Organisation/Company: University of Aveiro
Department: CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials
Research Field: Engineering » Materials Engineering
Researcher Profile: Established Researcher (R3)
Positions: PhD Positions
Country: Portugal
Application Deadline: 8 Apr 2025 - 23:59 (Europe/Lisbon)
Type of Contract: Permanent
Job Status: Full-time
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
This competition concerns a Non-Academic Chair sponsored by GRESTEL - Produtos Cerâmicos, S.A., a Portuguese company dedicated to the manufacture and design of stoneware tableware and accessories. The partnership between the two entities already exists and has been directed according to the objectives of the European Ecological Pact. The ceramic industry faces challenges such as the scarcity of raw materials, the durability of the final product, the energy transition, and digitalization. This reality emphasizes the need to develop new formulations for pastes and glazes, incorporating alternative raw materials, such as mining waste, end-of-life products, and processing waste, together with a focus on reducing temperatures and exploring new technologies in ecodesign approaches. It is also essential to develop functional coatings using sol-gel technology, capable of avoiding the metallic marking effect observed in tabletop products. The aim is to recruit a researcher with proven experience in the area of development of pastes and glazes with experience in sol-gel technology.
This competition is open under the FCT-Tenure Funding Programme/instrument – 1st Edition (2023) (Reference 2023.15265.TENURE.010) and is governed by the provisions contained in the Regulation on the Private Researcher Career Personnel Regime in Private Rule of Law at the University of Aveiro and respective contract (Regulation no. 609/2015, published in the Official Gazette no. 174, 2nd series, of 7 September), Statute of the Scientific Research Career and by other applicable legislation and regulatory standards.
As it is subordinated to the FCT-Tenure Program/funding instrument, and is dependent on obtaining it, this call complies with the conditions established therein and in particular the following:
1. The call is especially aimed at candidates with a PhD degree and with high potential and research capacity in the scientific area of Ceramic Materials, within the scope of the strategic objectives of the University of Aveiro/CICECO – Instituto de Materiais de Aveiro Research Unit, with the following function profile:
- Design new paste and glaze formulations for stoneware dishes incorporating secondary raw materials.
- Develop functional coatings using sol-gel technologies, capable of avoiding the metallic marking effect observed in tabletop products, and adaptable to all glaze formulations developed.
- Explore the capabilities of laser radiation in the post-baking decoration stage.
- Design and test new sintering approaches for stoneware bodies, with particular focus on the use of an electric field in simple or hybrid firing concepts, which guarantee carbon neutrality.
ii) Only PhD candidates who have usufruct a fixed-term contract or scholarship, such as a doctorate, in an Institution of the National System of Science and Technology (Institutions as described in Decree-Law No. 63/2019, of 16 May) can be opponents of this competition;
iii) Doctorates who hold legal employment relationships for an indefinite period in the careers of Scientific Research, University Lecturer and Polytechnic Higher Education Lecturer, and indefinite in national institutions not covered by the Career Statutes, cannot be opponents to the competition.
1. — Scientific area:
- The scientific area of this contest is Materials Science and Engineering.
- The Scientific Council has not identified any related scientific areas.
2. — Admission requirements:
1. It is a requirement for admission to the competition: to hold a doctoral degree in the scientific area of the competition.
2. Applicants with qualifications obtained abroad must provide proof of recognition, equivalence or registration of a PhD degree in the Contest's scientific area, by a Portuguese higher education institution, in accordance with the applicable legislation. This formality must be fulfilled up to the date of signing the contract.
3. Opponents must demonstrate adequate command of the Portuguese language, spoken and written, to allow them to fully carry out their duties, including interaction with the business environment.
3 — Application requirements:
1. The Applications must be accompanied by the following documents:
- Application minute for the competition addressed to the Rector of the University of Aveiro;
- Detailed curriculum vitae containing all of the pertinent information for the assessment of the applicant considering the items of evaluation of point 5.3.2 of the present notice, and it must be organized according to the evaluation criteria and sub-factors detailed in point 6;
- Copies of papers selected by the applicant as being most representative of their curriculum vitae, no more than five;
- Presentation of a single document containing the justification of the papers selected in the previous paragraph;
- Report on scientific, pedagogical and other activities considered relevant to the University's mission (the candidate must include the contributions he/she has made and that he/she considers relevant, in particular in the scope of the works he/she has selected as being more representative);
- Scientific project: Document with a maximum of 10 pages that allows the support of a future mission letter and that must include a proposal of the activities that the candidate intends to develop during the first five years of the activity as an Assistant Researcher, explaining how it may contribute to the progress and development of the disciplinary area for which the competition is opened, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph i) of the "Characterization of the Competition", in the scientific and cooperation with society aspects;
- Any other elements that the applicant deems relevant or the assessment of his or her merits.
