COMPETITION FOR GRANTING 1 RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP FOR A PhD STUDENT- #NOVAID-B391 Funchal

Organisation/Company NOVA. id. FCT- Associação para a Inovação de Desenvolvimento da FCT Research Field Computer science Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions Master Positions Country Portugal Application Deadline 30 Oct 2025 - 23:59 (Europe/Lisbon) Type of Contract Not Applicable Job Status Not Applicable Hours Per Week 35 Offer Starting Date 17 Oct 2025 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Reference Number UID 04516 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Work Plan:

Title: Virtual Reality to Promote Adaptation to Psychological Responses after Early Pregnancy Loss

• This project will use a standalone Virtual Reality (VR) tool to provide a preventive intervention following a miscarriage. Immersive environments will be implemented and accessed through a VR device, such as the Meta Quest 2, offering a variety of tasks based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Grief Therapy.
• A virtual agent will be used to share experiences of loss. The research fellow will work on the development of the agent and enhance the existing animations and animation system. An iterative design process involving prototyping cycles, testing, and refinement will be used to progressively improve its design until the desired quality and functionality are achieved.
• Tests will be conducted with a sample from the general population to measure usability and other important aspects, such as users’
  - reported emotional responses, levels of affinity, and the social presence of the agent.
• Finally, a feasibility study will be carried out with women who experienced a pregnancy loss between six weeks and four months prior to participation.

Workplace:

The work will be developed at NOVA Laboratory for Computer Science and Informatics – Universidade da Madeira, under the supervision of Professor Mónica Cameirão.

The scholarship will last for 6 months, eventually renewed within the duration of the project.

Application deadline and form of application submission:

This call is open from 17/10/2025 to 30/10/2025.

The application must include the following documents:

CV, motivation letter, copy of academic records/certificates* and proof of enrollment in a Doctoral program (or, if not registered in a doctoral program on the date of application, a declaration on honor by the candidate that he or she meets the requirements to enroll in a doctoral program).

Documents that are of mandatory submission, for purposes of the studentship contracting:

proof of enrollment in a Ph
D program.

In case of foreign academic degrees, and to guarantee the application of the principle of equal treatment to applicants with national and foreign academic degrees, it is mandatory to submit the recognition of such degrees and the conversion of the respective final grade to the Portuguese grading scale.

Applicable legislation and regulations:

Law No. 40/2004, of August 18, amended and republished by Decree-Law No. 202/2012 of August 27 (Statute of the Scientific Research Fellow) and amended by Decree-Law No. 233/2012 of October 29, by Law No. 12 /2013 of 29 January, by Decree-Law No. 89/2013, of 9 July and Decree-Law No. 123/2019, of 28 August; Regulation of Research Grants of NOVA. id. FCT – Association for Innovation and Development of FCT; Regulation of Research Grants of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I. P. in force (https://www.fct. pt/apoios/bolsas/regulamento. phtml. pt );

Where to apply

E-mail monica. cameirao@staff. uma. pt

Requirements

Research Field Computer science Education Level Master Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

• Mandatory Requirements:
• Master’s degree in Interactive Media Design, Informatics Engineering or related areas.
• Enrolment in a Ph
  D program in Computer Science.
• The documents proving this situation must be presented, at the latest, up to the stage of contracting the scholarship, and before that, they may be replaced by a declaration of honor.
• Available to start immediately

• Preferred Factors:
• Experience with Unity
• Experience with immersive Virtual Reality
• Experience with intelligent conversational virtual agents for psychological support
• Experience with LLMs, particularly with Ollama
• Experience with user testing and statistical data analysis
• Knowledge of
  - behavioral intervention and its application to grief

Additional Information

Monthly maintenance allowance amount:

The amount of the monthly maintenance allowance corresponds to €1309. 64 euros.

Eligibility criteria

Selection criteria:

For all candidates who meet the minimum requirements, a classification will be made, on a scale of 0 to 20, taking into account the weighting of the following selection methods:

- Previous Experience Relevant to the Project Execution (40%)

Selection process

Composition of the Selection Jury:

President:

Effective members:

Substitute members:

Form of advertising/notification of results:

The evaluation results proposed by the jury will be notified, up to 90 days after the deadline for the submission of applications, by email, of the results proposed by the jury, with access to the minutes and the final ranking list. After notification, candidates will have 10 working days to comment on the draft decision (prior hearing of interested parties, under the terms of the Code of Administrative Procedure). The final decision will be taken after the expiry of the prior hearing period, again notified to all candidates by
- mail. Of this final decision the candidates can file a complaint within 15 working days (to the
- mail address used for the notification), or a hierarchical appeal, within 30 working days, addressed to NOVA. ID. FCT's Board through the address coord1@novaidfct. pt.

Additional comments

Drafts:

The drafts of: i) fellowship contract, ii) final report to be presented by the fellowship holder, iii) final report to be presented by the scientific advisor, and; iv) declaration on honor, can all be found on NOVA. id. FCT website.