ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP/IPC/BONECRAFT_EE /BF/35/2025

Organisation/Company University of Minho Department Institute for Polymers and Composites Research Field Engineering » Materials engineering Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions Bachelor Positions Country Portugal Application Deadline 16 Dec 2025 - 23:59 (Europe/Lisbon) Type of Contract Other Type of Contract Extra Information Bachelor Positions Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

Title: Research Grant for Bachelor's - 1 vacancy

Reference: IPC/BONECRAFT_EE /BF/35/2025

1. Scientific Area: Polymer Engineering; Materials Engineering; Chemical Engineering and related areas

2. Recipient category:Students enrolled in a Master’s degree program at a Higher Education Institution who intend to carry out their Master’s dissertation within the scientific scope of this fellowship. Eligible scientific backgrounds include Polymer Engineering, Materials Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related fields.

Requirement for granting the fellowship:

• The fellowship will only be contracted upon presentation of a valid proof of enrollment in the Master’s program, issued by a Higher Education Institution, indicating the academic year and/or the duration of the enrollment.
• At the time of contracting, applicants must also provide a statement confirming their intention to carry out the Master’s dissertation on the specific topic of the fellowship, validated by the academic supervisor or the program coordinator.

3. Applicants’ eligibility: Candidates who meet the conditions set out in Article 9 of the Research Grant Regulations, No. 950/2019, of 16-12-2019, of FCT I. P. are eligible.

Nationals or citizens of other European Union member states,
- country nationals, stateless persons, and citizens with political refugee status are eligible to apply for this competition.

Candidate eligibility requirements:

• Background in Polymer Engineering, Materials Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related fields, with coursework or training relevant to polymer science.
• Proven interest in fused filament fabrication and in
  - based composites, produced via powder or filament deposition and willingness to learn and further develop practical skills in this area during the fellowship.
• Ability to perform experimental work and to interpret experimental data considering the scientific literature of the field (describe in curriculum).
• Proficiency in software for fitting data (describe in curriculum).

4. Workplan and objectives to be achieved:

The work plan focuses on the 3D printing (Fused Filament Fabrication) of PHA-based composites reinforced with MXenes. The activities include i) the preparation of PHA formulations with the incorporation and dispersion of fillers through melt mixing processes, ii) thermal, rheological, and morphological characterization of the produced materials, and iii) corresponding evaluation of their suitability for 3D printing through filament extrusion. The objective will be to identify PHA-based materials with good printing characteristics, exhibiting stable flow behavior and thermal performance during melt printing.

5. Applicable legislation and regulations:Research Fellow Statute (EBI), approved by Law nº. 40/2004 of August 18, in its current wording and FCT Research Fellowship Regulation, approved by Regulation nº 950/2019, published in the Diário da República, 2nd series, of December 16, 2019, in its current wording, and Scientific Research Fellowship Regulation (RBIC) of the University of Minho, approved by order nº 4998/2025, published in the Diário da República, 2nd series, nº 81, of April 28, 2025Amended and republished through amendment statement no. 634/2025/2, published in the Official Gazette, 2nd series, no. 132, of July 11.

6. Host/Contracting institution and scientific supervision:The workplan will be carried out in the Institute of Polymers and Composites of the School of Engineering of the University of Minho, located in the Azurém Campus, Guimaraes, under the scientific supervision of researchers Bruno Faria and Sacha Trevelyan Mould.

7. Fellowship duration: The grant will take place for a period of 3 months, with a provisional starting date on January of 2026.

8. Amount of the research grant:The amount of the grant corresponds to 1. 040, 98€/month, according to the table of values of the Research scholarship of the University of Minho, updated annually, as decided by the Management Board.

Payment is made on the 23rd of each month, through bank transfer to the Bank Identification Number of the fellow identified in the contratualization process.

Other components of the research grant:Define other components of the scholarships, as provided for in Article 18º of the FCT Research Scholarship Regulations (RBI).

Other benefits: Reimbursement of Voluntary Social Insurance, if the candidate chooses to receive it, 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.

9. Selection panel: The Jury is composed by the

President – Bruno Miguel Silva Faria, Assistant Researcher at Institute for Polymers and Composites, School of Engineering, University of Minho.

Effective members – Sacha Trevelyan Mould, Assistant Professor at the Department of Polymer Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Minho and Loïc Hilliou, Assistant Researcher at Institute for Polymers and Composites, School of Engineering, University of Minho.

Alternate members – Cidália Castro and Pedro Rodrigues, both researchers at Researcher at Institute for Polymers and Composites, School of Engineering, University of Minho.

10. 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 0 to 5 values (or another scale) [1] :

• Academic path (considering the classifications of academic degrees), with a weighting of 50%;
• Personal curriculum (considering professional and scientific background), with a weighting of 40%;
• Motivation letter, with a weighting of 10%.

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

MC=(a*0, 5) +(b*0, 4) +(c*0, 1)

Note: 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.

