University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro

1. By my order of 13th July 2023, in the use of my own competence, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph d), no. 1, article 92 of Law 62/2007, of 10th September and paragraph j) of no. 1 of article 30 of the UTAD Statutes, approved in annex to the Normative Order Nº 5/2019, published in the Republic Diary, 2nd Series, no. 52, from 14th March, I determined to open an international tender for 1 (one) position of Junior Researcher for the exercise of scientific research activities in the field of Social Sciences, Economics, Management or related area, under a fixed-term public employment contract, for a period of 36 months, which may be renewed in accordance with the provisions of no. º2 of article 6 of Decree-Law no. 57/2016, of 29th August, with the changes made by Law no. No. 57/2017, of 19th July, which approves the regime for hiring doctorate holders aimed at stimulating scientific and technological employment in all areas of knowledge hereinafter referred to as RJEC, for the development of research activities, under the research project " AgroServ - Integrated services supporting a sustainable agroecological transition ", supported by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe programme (Grant Agreement n.º 101058020).

2. Applicable Legislation:

Decree-Law no. 57/2016, of 29th August, with the changes made by Law no. No. 57/2017, of 19th July, which approves the regime for hiring doctorate holders aimed at stimulating scientific and technological employment in all areas of knowledge (RJEC); Regulatory Decree no. 11-A/2017, of 29th December; Lei Geral do Trabalho em Funções Públicas (LTFP), approved in annex to the law 35/2014, of 20th June, in its current version.

3. Under article 16th  of Decree-Law no. 57/2016, of 29th August, with the changes made by Law no. No. 57/2017, of 19th  July, the present tender procedure is exempt from the authorization of the members of the Government responsible for the areas of Finance and Public Administration, namely the one referred to in no. 3 of article 7th of LTFP; from the prior favorable opinion of the members of the Government responsible for the areas of Finance and Public Administration, referred to in no. 5 of article 30th of LTFP and from the procedure for the recruitment of workers in situation of requalification, referred to in article 265th  of LTFP.

4. In accordance with article no. 13th of the RJEC, the jury is composed as follows:

President – Lívia Madureira, Associate Professor with habilitation from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro;

Effective Member – Carla Susana Marques, Full Professor from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro;

Effective Member – Octávio Sacramento, Assistant Professor from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro;

Substitute Member – Sofia Gouveia, Assistant Professor from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro;

Substitute Member – Mário Gabriel Santos, Assistant Professor from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro.

5. The work will be developed at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro.

6. The monthly remuneration to be awarded is established in paragraph a) no. 1 of article 15th  of RJEC, and initial level provided in article 2nd of the Regulatory Decree no. 11-A/2017, of 29th  December, corresponding to the level 33 of the single remuneration table, approved by Ministerial Order no. 1553-C/2008, of 31st  December, being 2,228.11 Euros.

7. Work Plan: The researcher will develop its research and development (R&D) activity within the scope of the Work Package 21-TA7 “Socioeconomics” from the “AgroServ-Integrated services supporting a sustainable agroecological transition” project. These services include:

 a) Designing, testing, applying and analysing data for cognitive mapping and similar individual and collective decision support models, participatory deliberative methods           and approaches;

b) Design, testing and online application of questionnaires based on socio-psychological and economic models for choices and decision-making by economic agents (e.g.       farmers, companies, consumers);

c) Designing, testing, applying surveys (opinion and evaluation panels) and analysing data and presenting results in dashboard format;

d) Construction of variables and indicators to collect socio-economic, socio-psychological and socio-ecological data to feed holistic cost-benefit analyses and integrated           assessment of socio-economic costs and benefits and socio-ecological trade-offs of agro-ecological transitions at landscape and value chain level, involving intensive         literature review and complementary fieldwork (using a living lab environment).

The services will be provided according to demand, which means personalising their offer according to the profile and needs of the users. The researcher will be responsible for interacting with users and providing services (e.g. questionnaires, models, databases, data analysis reports, conceptual and analytical frameworks) via digital platforms.

8. The applicants might be national, foreign and stateless candidates holding a doctor degree in Social Sciences, Economics, Management or related areas, and holding a scientific and professional curriculum suitable for the activity to be developed. The following conditions are mandatory:

     a) At the time of application, applicants shall hold a Ph.D. in the above-mentioned scientific areas;

     b) Have advanced skills in the development of models and the application of participatory methods, as well as in the use of specific software to analyse them;

     c) proven experience, through publications in internationally refereed scientific journals, in the construction of variables and indicators, multidimensional analysis                        models and frameworks, the design and implementation of online questionnaires, the organisation of qualitative and mixed databases, and their analysis;

    d) Proven English proficiency (written and oral);

    e) Immediate availability to work at UTAD (Vila Real) and field trips to monitor the trials.

Other non-mandatory but preferential requirements are:

     a) Programming skills or advanced mobilisation of big data and digital platforms;

     b) Skills for designing and conducting inter- and trans-disciplinary research, namely mastery of methods and approaches for co-creation of participatory scenarios;

     c) High sense of responsibility, ability to develop autonomous work, ability to interact with multidisciplinary teams and non-academic actors, results-orientated.

