The Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP), intends to hire one junior PhD Researcher, corresponding to a post-doctorate initial level, under Decree-Law no. 57/2016, of August 29, and amended by Law no. 57/2017, of July 19, for the exercise of scientific research activities in the Epidemiology Research Unit - Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (EPIUnit), under the Programmatic Financing - UIDP/04750/2020, funded by national funds, through FCT.

Admission period: from December 21st, 2020 until January 30th, 2021

Junior PhD Researcher - Epidemiological Research Unit - Institute of Public Health, University of Porto (EPIUnit)

The Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP), intends to hire one junior PhD Researcher, corresponding to a post-doctorate initial level, under Decree-Law no. 57/2016, of August 29, and amended by Law no. 57/2017, of July 19, for the exercise of scientific research activities in the Epidemiology Research Unit - Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (EPIUnit), under the Programmatic Financing - UIDP/04750/2020, funded by national funds, through FCT.

Admission period: from December 21st, 2020 until January 30th, 2021

1. Admission requirements:

The candidate must have:

1. Doctoral (PhD) Degree in Public Health or in any relevant allied science, obtained 3 or less years before the opening of this call;
2. Formal training and research in health sciences relevant for public health research.

All national, foreign or stateless persons who hold a doctorate and a scientific and professional curriculum that reveals an appropriate profile to the activities above mentioned can apply to this call.

Note: If the PhD degree has been awarded by a foreign higher education institution, it must be recognized by a Portuguese higher education institution, under the terms of Decreto-Lei n.º 66/2018, de 16 de Agosto. This Decreto-Lei approves the legal regime of recognition of academic degrees and diplomas of Higher Education, and any formalities established there, must be completed by the application deadline.

2. Activity Outline

The expected activity will be adjusted to the proposed specific area of the candidates. The researcher will be expected to collaborate in specific activities related with management and implementation of research projects and other scientific activities in the scope of the mission of the Institution and of the Research Unit. The researcher is also expected to lead the production of original work publishable in the form of full-text papers in international journals and contribute to training activities from the Institution.

3. Workplace: 

The research activity will be developed at the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (Address: Rua das Taipas 135, 4050-600, Porto, Portugal), and the Junior Researcher will be integrated in a research team according to the topic addressed in the proposed working plan. 

4. Applicable legislation:

The hiring will be governed by the Decree-Law no. 57/2016, of August 29, as amended by Law no. 57/2017, of July 19, which approves the doctorate hiring regime destined to stimulate scientific and technological employment for all knowledge areas (“RJEC”), and the Labour Code, approved by Law no. 7/2009, of 12th February, in its current wording.

5. Duration: 

Work contract with non-fixed term according to the Labour Code, expected to start during the first trimester of 2021. 

6. Monthly Salary: 

The monthly salary is set in accordance with the provisions in RJEC, article 15, no. 1, corresponding to level 33 of the single salary scale approved by “Portaria nº 1553-C/2008, de 31 de Dezembro” at 2.134,73 Euros gross. The salary is paid 14 months per year.

7. Selection criteria: 

Initiative, critical thinking and autonomy in carrying out scientific work will be highly valued, with the relative merit of candidates relying on the following criteria:

7.1. Criteria for Curriculum Vitae evaluation (0 to 20 points) (50%):

1. Scientific production, particularly the track record of international publications in peer-review journals in terms of number and quality, regardless of impact factor but considering citations (0 to 8 points);
2. Participation in national and international Scientific meetings, particularly if with invited or competitive oral presentations (0 to 3 points);
3. Formal training in national and international institutions during the PhD or postdoctoral period (0 to 3 points);
4. Participation in national and international scientific research projects (0 to 2 points);
5. Teaching and training of students (0 to 1 points);
6. Knowledge transfer and science and society activities (0 to 3 points);

7.2. Detailed and justified action plan for a three years’ period, considering research activity, willingness to teach and/or train younger students and societal activities (0 to 20 points) (50%) based on the possible integration in the Unit research lines or as a novel activity. In any case, funding issues should be addressed.

The Candidates with less than 15 points in each of the criteria above will not be admitted for interview. The nine candidates with the highest scores will be invited to a face-to-face or videoconference interview.

7.3. Criteria for interview evaluation (0 to 20 points):

1. Presentation and defense of the work plan showing how it relates to previews experience (0 to 9 points);
2. Ability to integrate and promote team work (0 to 4 points);
3. Managerial competencies (0 to 4 points);
4. Communication skills (0 to 3 points).

Each member of the Jury will score the candidate; final interview classification will be the result of the arithmetic average of the Jury scores.

Candidates’ Final Classification (FC)

Maximum score of 20 points based on the formula:

FC = [(Documental Evaluation =0.5*CV+0.5*Plan) + Interview (I)] / 2

For tiebreaking purposes, the ranking of candidates will be based on the ratings assigned to each of the evaluation criteria in the following order of precedence: 1 – Documental evaluation; E2 – Individual Interview.

8. Members of the Jury:

President: Henrique Barros

Effective member: Carla Lopes

Effective member: Ana Cristina Santos

Effective member: João Paulo Teixeira

Effective member: Milton Severo

Effective member: Raquel Duarte

Effective member: Raquel Lucas

Effective member: Sílvia Fraga

9. Non-discrimination and equal access policy:

ISPUP actively promotes a non-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, sex, sexual preference, marital status, family and economic conditions, instruction, origin or social conditions, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin or race, origin territory, language, religion, political or ideological convictions and union membership.

10. Documents Required:

Applications must be formalized by an application letter along with the following documents: Curriculum Vitae, PhD certificate, motivation letter, a reference letter(s) (optional), and other relevant documents (if applicable).

 Applications must be sent by email to “candidaturas@ispup.up.pt”, within the timeframe of the call, and please highlight the following reference in the subject field of the application email: “Epiunit- Junior Research-Prog”.

11. Notification of results: 

Candidates will be notified by email and all relevant information will be published at the ISPUP website (http://www.ispup.up.pt).