11. Application deadline and submission: The call for applications is open from November 27th to December 16th, 2025, on the Euraxess portal.

Applications must be submitted by email to bruno. faria@dep. uminho. pt, indicating the reference number of the competition in the subject line. Only applications submitted within the established deadline and accompanied by the following documents will be accepted:

• Candidate's updated curriculum vitae;
• Certificates of the academic degrees obtained or, if applicable, the candidate's declaration of honor that he/she has completed the degrees required in the notice by the application deadline (not applicable to research initiation grants). 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, a declaration of honor from the candidate. This declaration must attest to facts that occurred prior to the application. In the event of a discrepancy between the information contained in the declaration and the documentation submitted for the purposes of contracting the scholarship, only the information contained in the latter will be considered. If it is found that the documents proving the academic degree and diploma, or their recognition under the terms of Decree-Law n. º 66/2018, of August 16, do not correspond to the classifications awarded in the assessment of the academic career and may consequently alter the candidate's ranking, the scholarship will not be contracted;
• Statement confirming their intention to carry out the Master’s dissertation on the specific topic of the fellowship, validated by the academic supervisor or the program coordinator.
• Letter of motivation.

12. Form of publication/notification of results: The results of the evaluation are published in a single list by final score obtained, posted in a visible and public place in the host unit, as well as by email to all candidates, attaching, for this purpose, the minutes of the jury's deliberations, within a maximum period of 90 working days from the deadline for submission of applications.

Candidates are informed, at a preliminary hearing, in accordance with Articles 121 and 122 of the Administrative Procedure Code, of the likely outcome of the final decision, and may comment within 10 working days of this notification.

An appeal may be lodged against the final decision within 15 working days, or an appeal may be lodged with the highest executive body of the funding entity within 30 days, both after the respective notification (Article 12(nº6) of the FCT Research Grant Regulations).

Within 10 working days of notification of the grant award, the applicant must declare their acceptance in writing. In case of
- acceptance, the next highest ranked applicant will be notified immediately.

13. Fellowship contractualization:The scholarship is awarded through the signing of a contract between the University of Minho and the scholarship recipient, in accordance with point 2. 4 of the Rules for the Award and Management of Scholarships https://www.fct. pt/wpcontent/uploads/2022/03/Normas_de_Atribuicao_de_Bolsas_2021. pdf and the draft contract in Annex II of the University of Minho's Scientific Research Scholarship Regulations.

The contract can only be signed after receipt of all the documentation required for the type of scholarship, which must occur within a maximum period of 6 months, including proof of academic degrees or diplomas, as well as enrollment in
- degree study cycles or courses, as applicable.

Once all the documentation has been received, the contracting entity has 60 working days to sign the scholarship contract. Once received by the scholarship holder, the contract must be returned, duly signed, within 15 working days.

14. Term and cancellation of fellowship contracts:Without prejudice to the other grounds laid down in the University of Minho's Scientific Research Scholarship Regulation and in the Research Fellow Statute, the scholarship will cease on completion of the contracted work plan, as well as on expiry of the period for which it was granted or renewed.

15. Thefinal report must be submitted to the scientific advisor, in accordance with the defined objectives and evaluation criteria, no later than 60 working days after the end of the scholarship and must be drawn up in accordance with Annex I of the Regulations of the University of Minho.

Non-discrimination and equal access policy: Universidade do Minho actively promotes a policy of
- discrimination and equal access, so that no candidate may 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 status, economic situation, education, social origin or condition, genetic heritage, reduced working capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin or race, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions and trade union membership.

Declaration of Honor

I, (full name), candidate for the vacancy for the award of a (type of scholarship), within the scope of the project (name or reference of the project), published on the Euraxess portal, with the reference (ref. notice), declare on my honor that I have completed the academic degree of (academic degree), qualifying for the type of scholarship in the competition, namely the course (designation), by the (University conferring the degree), on the date XX/XX/XXXX, with a final average of XXXXX values on the YY scale.

As it is not possible for me to present proof of qualifications until the end of the competition, I declare that I undertake to present the aforementioned certificate at the conclusion of the scholarship contract, in the event that I am selected for the vacancy in the competition.

As this is true, I hereby date and sign this declaration.

(Place), (date).

__________________________

(full name)

NOTE: The declaration may only attest to facts that occurred prior to the application.

In the event of a discrepancy between the information contained in the declaration and the documentation submitted for the purpose of contracting the scholarship, only the information contained in the latter will be taken into account.

Declaration of Honor

I, (full name), bearer of identification document number (XXXX), candidate for a research grant (type of grant), within the scope of the project (name or reference of the project), published on the Euraxess portal, with the reference (ref. call for proposals), declare on my honor that (I have not received any research grants to date / I have received the following research grants) under the Research Grant Holder Statute.

University

Project

Type of Grant

Duration

Start

Term

As this is true, I hereby date and sign this declaration.