Available Fellowships

Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier

Application for a Bachelor Student Fellowship

within the Citizen Science project OEIRAS EXPERIMENTA

Applications are invited for a Bachelor Student Fellowship in the scope of the citizen science project entitled “Oeiras Experimenta: climate-smart crops for sustainable food production”, ref. Project 315, funded by European Commission through IMPETUS: setting a citizen science innovation programme for exploring innovative funding schemes and boosting recognition.

Scientific Area: Agricultural Sciences, Communication Sciences, and related areas.

Academic degree: Bachelor students in Biology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Agronomy, Science communication, and related areas.

Other requisites: 

- Strong motivation for scientific research and field and lab work;

- Good organizational skills and ability to work both independently and as part of a team;

- Being enrolled in a BSc programme by the date of the start of the contract.

Will be valued:

- Skills in plant physiology, agronomy, biochemistry and/or high-throughput phenotyping;

- Recommendable previous experience in plant cultivation/field management;

- Experience or volunteering in initiatives with contact with citizens of various ages and social contexts;

- Fluency in English;

- Immediate availability.

Work Plan: The Oeiras Experimenta is a citizen science project that integrates the Oeiras Municipality, the research institute ITQB NOVA and local citizen scientists in a multi-disciplinary and cross-scales partnership, implemented in the scope of Ciência + Cidadã Program. The aim is to identify novel alternative and underused climate-resilient crops offering sustainable, healthy, and nutritious food products compared to traditional crops, contributing to Green Deal and UN Sustainable Development Goal commitments. The candidate will work in tasks such as (i) training sessions with citizen scientists and researchers, (ii) field management routinary activities (control of weeds, pests and diseases, monitoring of plant growth, organisation of field tasks, irrigation of plants), (iii) state-of-the-art phenotyping measurements to assess plant growth and development, and (iv) actions on the field/labs with citizen scientists to calculate agronomic components, collaborating with the ITQB groups of Rubén Vicente, Carlota Vaz Patto and Isabel Abreu. The candidate selected will also participate in the Ciência +Cidadã Program (coordinated by Maria João Leão) and with Oeiras Municipality Science and Innovation Office (coordinated by Elisabete Brigadeiro).

Applicable Law and Regulations: Status of Scientific Research Fellow, approved by Law number 40/2004, of August 18th, changed and republished by Ordinance 202/2012 of August 27th and changed by Ordinance 233/2012 of October 29th and by Law 12/2013 of January 29th and by Ordinance 89/2013 of July 9th and by the Ordinance 123/2019 of August 28th; 

Regulations for Research Fellowships from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in force (https://former.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT2019DR.pdf).

Working Place: The work will be carried out in the field trials of Oeiras Experimenta project and ITQB Laboratories, within the Estação Agronómica Nacional located in Oeiras, under the direct supervision of Doctor Omar Vergara-Díaz and Doctor Rubén Vicente.

Duration of the fellowship: The fellowship will have the duration of 4 months, expected to start in July 2024, on a full-time basis, according to Fellowship Regulations of Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I.P.

Stipend amount: 601.12€, according to the table of values of grants awarded directly by the FCT, I.P. in the Country (https://www.fct.pt/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Tabela-de-Valores-SMM_atualizacao-2024.pdf) and payment will be made, monthly, through bank transfer.

Selection procedure: The evaluation procedures will be based on the analysis of the candidates´ CV and, if needed, an interview for the selected candidates may take place. In this case, the curriculum evaluation and the interview will have a weight of 80% and 20% each.

Juri composition: Doctor Omar Vergara-Díaz (president), Doctor Rubén Vicente, and Doctor Maria João Leão (effective members), and Doctor Carlota Vaz Patto and Doctor Isabel Abreu as substitute members. 

Application documents: The application should be formalized with (a) a cover letter indicating the corresponding fellowship reference, (b) the detailed Curriculum Vitae, and (c) a degree certificate (proving the student is enrolled in a BSc programme). All documents should be preferably sent by email as a single pdf file. If the degree certificate has been conferred (or is in progress) by a non-Portuguese higher education institution, the selected candidate must obtain the certificate of the degree recognition, issued by the Portuguese Directorate General for Higher Education or by a Portuguese Public Higher Education Institution, until the signature of the contract. Regarding this issue, please consult the website of the Portuguese Directorate General for Higher Education: https://www.dges.gov.pt/en.

Notification of candidates: All the candidates will be informed of the final result by e-mail.

Deadlines and procedures for complaints and appeals: If the result is not favourable, the candidates have a period of 10 working days, after the disclosure of the results, to comment, if desired, in a prior hearing of interested parties, in the terms provided for in the Code of Administrative Procedure.

Application period: From June 18 to July 1, 2024.

Applications should be sent to:

Doctor Omar Vergara and Doctor Rubén Vicente

(vergara@itqb.unl.pt and ruben.vicente@itqb.unl.pt) 

Ref. 043/BII/2024

ITQB NOVA

OEIRAS