3 consecutive months.

In the case of a mixed scholarship, the period of the work plan taking place in a foreign institution cannot exceed 24 months.

3. SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

Doctoral Research Scholarships are intended for registered candidates or candidates who meet the necessary conditions to enroll in the Doctoral Program set out in point 2 of this Notice and who wish to develop research activities leading to obtaining the academic degree of doctor in R&D Unit Center for 20th Century Interdisciplinary Studies, or in host institutions associated with it.

4. ADMISSIBILITY

4.1 Candidate Admissibility Requirements

You can apply for this competition:

National citizens or citizens of other member states of the European Union;
Citizens of third countries;
Stateless persons;
Citizens benefiting from political refugee status.

To apply for a PhD Research Scholarship you must:

Be a master in scientific areas focusing on any aspects related to Contemporary Studies;
Reside in Portugal permanently and habitually, if the work plan associated with the scholarship takes place, partially, in foreign institutions (mixed scholarships), a requirement applicable to both national and foreign citizens.
Not have benefited from a doctoral scholarship or doctorate in companies directly financed by FCT, regardless of its duration.

4.2 Application Admissibility Requirements

It is essential, under penalty of non-admission to the Competition, to attach the following documents to the application:

Elements of identity card/citizen card/passport;
Elements of the residence permit in Portugal (both national and foreign citizens);
Curriculum vitae of the candidate;
Certificates of qualification of the academic degrees held, obligatorily specifying the final classification and, if possible, the classifications obtained in all subjects taken, or, alternatively, a declaration of honor from the candidate on how he/she completed the bachelor's or master's degree until the end of the application deadline;
Record of recognition of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions and record of the conversion of the respective final classification to the Portuguese classification scale, or, alternatively, a declaration of honor from the candidate in which they obtained recognition of the foreign degree equivalent to that of a bachelor's degree or master's degree by the end of the application deadline;
Letter of interest;

The application does not require the presentation of a work plan. However, the motivation letter to be presented must be able to demonstrate the candidate's interest and familiarity with the set of themes and areas of study that make up the scientific culture of the PhD in Contemporary Studies, and particularly with the themes of the four axes of the CEIS20 strategic project:

Democracy, Present Time and Memory of Dictatorships;
Inequalities, Borders and Mobilities;
Media and Society in the Post-Digital Era;
Theory in Humanities, Arts, Sciences and Social Technologies.
Candidates whose curriculum and motivation can cross several of these interdisciplinary axes are therefore encouraged. The scientific interests of candidates will not have to be limited to themes related to Portuguese history and society, transnational and comparative objects of study will also be encouraged.

NOTE: The Motivation Letter for the preliminary project will have a maximum of 1500 (one thousand and five hundred words)

Letters of Recommendation (two);
Write the application and all documents associated with it, including letters of motivation and recommendation, in Portuguese or English.
Regarding the admissibility requirements mentioned above, the following should be noted:

The scholarship holder must follow the multi-annual Follow-up Seminar of a tutorial nature between the second and fourth years; participate annually in the “CEIS20 Young Researchers Meeting”, where you will present the progress of your research work; and comply with all other study program standards.

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 who hold foreign and national academic degrees, it is mandatory to recognize these degrees and convert the respective final classification to the Portuguese classification 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 Directorate-General for Higher Education (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.
All requests for automatic recognition or level made to the UC are exempt from payment of fees in the case of candidates for competitive procedures (from the UC) for the recruitment of Researchers and, as well, for the award of Research Grants, which may be selected and hired and need to obtain recognition of academic degrees or higher education diplomas awarded by foreign higher education institutions, in accordance with Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of August 16, as a requirement for hiring.
All requests for automatic recognition or level made to the UC are exempt from payment of fees in the case of candidates for competitive procedures (from the UC) for the recruitment of Researchers and, as well, for the award of Research Grants, which may be selected and hired and need to obtain recognition of academic degrees or higher education diplomas awarded by foreign higher education institutions, in accordance with Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of August 16, as a requirement for hiring.
Only candidates who have completed the study cycle leading to a bachelor's or master's degree by the end of the application deadline will be admitted. If they do not yet have a course completion certificate, a declaration of honor from candidates stating that they have completed the necessary qualifications for the purposes of the competition will be accepted until the end of the application period. The award of the scholarship is always dependent on the presentation of proof of possession of the academic qualifications necessary to grant the scholarship.

