A competition is open for the attribution of 1 vacancy to Scientific Initiation Scholarship in the framework of the project “BUSHRISK – Tracking the bushmeat: a molecular framework for tracing the African bushmeat trade and risks of emerging diseases” (POCI-01-0145-FEDER/032130/2017), within the R&D Institution CIIMAR (Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research), supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through COMPETE2020 – Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI) and national funds through FCT/MCTES, according to the following conditions:

 

 

1. Scientific area: Biological Sciences

 

2. Admission requirements: The candidates must be preferably first time students  enrolled in a 1st higher education cycle or integrated masters, in a subject related to Bioinformatics. Experience in such field of research will be valorised.

The applicant should show interest in issues related to the DNA barcoding of wildlife and/or wildlife forensics, and should have the willingness to learn and develop new methods to achieve the project goals.

 

3. Work plan: The selected candidate will treat a large number of DNA barcoding data (4 mitochondrial genes) in the scope of the project mentioned, from which she/he will develop an online, queriable DNA-database.

 

4. Legislation and official rules:

Law nº. 40/2004, 18th August (Research Fellowship and Studentship Regulation); Regulations for Studentships and Fellowships of the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. and CIIMAR Grants Regulation.

 

5. Work place:

The work will be carried out at CIIMAR, Evolutionary Genomics and Bioinformatics (EGB) research group and at the Faculty of Sciences (UP).

 

6. Duration of the contract:

Duration of 6 months, under the regime of exclusive dedication, eventually renewable according to legal terms, up to the end of the project.

 

7. Monthly salary:

The monthly maintenance allowance is 388,81 € (Euros Tax Free), in agreement with the monthly maintenance stipend table of the grants directly attributed by FCT, I.P. within the country (http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores.phtml.en).

 

8. Selection methods:

Candidates will be initially screened and ranked accordingly, based on their Curriculum Vitae evaluation. The candidates’ CV score (CVS) will be the sum of the evaluation for the Academic Qualification (AQ) and the Professional Experience (PE), in accordance with the formula:

CVS = 0,4 AQ + 0,6 PE

Academic qualification (AQ) will be scored from 0 to 10 and the evaluation will take into account the subject of the education cycle and their appropriateness to the position.

Professional experience (PE) evaluation will take into account i) the experience in the field of study (development of genomic pipelines, optimization and development of bioinformatic tools to understand molecular diversity in the scope of the project mentioned) scored from 0 to 10 with a relative weight of 60%; and ii) a global appreciation of the motivation of the candidate and interest in the field of research, taking into account the motivation letter, also scored from 0 to 10 and with a relative weight of 40%.

Moreover, evaluation will focus on candidates’ scientific capability and knowledge of the scientific skills applicable for the proposed project.

In  the  case  of  a  tie  between  the  scores  of  the  top  candidates, an interview will be performed  only to these candidates  in which case the interview weighs 10% and the previous evaluation weighs 90%.

The jury reserves the right to not assign the contract if none of the candidates meets all requirements and matches the desired profile.

 

9. Composition of the jury selection:

President of the jury: Philippe Gaubert, PhD

Vogal: Cristiana Moreira, PhD

Vogal: Agostinho Antunes, PhD

 

10. Form of advertising/notification of results:

The final results of the evaluation will be sent through a list sorting the candidates according to their attributed mark, by e-mail and available in CIIMAR website; in case of disagreement, the candidates have a 10-working day term in which to contest the decision, if he/she so wishes, as provided for in the Código do Procedimento Administrativo in a preliminary hearing setting. The jury reserves the right to not assign the contract depending on the quality of the applications.

 

11. Deadline for application and presentation of applications:

The competition is open from 4^th December 2019 until 14^th January 2020. The applications must be formalized, compulsorily, by sending the following documents:

• detailed Curriculum vitae
• digital copy of the eligibility certificates
• motivation letter

 

Applications must be sent by e-mail addressed to Dr. Philippe Gaubert and Prof. Agostinho Antunes (philippe.gaubert@univ-tlse3.fr; aantunes@ciimar.up.pt) with Cc to mgalvao@ciimar.up.pt with BUSHRISK – Bolsa de Iniciação Cientifica in the subject line. Attachments should be limited to 2 MB total size. The applications that do not include all the elements previously indicated will not be considered.