Research Scholarship - UPFibre - BI Porto

Research Scholarship - UPFibre - BI
Porto
Porto, Porto District, Portugal

Organisation/Company Universidade Católica Portuguesa - Porto Research Field Biological sciences » Other Chemistry » Biochemistry Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions Master Positions Country Portugal Application Deadline 15 Jun 2025 - 17:00 (Europe/Lisbon) Type of Contract Other Type of Contract Extra Information NA Job Status Full-time Offer Starting Date 29 May 2025 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

CALL FOR APPLICATION FOR A RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP

A call for tenders is now open for the attribution of one Research Scholarship within the scope of the Project “ UPFibre - Unlocking the bioactive potential of upcycled antioxidant dietary fibre via machine learning. ” financed by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) , under the following conditions, set out below.

Scientific area: Biotechnology.

Admission requirements:

General requirements:

Candidates for the Research grant must hold a Master’s. degree in Biological Sciences, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Food Science or related areas.

Specific requirements:

Candidates must also have knowledge/research experience in the following areas:

- Extraction and characterisation of bioactive compounds, preferably in dietary fibre;

- In vitro gastrointestinal and colonic fermentation models;

- Spectroscopic and chromatographic analysis (FTIR, HPAEC-PAD, GC- FID, HPLC, LC-MS).

Preferred Factors:

Will be considered preferred factors:

- Experience in research projects related to bioactive compounds, especially on dietary fibre, and their role in modulating gut microbiota;

- Good proficiency in English (written and spoken);

- Knowledge in R or other data analysis tools.

Candidates for the Research scholarship must also be enrolled or commit to enrolling in a course that does not lead to an academic degree that promotes the consolidation of their scientific training [1].

Work Plan:

The activities to be carried out by the grant holder are part of the UPFibre project, which aims to develop
- added antioxidant dietary fibre (ADF) ingredients from food
- products with potential gut health benefits. The activities include the extraction and characterisation of ADF, as well as the evaluation of its fermentability and bioactivity through in vitro digestion and colonic fermentation models. The grant holder is expected to support experimental work, assist in the optimisation of methodologies and assays, and contribute to project dissemination and the preparation of scientific communications.

Duration of the scholarship:

The scholarship, scheduled to start on July 15, 2025, will have an initial duration of 5 months on an exclusive basis. The grant may be renewed for an additional period of 7 months, provided that it is covered by the financing project, but may never exceed the maximum duration of the scholarship type (12 months).

The selection methods to be used will be the following: i) curriculum ( 50% ); ii) previous experience ( 50% ). If necessary, the 3 best positioned candidates may be interviewed, and in this situation, the weighting will be curricular evaluation ( 40% ). ; ii) previous experience ( 40% ) and selection interview ( 20% ).

Only candidates with a final classification equal to or greater than 80 , on a scale of 0 to 100, will be selected for this position.

Applications that do not meet the admission requirements, delivered on time and incomplete applications will be considered ineligible.

Composition of the Selection Jury: President of the Jury: Dr Manuela Pintado , Effective Members: Dr Tânia Bragança Ribeiro and Dr Clara Sousa. Substitute Jury: Dr Alcina Bernardo and Dr Ana Sofia Salsinha.

Form of advertising/notification of results:

The jury deliberates in accordance with the selection criteria adopted and disclosed. The jury meetings minutes will contain a summary of the meeting content. After completing the application of the selection criteria, the jury proceeds with the elaboration of the ordered list, with the ranking of the approved candidates. The ranking list of eligible candidates will be published on the premises of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, in Porto, located at Rua de Diogo Botelho, 1327, 4169-005 Porto - Portugal, with each candidate being notified of his/her position on the list ranking of candidates via email. Ineligible applicants will be notified by email, with details of the missing eligibility elements.

Complaint and appeal procedures:

Candidates have a period of ten working days, after the disclosure referred to in the previous number, to give their opinion at a prior hearing.

Deadline for acceptance of the scholarship:

Within ten working days following notification of the grant award, the selected candidate must confirm in writing his/her availability to start the scholarship on the proposed date. Failing to do so or not having availability, the candidate placed in the next position will be called.