Holders of a doctoral degree awarded by a foreign higher education institution must have the equivalence or recognition or registration of that degree to an identical degree granted by a Portuguese university. Candidates who do not yet hold the equivalence or the recognition or registration of the degree must apply for the recognition of the doctoral degree, in accordance with Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of 16th  August, and this recognition must be obtained by the deadline that will be granted to the candidate selected to occupy the job position, to proceed with the delivery of the documentation proving that he/she meets the requirements for admission to the competition, being consequently eligible to enter into the respective employment contract in public functions.

9. General requirements for admission are those defined in article 17th of the LTFP.

10. In terms of the article nr. 5 of the RJEC, the selection is made through the evaluation of the scientific and curricular careers of the candidates.

11. The evaluation of the scientific and curricular path, focuses on relevance, quality and current relevance of:

a) The scientific production on the last five years considered to be more relevant by the candidate;

b) The applied or practice-based research activities developed over the last five years and considered as having the greatest impact by the candidate;

c) The skills revealed in point nr. 8.;

d) The activities of outreach and dissemination of knowledge developed in the last five years, namely in the context of the promotion of culture and scientific practices, considered most relevant by the candidate.

12. The period of five years referred in the previous paragraph may be amplified by the jury, under request of the candidate, when the suspended scientific activity is justified with socially protected reasons, namely of parental leave, prolonged severe illness, and other situations of work unavailability legally defined.

13. The evaluation criteria are:

C1) Evaluation of the applicant's scientific activity in the last five years, based on an overview of the merit of his / her scientific and curricular career, namely the coherence and quality of the CV, as well as the diversity and quality of scientific indicators, including articles in high impact international scientific journals, books and book chapters, internships and further academic and / or scientific training, in particular indicators related to the requirements set out in point nr. 8.

C2) Evaluation of the professional activities developed in the last five years and considered of greatest impact by the applicant, in particular those activities related to the requirements presented in point nr. 8.

14 - The final classification of the candidates is expressed on a scale of 0 to 20, considering the valuation up to the hundredths. The final classification (CF) is obtained by the following formula: CF = C1 (85%) + C2 (15%).

The sub criteria will be valued as follows:

Valuation of C1: Scientific activity (85%):

- Articles in specialized peer-reviewed and indexed journals: 25%;

- Leadership and participation in international scientific projects: 30%;

- Oral and/or poster scientific communications: 5%;

- international books and book chapters: 5%;

- Development of platforms, models, questionnaires, databases: 20%;

Valuation of C2: Professional activity (15%):

- Complementary academic and/or scientific training: 10%

 - Relevant professional experience: 5%

15 - The jury deliberates by means of a grounded nominal vote, according to the adopted and published selection criteria; abstentions are not allowed.

16 - Minutes shall be taken of the jury meetings, containing a summary of what occurred, as well as the votes issued by each member and respective justifications, and they shall be made available to the candidates whenever requested.

17 - After concluding the application of the selection criteria, the jury shall prepare the ordered list of the approved candidates with the respective classification.

18 - The jury's final deliberation shall be ratified by the institution's highest authority, who is also responsible for deciding on the hiring.

19 - Applications shall be formalized through an application addressed to the Rector of the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, containing the identification of this tender, full name, filiation, number and date of identity card / Citizen Card / civil identification, tax identification number, date and place of birth, marital status, profession, residence and contact address, including e-mail address and telephone contact.

19.1 The application must be accompanied by the documents proving proving the conditions foreseen in points nr. 8 and 9 for admission to this tender, namely:

a) Letter of motivation;

b) Copy of the certificate or diploma of the doctoral degree;

c) Doctoral dissertation;

d) Detailed and structured curriculum vitae in accordance with the items in points nr. 10 and 11;

e) Other documents relevant to the evaluation of the qualification.

19.2 - Applicants shall submit their applications and supporting documents, electronically to the electronic address recrutamento@utad.pt  until the last day of the competition opening period, which is set at 15 calendar days after publication.

20 - Applicants are excluded from admission to the tender if they formalize their application incorrectly or do not prove the requirements demanded in the present tender. In case of doubt, the jury has the faculty to demand from any candidate the presentation of documents supporting his declarations.

21 - Any false statements made by the candidates shall be punished under the terms of the law.

22. The list of admitted and excluded candidates as well as the final ranking list shall be posted at UTAD's premises - Human Resources Services (SRH), and published on the website https://www.utad.pt/srh. Candidates shall be notified by email with a receipt of delivery of the notification.

23 - Prior hearing and deadline for the final decision: In accordance with article 121st of the Administrative Procedure Code, after having been notified, the candidates have 10 working days to state their opinion. Within 90 days, counted from the deadline for the submission of applications, the jury's final decisions are made.

24 - The present competition is exclusively aimed at filling the indicated vacancy and may be terminated until the homologation of the candidates' final ranking list and expires with the respective occupation of the job position on offer.

25 - Policy of non-discrimination and equal access

The University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro actively promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access, whereby no candidate may be privileged, benefited, prejudiced, or deprived of any right or exempt from any duty due to, namely, ancestry, age, gender, sexual orientation marital status, family situation, economic situation, education, origin or social condition, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin or race, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions and union membership.

26 - Under the terms of Decree-Law no. 29/2001, of 3rd February, the disabled candidate has preference in equal classification, which prevails over any other legal preference. Candidates must declare in the application form, under oath, their degree of disability, the type of disability and the means of communication/expression to be used in the selection process, under the terms of the above-mentioned diploma.

17th August 2023. The Rector, Emídio Ferreira dos Santos Gomes