Josh's Water Jobs – FEUP - Research Grant

Offer Description

1 Research Grant Announcement (M/F)

Call open for applications for a research grant within the framework of project BlueWWater – Control, tratamiento y reducción de microplásticos y contaminantes emergentes en aguas residuales urbanas y en el medio costero transfronterizo, com a referência 0048_BLUE_WWATER_1_E, co-financed by the European Union, in the scope of INTERREG VI A Spain – Portugal Cooperation Programme (POCTEP) 2021-2027, under the following conditions:

Scientific Area: Environmental Engineering and related fields

Admission requirements: Candidates who cumulatively meet the following two requirements may apply for this grant:

Requirement 1:

– Be a student enrolled in a doctoral program in the area of Environmental Engineering and related fields, a requirement to be duly proven at the time of signing the contract.

– Holder of an academic degree enrolled in a non-academic degree course integrated in the educational project of a higher education institution, developed in association or cooperation with one or more R&D units, a requirement to be duly proven at the time of signing the contract.

and

Requirement 2:

Hold a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering or related field.

If the degree has been awarded by a foreign higher education institution, it must comply with the provisions of the Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of august 16th, and any formalities established there must be fulfilled until the time of signing the contract.

Activity Outline: Evaluate the efficiency of tertiary and quaternary urban wastewater treatment technologies on a pilot scale – namely membrane bioreactors, nanofiltration, and ozonation -aiming at removing micropollutants to ensure compliance with the legal requirements of Directive (EU) 2024/3019 and promote the safe reuse of treated water for agricultural purposes. The work to be developed is part of Activity 3 of the BlueWWater project.

Legislation and regulations: Law Nº. 40/2004, of 18th August, in its current wording (Statutes of Scientific Research Fellow) and Regulation of Research Grants of University of Porto, in force.

Workplace: The work will be developed at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), under the scientific supervision of Dr. Vítor Vilar and Dr. Ana Gomes.

Grant duration: Initial duration of 8 months, with the predicted starting date in January 2026, on an exclusive basis eventually renewable but never exceeding the project duration.

If it is not possible to ensure the duration of 8 months estimated in the previous paragraph, this duration will be adjusted according to the end date of the project, and provided that the minimum duration of 3 consecutive months is guaranteed, in accordance with paragraph 2 of article 10 of the Research Regulation of Research Grants of University of Porto.

The eventual renewal of the scholarship will be carried out as determined in paragraph 2 of article 10 of the Research Regulation of Research Grants of University of Porto.

Stipend: The monthly amount of the grant varies between 1.309,64 € according to the Research Regulation of Research Grants of University of Porto and 1.354,64 euros, depending on the profile and previous experience of the candidate in the project area. The payment will be made by bank transfer.

Selection procedure:

The curriculum of the candidates (60%) will be evaluated based on the merit of the candidate and the following factors will be weighted:

a) Academic training (Master in Environmental Engineering – 10 points; Other Masters – 2 points);

b) Publications and/or congress presentations in the project area – 5 points, Publications and/or congress presentations in other areas – 2 points;

c) Research Experience in the project area – 5 points; in related areas – 3 points; Other areas – 1 point.

The curriculum of each candidate will be evaluated on a 1-20 points scale. Candidates with less than 13 points in the curricular evaluation will not be invited for the interview.

In the interview (40%) topics related to the work plan, experience and the candidate’s CV will be discussed with the invited candidates.

If none of the candidates achieves a minimum final score of 12 points, the scholarship will not be awarded.

Selection Jury:

President: Doutor Vítor Jorge Pais Vilar

Effective member: Doutora Ana Isabel de Emílio Gomes

Effective member: Doutora Catarina da Rocha Cruzeiro

Supplementary member: Doutora Maria Francisca da Costa Moreira

Supplementary member: Doutor Ricardo Jorge Nogueira dos Santos

Advertisement of final decision: The results of the evaluation will be released to the candidates

by email to the email address indicated in the application process.

Deadline for applications and form of presentation of the applications:

The call is open from 06-11-2025 a 19-11-2025 (until 23h59m, GMT time).

Applications must be formalized by email to vilar@fe.up.pt and to recursoshumanos@fe.up.pt, clearly stating the reference FEUP-BlueWWater-PILOT-II and including the following pdf documents: Motivation letter, Copy of certificates evidencing academic degree (referring the classification of each separated or integrated degree), detailed Curriculum Vitae; and other documents considered relevant by the applicant.

In order to assure that all documents can be read, the preferred saving format is the Portable Document Format (.pdf).