3.3. — The curriculum vitae should contain:
1. Full name of the candidate;
2. Document proving that you have usufruct a fixed-term contract or scholarship, as a doctorate, in an Institution of the National Science and Technology System (Institutions as described in Decree-Law No. 63/2019, of 16 May);
3. Specialization pertaining to the scientific area in which the Competition was opened;
4. Copy of the certificate with the respective classification or other document that is legally recognized for the same effect. Applicants who hold a doctor's degree obtained abroad, must provide proof of recognition, equivalence or registration of a PhD degree, by a Portuguese higher education institution, in accordance with the applicable legislation;
5. All relevant information for the evaluation of the application, taking into account the evaluation strands set out in section 5.3.2. of this notice, and it must be organized according to the evaluation criteria and sub-factors detailed in point 6;
6. Documents proving all of the elements mentioned in subsections b), c), d) and e) of point 3.3.
3.4. — The applicants belonging to the University of Aveiro are exempt from the presentation of the documents referred to in point d) of point 3.3, which appear in their individual file.
3.5. — How to present the application:
1. The application may be presented in Portuguese or in English and handed in via email to the Human Resource Department of the University of Aveiro (sgrh-avct-recrutamento@ua.pt), by the deadline stipulated in this Notice. The Services will issue a message proving the electronic validation of the same.
2. When formalizing the application, if a classified document is submitted that reveals a commercial or industrial secret; a secret relative to the literary, artistic, or scientific property; or that requires confidentiality, the candidate must identify the document with this information, under penalty of the work in question being unrestrictedly accessed by any of the other candidates, when consulting the file.
3. Non-compliance with the deadline for submission of the application, as well as failure to submit or late submission of the documents, referred in points 3.1, a) to g), will lead to the disqualification of the application. Candidates will be notified of the exclusion decision by e-mail, for the purposes of the hearing of interested parties, in accordance with Articles 121 et seq. of the Administrative Procedure Code.
4.1. — The jury of the competition is composed as follows:
- President: Doctor Paulo Jorge dos Santos Gonçalves Ferreira, Rector of the University of Aveiro.
- Jury members:
- Doctor Jorge Augusto Oliveira Carneiro, Responsible for the Research and Development Center at Grestel Produtos Cerâmicos, S.A;
5. — Admission and exclusion of applications:
1. Approval on absolute merit:
- The admission of candidates is conditional on their approval on absolute merit, based on the merit of the candidates' overall curriculum in the scientific area of the competition, also taking into account, cumulatively, the fulfillment of at least one of the following requirements:
- The applicant is the author or co-author of at least 15 articles in the scientific area that the Competition is open, indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded of the Web of Science from Clarivate Analytics where document type = article or document type = review or in the SCI Verse Scopus with the same characteristics;
- Have obtained a total of at least 1000 citations (excluding self citations) for scientific works produced in the disciplinary area for which the competition is open;
- Have an h index, according to SCOPUS or Clarivate Analytics' Web of Science, of at least 20 regarding the scientific works produced in the disciplinary area for which the competition is open.
- Applicants must provide proof of the fulfilment of the above(s) requirements (5.1.1 to 5.1.3 indicating the key to be used in the search for Web of Science from Clarivate Analytics or SCI Verse of Scopus that proves it, or including in their CV listing of the same database that confirms it.
6. — Assessment criteria:
In applying the criteria mentioned in the point 5.3.2 the following parameters are evaluated and assigned the weighting factors indicated:
1. Criteria for assessing Scientific Performance:
- Scientific production. Quality and quantity of scientific production in the area that the Competition is open (books, articles in scientific journals, papers presented at conferences) expressed by the number and type of publications, and the recognition given by the scientific community (the quality of the location where it has been published and the references made by other authors).
- Participation in scientific projects. The quality and quantity of scientific projects in which the applicant participated within the subject area of the competition; whether financed through public funds of national or international agencies or by companies. The assessment of the quality will take into account the level of funding obtained, the role played in the project (ex: principal investigator, guest consultant, participant), the degree of difficulty of the funding programme, the expert evaluation of the completed projects, particularly if they led to the development of products or services.
- Intervention in scientific community. Assessing the capacity to intervene in scientific community, particularly by organising events, being (co-)editor of magazines, participation in the assessment of projects and articles, being invited to give speeches, being a member of academic juris, as well as being recognized through awards or other distinctions and respective impact.
- Constitution of research teams and supervision of academic work of post-doctoral, doctoral and master students in the area and domain of the competition.
- Criteria for the assessment of Knowledge Transfer:
- Patents, registration and ownership of rights, elaboration of technical regulation and legislation. Patent authorship and co-authorship, records of ownership of intellectual property rights regarding software, mathematical methods and rules of mental activity. Participation in standardization committees and in the drafting of legislative projects and technical regulation. The evaluation of this criterion should also take into account the resulting economic valuation of patents and intellectual property rights.
- Consulting services, tests and measurements. Participation in consulting activities, tests and measurements involving private and/or public sector. Teaching vocational training courses or technological expertise directed at companies or the public sector. Participation as a former in vocational training or technological specialization courses aimed at companies or the public sector. The evaluation of this criterion will also take into account the economic valorization of research results achieved, measured by the contracts of technology transfer and development that have resulted and contribution to the creation of spin-off companies.
