Offer Description
COMPETITION FOR GRANTING A RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP (RF)
1 – Title
RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP (RF)
2 – Offer description
As per the terms laid down in Regulamento de Bolsas de Investigação do LNEC (LNEC Regulation for Research Fellowships), approved by Law no. 40/2004, 18 August, as it stands, we announce the launching of a call for awarding a research fellowship (RF) in the scope of the research line “Water quality, treatment and reuse” of the E2i program “Water in the City” and of the research projects Water4All and RECIRCULA – Rede CYTED.
3 – Financing source
LNEC own revenue
4 – Scientific area
Sanitary and Environmental Engineering
5 – Duration
The Grant shall be awarded for a 6-month period, renewable up to 1 year.
6 – Reserve list
A reserve list for selection shall be drawn up for a 6-month period as from the date of the final decision of this call.
7 – Activity Regime
All the work shall be developed on an exclusive dedication regime, as per the provisions laid down in the Statute of the Research Fellow, approved by Law no. 40/2004, 18 August, as it stands, and in LNEC Regulation for Fellowships, available on LNEC website.
8 – Work plan and objectives
The work is part of the ‘Water quality, treatment and reuse’ R&D line of LNEC’s Urban Water Unit and includes collaboration on two R&D projects, namely: (i) the development of materials to explain and communicate water treatment challenges and solutions to secondary school students (Water4All European Partnership – Task C.3.2.b Engagement and inspiration of generation Z towards water challenges and solutions) and (ii) the development of new materials for water treatment (within the scope of the CYTED RECIRCULA Network). The work has two main objectives as follows:
- Collaboration in the assembly of physical educational toolkits to demonstrate/teach treatment processes to a student audience aged 14-18.
- Preparation and experimental testing of powdered activated carbon (PAC) and granular activated carbon (GAC) with bactericidal properties, aimed at controlling biofouling in hybrid PAC adsorption/membrane filtration processes and minimising microbial growth in GAC filters for domestic use.
The work plan includes the following tasks (T)
- T1 – Literature review;
- T2 – Collaboration in the assembly and testing of two prototype educational toolkits for conventional and advanced water treatment processes (one prototype each);
- T3 – Optimisation of experimental procedures for the preparation of PACs and GACs with bactericidal properties;
- T4 – Carrying out experimental tests to assess the bactericidal effect of the prepared materials and their ability to adsorb organic matter and organic micropollutants from water (synthetic matrices and/or real water);
- T5 – Collaboration in the production of a scientific paper or conference paper.
9 – Location
Workplace: LNEC – National Laboratory for Civil Engineering, I.P.
Avenida do Brasil, 101 – 1700-066 Lisboa
Country: Portugal
Website: https://www.lnec.pt
Email: recrutamento@lnec.pt
The above activities shall be conducted at the Urban Water Unit of the Hydraulics and Environment Department of LNEC, without prejudice to the possibility of performing temporary missions in Portugal.
10 – Qualifications
Eligible applicants are those enrolled in an MSc in Sanitary and Environmental Engineering or like fields, namely chemistry.
Due to the nature of the tasks to be accomplished, the candidates must be fluent in written and spoken Portuguese and possess a good command of written and spoken English.
11 – Scientific supervision
The Assistant Researcher Elsa Mesquita shall be responsible for supervising the scientific activities.
12 – Monthly allowance
The Grant shall include a monthly allowance in the amount of €1,118.00 and a daily food allowance of € 6.00. The Grant fellow shall also be entitled to a specific social security system and to insurance against personal accidents at work.
13 – Selection methods and criteria
The evaluation of the applications shall be based on the Applicant’s Merits (MC), and the following evaluation criteria shall be scored on a 0 to 20 scale.
Applicant’s merits:
- Academic Background (PA) – scores of the academic degrees required by this call, namely MSc degree or equivalent – 50%
- Professional Résumé (CP) – scientific and professional career – 30%
- Interview with the selection jury (ES) – 20%
Hence:
MC = (0.5 * PA) + (0.3 * CP) + (0.2 * ES).
The jury is entitled to decide not to award the Grant if the quality of the applicants is deemed below par.
14 – Selection jury
President: Laura Caldeira, Principal Researcher;
Members:
Eduardo Fortunato, Principal Researcher;
Maria Rosário Veiga, Principal Researcher;
Alternates:
Helena Alegre, Principal Researcher;
Maria João Rosa, Principal Researcher.
15 – Application documents
- at the time of the application:
- Letter of motivation (maximum: one A4 page).
- Degree certificate, with indication of the partial scores and final classification.
- Document stating the score obtained in each curricular unit of the course the applicant is attending.
Foreign certificates shall be valid only if they are dully endorsed by an issuing entity, or if a recognition/equivalence document is produced stating that the foreign qualifications correspond to the same Portuguese qualifications. The respective scores can only be used if they are officially converted to the Portuguese scoring scale (by DGES – Direção Geral do Ensino Superior or by a public higher education institution), even if the foreign classification corresponds to a 0 to 20 scale.
- Official document of enrollment in the degree course defined in paragraph 10 of the present notice.
Should the candidate be unable to produce such document, without any fault on his/her part, he/she may replace it by a sworn declaration stating that he/she has been enrolled in the said degree course.
- Detailed Curriculum Vitae.
- Other documents (optional), such as letters of reference and supporting documents of internships or complementary courses considered as relevant for the purposes of this Grant.
- at the time of the awarding of the contract:
- Official document stating that the applicant is enrolled in the degree course defined in 10.
- Necessary information for preparing the contract.
16 – Deadline for applications
Between 31 March and 11 April 2025
17 – Formalization of applications
The applications shall be formalized by one of the following means:
- Electronic mail addressed to recrutamento@lnec.pt., until 24h00 of the last day of the stipulated time limit
- directly to the Setor de Arquivo e Expediente Geral of LNEC, at Avenida do Brasil, 101, 1700-066 Lisboa.
- registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt addressed to LNEC, I.P., Avenida do Brasil, n.º 101, 1700-066 Lisboa; the date of delivery considered for the purpose of compliance with the stipulated time limit being the date of registration
In the last two cases, the applications shall be delivered in a sealed envelope, bearing the following information on the outside: “Concurso para atribuição de uma bolsa de investigação (BI), enquadrada na linha de ação “Qualidade, tratamento e reutilização de água” do programa E2i “Água e Cidade” e nos projetos de investigação Water4All e RECIRCULA – Rede CYTED”.
18 – Notification of results
The final score of each evaluation stage shall be advertised in a list sorted by the final score obtained, all applicants being notified by electronic mail. The results shall also be published on the Recruitment page of LNEC’s website.
19 – Deadlines and procedures for preliminary hearing, claims and appeals
Once the provisional ranked list of the evaluation results has been communicated, applicants who have an unfavourable provisional decision may use their right to dispute it during the preliminary hearing phase (if requested), which takes place within 10 working days, according to the Administrative Procedure Code (CPA). The final decision shall be disclosed after the analysis of applicants’ arguments presented in the preliminary hearing. Final decision can be claimed within 15 working days or, alternatively, appealed to the Board of Directors, within 30 working days, after the communication of the final results, respectively.
20 – Further information
Additional information can be obtained by phone: +351 218 443 892 or +351 218 443 216 or by electronic mail to the address referred to in 17. The applicants living outside of Portugal can also refer to the portal EURAXESS Portugal.
21 – Standard fellowship contract
Available on the Recruitmentpage of LNEC’s website.
22 – Model of the final report to be prepared by the research fellow and supervisor
Available on the Recruitment page of LNEC’s website.
Where to apply
E-mail: recrutamento@lnec.pt