5. WORK PLANS AND SCIENTIFIC ORIENTATION OF THE SCHOLARSHIPS

Work plan to be developed within the scope of themes falling within the four axes of the CEIS20 strategic project — (1) Democracy, Present Time and Memory of Didactures, (2) Inequalities, Borders and Mobilities, (3) Media and Society in the Post- Digital, (4) Theory in Humanities, Arts, Sciences and Social Technologies — under the main guidance of an integrated CEIS20 researcher to be defined, depending on the preliminary project of the selected candidates.

6. EVALUATION CRITERIA AND BONUSES

6.1 Assessment Criteria

The evaluation takes into account the candidate's merit, the curriculum evaluation and the interview.

Applications considered admissible will be scored on a scale of 0-20 in each of the following evaluation criteria:

Criterion A - Candidate's merit, with a weight of 40%;
Sub-criterion A1 - academic career, with a weight of 50%;
Sub-criterion A2 – personal CV, with a weight of 50%;
Criterion B – Motivation Letter with a weight of 40%;
Sub-criterion B1 - originality and quality of the motivation letter, with a weight of 40%;
Sub-criterion B2 - adequacy and relevance of the motivation letter to the axes of the CEIS20 strategic project, with a weight of 60%;
Criterion C — Interview, with a weight of 20%
Sub-criterion C1 – Communicative expression, with a weight of 40%;
Sub-criterion C2 - Knowledge of CEIS20 research activity, with a weight of 60%.

For the purposes of deciding on granting scholarships, candidates 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 x A) + (0.4 x B) + (0.2 x C) 

For tiebreaker purposes, the ranking of candidates will be based on the classifications assigned to each of the evaluation criteria in the following order of precedence: criterion B, criterion A, criterion C.

Important notice for candidates with diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions:

Candidates with diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions may apply and will be assessed using the same criteria as candidates with diplomas issued by Portuguese institutions, provided that they present, in their application, proof the recognition of academic degrees and the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale in accordance with applicable legislation;
Candidates with foreign diplomas who do not present proof of conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale will be evaluated with the minimum classification (0 points) in criterion A;
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.
Candidates whose application is evaluated with a final classification lower than (14) points are not eligible for granting a scholarship.

6.2 Bonus

Not applicable.

7. EVALUATION

The candidate evaluation panel is made up of the following elements:

José António Oliveira Martins, Center for 20th Century Interdisciplinary Studies (Coordinator), Faculty of Arts, University of Coimbra;
Luís Manuel Duarte Antunes Figueiredo Trindade, Center for 20th Century Interdisciplinary Studies (Co-Coordinator), Faculty of Arts, University of Coimbra.
Anabela Santos Fernandes, Center for 20th Century Interdisciplinary Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Coimbra;
The evaluation panel will evaluate applications according to the constant evaluation criteria
The evaluation panel will evaluate applications in accordance with the evaluation criteria set out in this Call for Competition Notice, considering the assessment elements.

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

Panel members, including the coordinator, cannot be supervisors or co-supervisors of candidates with applications submitted to the competition.

For each application, the panel will produce a final evaluation form 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 meetings will be produced under the responsibility of all its members.

The minutes and their annexes must include the following information:

Name and affiliation of all review panel members;
Identification of all excluded applications and their 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;
CDI declarations from all panel members;
Possible delegations of votes and powers due to justified absence.

8. DISCLOSURE OF RESULTS

The results of the evaluation are communicated via email to the email address used by the candidate to send the application/indicated in the application.

The ordered classification list will also be published on the CEIS20 page at: https://www.uc.pt/iii/ceis20/.

9. DEADLINES AND PROCEDURES FOR PREVIOUS HEARING, COMPLAINT AND APPEAL

After communication of the provisional list of evaluation results, candidates have a period of 10 working days to, if they wish, make a statement at a prior hearing of interested parties, in accordance with articles 121 et seq. of the Code of Administrative Procedure .

The final decision will be made after analyzing the statements presented during a prior hearing of interested parties. A complaint may be filed against the final decision 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 concerns to the member of the FCT Board of Directors with delegated powers. Candidates who choose to submit an appeal must address it to the FCT Board of Directors.

10. SCHOLARSHIP AWARD REQUIREMENTS

Research grant contracts are signed directly with FCT.

