One research scholarship for a Master holder is opened under the scope of the “Precisely Patterned Nanofibers for High Performance Bioseparations-PURE” project, which received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the grant contract number 899732 Call: H2020-FETOPEN-2018-2020 (FET Open - Novel ideas for radically new technologies).

1. Scientific Area: Biological Engineering.

2. Admission requirements: This research fellowship is addressed to candidateswith Master's degrees in Biological Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, and similar areas.

Other requirements: We are looking for a candidate with a passion for science, excellent team player and interest in pursuing a PhD. Experience participating in research projects and research teams will be considered favourably, as well as a very good command of the English language. Experience and enthusiasm in downstream processing and purification processes for biopharmaceuticals are considerable favourably.

3. Work plan: The fellow will work on the development and optimization of (i) affinity-based adsorbents; (ii) purification processes for biopharmaceuticals, namely monoclonal antibodies.

4. Applicable legislation and regulation: Law No. 40/2004 of 18 August, amended and republished by Decree-Law No. 202/2012 of 27 August (Statute of the Scientific Research Grantor) and amended by Decree-Law no. 233/2012 of 29 October and by Law no. 12 / 2013 of 29 January; FCT Research Grants Regulation, IP, Regulation No 234/2012, last amended by Regulation No 339/2015, published in the II Series of the Official Gazette of June 17, 2015, and by Regulation 137-A / 2018, published in the II Series of the Diário da República dated February 27,2018 and available at: http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/regulamento.phtml.pt

5. Work location and supervisor: The work will be developed at the Biomolecular Engineering Group (https://biomolecular-engineering-lab.pt/ project https://pure-fetopen.eu/ ), of the Research Unit UCIBIO, Associated Laboratory i4HB, Chemistry Department, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, under the scientific guidance of Professor Ana Cecília Roque (UCIBIO, FCT-UNL).

6. Fellowship duration: The scholarship will have a duration of 9 months, starting in January 2024, with the possibility of renewal up to the end of the project.

7. Monthly maintenance allowance:The amount of the scholarship corresponds to €1199.64, according to the table of values ​​of grants awarded directly by FCT, I.P. in the Country (http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores), and the payment is made monthly by bank transfer. If the fellowship holder wishes to apply to the voluntary social security, the contributions will be covered by the project.

8. Selection methods: The main criterion for the first ranking will be scientific merit (40%), the suitability of the candidate's profile for the project (30%), motivation and relevant professional experience for the development of the project (30%). If justified, the three best candidates selected in the first series will be asked to conduct an interview, and then classified with a weighting of 50% (first ranking) and 50% (interview ranking). All these criteria will be evaluated on a scale from 0 to 20 points.

9. Jury members:

President of the jury: Arménio Barbosa, PhD;

Effective jury Members: Margarida Dias, PhD; Ana Roque, PhD;

Substitute jury members: Carina Esteves, PhD; Susana Palma, PhD.

10. Form of advertising/notification of results: The list of admitted and excluded candidates and the final list of classification will be sent by electronic mail with receipt of delivery to all candidates, within a maximum period of 90 working days after the deadline for the submission of applications. Candidates who want to apply for effective review, must do it within 10 working days, under the terms of the Administrative Procedure Code in force in Portugal. At the end of the period set for the effective review and in the absence of any response, the rank list will become definitive. Candidates who want to file a complaint, must do it within 15 working days (to the email address used for notification), or appeal to the School Board, within 30 working days (to the email address lds@fct.unl.pt).

11. Application deadline and form of submission of applications: Applications are open from 24th October to 4th December 2023

Applications must be formalized, by sending an e-mail to the project´s coordinator Professor Ana Cecília Roque (E-mail: cecilia.roque@fct.unl.pt), mentioning the reference of the scholarship “BI/07-2023/BM-PURE ” in the subject and title of the email. The application must consist of a single PDF file including:

i) Motivation letter,

ii) Detailed curriculum vitae (including email address and telephone contact),

iii) Documents proving the academic degrees obtained and their classification

iv) Reference letter(s) and contacts (at least 1)

v) Up-to-date statement attesting to the candidate's professional status, with an indication of the nature of the bond, duties and teaching hours in annual average, if applicable, which may be replaced by a declaration under honor, if not exercising any professional or service provision activity;

vi) Declaration on honor attesting to the commitment to enroll in a doctorate or a non-academic degree integrated in the educational project of a higher education institution, if selected for the fellowship and accepted the award.

Note: For academic degrees conferred by a foreign higher education institution, it is mandatory to present the registration of the recognition of the academic degree and the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese scale (process regulated by Decree-Law no. 341/2007, of 12 October), or alternatively, obtaining equivalence/recognition of academic degrees (process regulated by Decree-Law no. 283/83, of 21 June).

Please, click on the link below to access the Portuguese version of this announcement:

https://www.dq.fct.unl.pt/noticias/2023/10/uma-bolsa-de-investigacao-para-mestre-ref%C2%AA-%E2%80%9Cbi07-2023bm-pure-%E2%80%9D

Professor Ana Cecília Afonso Roque, UCIBIO, Chemistry Department

NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon

Campus da Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal

E-mail: cecilia.roque@fct.unl.pt