Application deadline and form of submission:

Candidates submit their application from May 29, 2025 until June 15, 2025 (until 5 pm, Lisbon time).

It will be necessary to submit the following documents:

• Cover letter, identifying the title and reference of the project, describe the motivation and professional objectives of the candidate.
• Detailed Curriculum Vitae (should contain all the elements to assess the admission requirements, including language knowledge and research experience).
• Copy of the certificate(s) of qualifications conferring academic degree in the terms requested in the notice, which contain the final classifications.
• Registration of recognition of the academic degree awarded by a foreign higher education institution, preferably with the registration of the conversion of the respective final classification to the Portuguese classification scale to guarantee eligibility in this call for application [2].
• Proof of enrollment in a course that does not award an academic degree or declaration of commitment to enroll in a course that does not award an academic degree as set out in the admission requirements.

Only applications received during the opening period of the
- mentioned call shall be considered.

Candidates who incorrectly formalize their application or who do not prove the requirements of this call are excluded. False statements made by applicants will be punished under the law.

Mandatory documentation:

The following documents must be sent, at the time of the eventual granting of the scholarship, for the purposes of its contractualization:

• Copy of the ID/Passport document and Tax identification document(s) [3] ;
• Copy of all academic degree certificates;
• Document of the registration of recognition of foreign academic degrees;
• Document proving enrolment in the course that does not award an academic degree identified in this Notice.
• Statement by the supervisor(s) assuming responsibility for supervising the work plan, pursuant to article 5-A of the Research Fellowship Statute;
• Updated document proving compliance with the exclusive dedication regime.

Contract

The contract model to be used will be in follow the FCT scholarship holder contract draft available at the following link:

Reports to be presented by the fellow and supervisor:

The final report model to be prepared by the fellow is available at the following link:

The report model to be carried out by the supervisor and the respective evaluation criteria are available at the following link:

Universidade Católica Portuguesa is the controller responsible for the processing of Personal Data in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – General Regulation on Data Protection.

The personal data processed in the scope of this tender procedure is processed within the framework of said tender procedure only and will be processed by Universidade Católica Portuguesa with the purpose of verifying the fulfilment, by the candidates, of the assumptions established in the applicable legislation for their contracting. Opposition to the processing of data by the candidates will make it impossible to accept the application and, therefore, to analyse and evaluate it.

The personal data of the Data Subject, if it be indispensable for the fulfilment of the obligations of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, may be conveyed to third parties, namely to the Financing Entities identified in this announcement.

The data retention period shall correspond to the legally defined period of five years.

The Data Subject is entitled to oppose to the collection and processing of data, has the right to verification, the right to rectification, the right to deletion, and the right to restriction of processing of the data collected. However, the exercise of such rights may be excluded when the personal data is used to protect public interest, namely in the detection and prevention of crimes or when subject to professional rules of confidentiality.

The Data Subject has the right of access and portability of the data.

For purposes of exercising the respective rights, contact the University through the
- mail address compliance. rgpd@ucp. pt or by using the address found at the end of this announcement, through the means set out in "Contacts for clarification".

Non-discrimination and equal access policy:

Universidade Católica Portuguesa actively promotes a
- discrimination and equal access policy, wherefore no candidate can be privileged, benefited, impaired or deprived of any rights whatsoever, or be exempt of any duties based on their ancestry, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, family and economic conditions, instruction, 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 union membership.

If you have any questions about this position, please contact:

[1] Candidates are given the possibility, at the application stage, to submit only a declaration of commitment to enroll in a course that does not confer an academic degree under the terms mentioned above. If the candidate is selected, the delivery failure of the effective enrollment document for the course, within ten working days, following the date of communication of the selection, will be considered as withdrawal of the candidate for the scholarship investigation for which you were selected

[2] If the required academic degree has been conferred by a foreign higher education institution, it must comply with the Portuguese legislation on the recognition of foreign degrees, regulated by DL no. 66/2018 of 16 August.

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