The following documents must be sent, upon eventual granting of the scholarship, for the purposes of contracting it:

Copy of document(s) proving civil, tax and, where applicable, social security identification numbers [1];
Copy of qualification certificates for academic degrees held;
Presentation of the registration of recognition of foreign academic degrees and conversion of the respective final classifications to the Portuguese classification scale, if applicable;
Work plan;
Document proving enrollment and enrollment in one of the Doctoral Programs identified in this Notice;
Declaration by the supervisor(s) assuming responsibility for supervising the work plan, in accordance with article 5.º-A of the Research Fellow Statute (draft declaration to be made available by FCT);
Document proving acceptance of the candidate by the institution where the research activities will take place, guaranteeing the necessary conditions for their good development, as well as compliance with the duties set out in article 13 of the Research Fellow Statute (draft the declaration to be made available by FCT);
Updated document proving compliance with the exclusive dedication regime (draft declaration to be made available by FCT).

The granting of the scholarship is also dependent on:

compliance with the requirements set out in this Opening Notice;
the result of the scientific evaluation;
the absence of unjustified non-compliance with the scholarship holder's duties under a previous scholarship contract financed, directly or indirectly, by FCT;
of the FCT's budget availability.

Failure to deliver any of the documents necessary to complete the grant contracting process, within 6 months from the date of communication of the decision to conditionally grant the grant, will result in the forfeiture of said grant and the closure of the process.

11. FINANCING

Payment of scholarships will begin after the candidates return the duly signed scholarship contract, which must occur within a maximum period of 15 working days from the date of receipt.

The scholarships awarded under this competition will be financed by FCT with funds from the State Budget and, when eligible, with funds from the European Social Fund, to be made available under PORTUGAL2020, through, in particular, the Northern Regional Operational Program (NORTE 2020 ), Centro Regional Operational Program (Centro 2020) and Operational Program

Alentejo Region (Alentejo 2020), in accordance with the regulatory provisions established for this purpose.

12. COMPONENTS OF THE SCHOLARSHIP

Scholarship holders are awarded a monthly maintenance allowance in accordance with the table in Annex I of the RBI.

The grant may also include other components, under the terms set out in article 18 of the RBI and for the values set out 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 their right to social security by adhering to the voluntary social insurance regime, in accordance with the Code of Contributory Regimes of the Social Security Pension System, FCT ensuring the costs resulting from contributions under the terms and with the limits set out in article 10 of the EBI.

13. PAYMENTS FOR SCHOLARSHIP COMPONENTS

Payments due to the scholarship holder are made via bank transfer to the account identified by them. Payment of the monthly maintenance allowance is made on the first business day of each month.

Payments for registration, enrollment or tuition components are made by FCT directly to the national institution where the scholarship holder is enrolled or enrolled in the doctorate.

14. SCHOLARSHIP RENEWAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

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

a) opinions issued by the supervisor(s) and the host entity(ies) on the monitoring of the scholarship holder's work and the evaluation of their activities;

b) updated document proving compliance with the exclusive dedication regime;

c) document proving renewal of enrollment in the study cycle leading to the doctorate degree.

15. INFORMATION AND ADVERTISING OF FINANCING GRANTED

In all R&D activities directly or indirectly financed by the scholarship, namely, in all communications, publications and scientific creations, as well as theses, carried out with the support provided for in the scholarship, the mention of financial support from FCT and the Fund must be expressed. European Social Security, through, in particular, the Northern Regional Operational Program (NORTE 2020),

Centro Regional Operational Program (Centro 2020) and the Alentejo Regional Operational Program (Alentejo 2020). For this purpose, the insignia of the FCT, MCTES, FSE and EU must be included in the documents relating to these actions, in accordance with the graphic standards of each operational program.

The dissemination of research results funded under the RBI must comply with the open access standards for data, publications and other research results in force in the FCT.

In all scholarships, and in particular in the case of actions supported by community financing, namely from the FSE, monitoring and control actions may be carried out by national and community bodies in accordance with applicable legislation in this matter, existing on the part of the scholarship holders/ those supported are obliged to collaborate and provide the requested information, which includes carrying out surveys and evaluation studies in this area, even if the grant has already ended.

16. NON-DISCRIMINATION AND EQUAL ACCESS POLICY

FCT promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access, meaning that no candidate can be privileged, benefited, harmed or deprived of any right or exempt from any duty due to, 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 beliefs and trade union membership.

17. LEGISLATION AND REGULATION

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

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