- Dissemination of science and technology. Participation in initiatives to disseminate scientific and technological knowledge under the auspices of the scientific community (for example organisation of congresses and conferences) and addressed to varied audiences. Publications to disseminate science and technology. Presentation of lectures and seminars for the general public. Impact that the work developed by the candidate in the area and subarea for which the competition is opened, has on the broader scientific community (e.g., references in scientific dissemination forums).
- Criteria for evaluation of Institutional management:
- The candidate's participation in scientific, pedagogical or institutional management activities and participation in academic juries outside his own institution.
- Criteria for evaluation of the Scientific project:
- The clarity of its structure and the quality of exposure. The scientific relevance of the content and the adequacy of the proposed program, considering the frontier of knowledge in the area and domain of the competition. The degree of innovation introduced.
7. — Assessment and selection:
1. After the admission of the application to the Competition, the jury will begin the processes of analysis of the applications, taking into account the items and criteria set out in this notice.
2. In the first meeting, which may take place by teleconference as decided by the jury president and after examination and admission of applications, the jury begins to decide which applicants pass to the next phase on absolute merit. To this purpose, each member of the jury proposes, which applications do not meet the requirements at both a scientific and pedagogic level as established by the Notice for the present Competition.
3. After all jury members have submitted their proposals to the President of the jury, the jury votes on each application, for which rejection is proposed, and no abstentions are allowed; an application is rejected on absolute merit if obtains a majority of votes favourable to the rejection among the members of the jury present at the meeting. Each application will be voted only once. Other proposals, which eliminate the same application will not be voted on. The final decision on each proposal, as well as the number of votes collected by each of them, and their bases, are an integral part of the minutes.
4. In the case of an application not receiving absolute merit approval, the jury proceeds to holding a hearing the excluded applicants, who may contest within 10 days.
5. The jury then assesses those candidates approved according to absolute merit, considering the criteria and parameters of assessment as well as the ranking factors in this notice.
6. Each member of the jury evaluates, on a scale of 0 to 100, each criterion or aspect, for each candidate.
7. The final score is expressed on a numerical scale from 0 to 100 and is calculated by weighting each criterion with the corresponding weight, leading to the strand score, which in turn will be used with the corresponding weight for the final score calculation. Expressed as a formula, the final score (FR) is calculated as follows:
FR = P1*(C11*P11+C12*P12+C13*P13+C14*P14) +P2*(C21*P21) + P3*(C31*P31) +P4*(C41*P41)
8. — Voting methodology and ordering:
1. The ordering of candidates should be founded on the assessment made based on strands and criteria of assessment and corresponding weighing factors listed in this notice.
2. Before voting, each member of the jury presents a written document, that will be attached to the minutes of the meeting, with the order of the applicants, duly founded, taking into consideration the previous paragraph.
3. On the various votes, each jury member should respect the order presented, no abstentions allowed.
4. The jury will use the following voting method in order to obtain an absolute majority in the final ranking of candidates:
- The first vote is intended to determine the applicant to be put in first place. If an applicant receives more than half the votes of the members of the jury present at the meeting, he will be placed in first place. If the applicant in first place is not determined, the voting will be repeated, but only among the candidates who received votes to be considered for first place after removal of the applicant least voted in the first round. If there is more than one applicant in the position of least voted there will be another vote with only these applicants in order to determine who is to be eliminated. For this vote, the jury members vote for the applicant who has the lowest ranking, the applicant with the most votes are eliminated. If at this point there continues to be a tie among two or more applicants, the president of the jury will decide which of them is to be eliminated. Once this elimination is made, the jury returns to the first vote, but only with the remaining candidates. The process is repeated until one applicant receives more than half the votes for first place. The process is repeated for second place and so on until an ordered list of all candidates is complete.
9. — Participation of interested parties and the decision:
1. The final draft ranking is notified to the candidates, for the purpose of holding a hearing of the interested parties, in accordance with Articles 121 et seq. of the Administrative Procedure Code.
2. Once the interested parties have had their hearings, the jury assesses their allegations and approves the final ranking of the applicants.
10. — Final Decision:
1. Notwithstanding the following paragraph, the deadline for delivering the jury's final decision cannot surpass ninety consecutive days, starting from the deadline for submission of applications.
2. The deadline mentioned in the previous subsection may be extended when there is a high number of applicants and or when the particular complexity of the Competition justifies it.
11. — Employment Conditions:
The Researcher will be hired for an indefinite period with an experimental period of three years to carry out the functions described in the letter of mission and inherent in the category of Assistant Researcher.
12. — Equal Opportunity Policy:
In compliance with paragraph h) of Article 9 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, the Government, as the employing entity, actively promotes a policy of equal opportunities between men and women in access to employment and professional advancement, scrupulously taking measures to avoid any form of discrimination.
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