Universidade do Porto

PUBLIC NOTICE N.º 1117/2025

Doctor José Manuel Pereira Dias de Castro Lopes, Full Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, Vice-Rector of this University:

Following my Order issued on May 20, 2025, by delegated power under Ordinance no. 9493/2022 published in the Official Gazette (Diário da República), 2nd series, no. 148 of 02 August, this call for applications is published for one position of an Assistant Professor in the area of Mechanical Engineering, at the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DEMec) of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto.

1. Legal dispositions

Articles 37º to 51º and 62º-A, of the ECDU “Estatuto da Carreira Docente Universitária”, republished by the Decree-Law no. 205/2009, of August 31 and modified by the Law no. 8/2010, of May 13, and “Regulation on Competition for the Recruitment of Full, Associate and Assistant Professors of the University of Porto” – Decision no. 12913/2010, published in “Diário da República”, no. 154, of August 10, and the Deliberation no. 380/2019 published in “Diário da República”, no. 64, of April 1.

2. Funding

This call is open under the FCT-Tenure Program – 1st Edition, published through the Call for Applications Notice (AAC) with reference Investment C06-i06 – Science and Capacity Building, PRR Notice No. 02/C06-i06/2024 (application reference 2023.11089.TENURE.051). 

3. Characterisation of the Job

3.1. Scientific Area(s): Materials Engineering

3.2. Disciplinary Area(s): Metallurgical and Materials Engineering

3.3. Category: Assistant Professor 

3.4. No. of vacancies: 1

3.5. Salary: Scale 1, index 195 of the category of Assistant Professor 

3.6. Job Description:

The Assistant Professor will be responsible for performing the duties outlined in Article 4 and Paragraph 3 of Article 5 of the ECDU, namely, in accordance with the application specified in point 2 of this notice:

1 - Collaborate in the preparation and presentation of classes, lectures, seminars and workshops on various aspects of metal casting, including theory, simulation, advanced technologies and methodologies;

2 - Supervise undergraduate and postgraduate students in their research projects and practical applications in metal casting;

3 - Conduct innovative research in metal casting processes, materials and technologies with a focus on increasing efficiency, performance and sustainability;

4 - Collaborate with industrial partners and R&D institutions to promote the transfer of knowledge and technology in industrial applications in the area of casting;

5 - Contribute to curriculum development and improvement of FEUP's programmes and accreditation processes;

6 - Promote lifelong learning for graduates with initiatives in this area of knowledge.

Research activities will be carried out at the Associated Energy, Transport and Aeronautics Laboratory (LAETA). 

4. Administrative admission requirements to the competition

4.1. According to Article 41º-A of the ECDU, only those who hold the degree of Doctor may be admitted to this competition.

Holders of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions must hold a recognised doctoral degree under the terms of Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of 16 August, in its current wording, by the date of expiry of the deadline for the signing of the contract.

4.2 - Proficiency in spoken and written Portuguese. Candidates of foreign nationality, except those from Portuguese-speaking countries, must have a command of the Portuguese language spoken and written, at the common reference level B1 or higher. This requirement is officially recognized through a certificate or diploma of communicative competence in Portuguese from the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

5. Approval on absolute merit

5.1. If there are no grounds for rejecting the applications, the Jury will decide whether to approve them on absolute merit by justified roll-call vote, with no abstentions allowed.

5.2. A candidate approved by an absolute majority of the Jury's voting members will be considered approved on absolute merit.

5.3. The approval of candidates based on absolute merit will depend on whether they have a curriculum vitae that the Selection Committee generally considers as having shown scientific and pedagogical merit, research capacity and activities developed that are compatible with the disciplinary area for which the call is open and appropriate to the respective teaching category, as documented in the respective information submitted in the call.

5.4. For the purposes of the evaluation referred to in the previous point, the favorable vote must be based on the cumulative fulfillment of the following circumstances or requirements of a nature qualitative and quantitative:

a) The candidate must hold a PhD degree in the subject area of Materials Engineering or related areas;

b) Be the author or co-author of at least 10 (ten) papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals (excluding book chapters and articles in conference proceedings) in the specific area and specific domain defined in paragraph a), indexed in the SCOPUS or Clarivate Analytics Web of Science databases, published in the last five years;

c) The candidate's curriculum vitae must demonstrate relevant activity in the sub-area of Metallurgy and the domain of Metal Casting;

6. Evaluation and ranking on relative merit

Once the candidates approved in absolute merit have been definitively identified, ranking on relative merit will be carried out based on the aspects and criteria for ranking, their respective weighting, and the final evaluation system in accordance with no. 6 of Article 50º of the ECDU and Article 16º of the Regulations. 

6.1. Assessment methodology

Candidates approved on absolute merit will be subject to a curriculum evaluation, which may be complemented by a public presentation hearing, to which candidates approved on absolute merit will be submitted, aimed at clarifying aspects related to the curriculum and the scientific-pedagogical plan, bearing in mind the general functions entrusted to university teachers by article 4 of the ECDU, focusing on the aspects and respective criteria identified below. 

6.2. Assessment aspects

The evaluation of candidates will focus on the following aspects and the Project. It should highlight the curricular aspects in the disciplinary sub-area for which the call was opened, with a special focus on the specific domain of Metal Casting: 

1. Scientific Merit (VMC) – 45%
2. Pedagogical experience and merit (VEMP) – 25%
3. University Extension Tasks and the Economic and Social Valorisation of Knowledge (VTC) – 10%;
4. Scientific and Pedagogical Program - (PCP) – 20%

6.3. Assessment criteria

The criteria to be taken into consideration in the assessment of each of the assessment aspects and program identified in the previous point and the weighting to be given to each of them in the final classification are as follows:

6.3.1. Criteria for evaluating the Scientific Merit (VMC) – 45%

6.3.1.1. Scientific production (MC1) – 25%

Quality and quantity of scientific production (books, articles in journals, publications in conference proceedings, ...) expressed by the number and type of publications, and by the recognition given to them by the scientific community (reflected in the quality of the places of publication and the references made to them by other authors), with publications in the disciplinary sub-area of Metallurgy and in the field of Metal Casting being particularly relevant.

6.3.1.2. Coordination and participation in research projects (MC2) – 10%

Quality and quantity of scientific projects financed on a competitive basis by public funds, through national or international agencies or by companies, in which they have participated and the results obtained in them, with emphasis on project coordination, including responsibility for Portuguese participation in international projects. Of particular relevance will be projects in the disciplinary sub-area of Metallurgy and in the domain of Casting. 

When assessing quality, consideration should be given to the funding obtained, the level of demand for the call, the assessments of the projects carried out and the prototypes and patents implemented, particularly whether they were followed up in new or improved products or services.

6.3.1.3. Constitution of scientific teams (MC3) – 5%

Ability to generate, organize and lead scientific teams and guide researchers in post-doctoral, doctoral and master projects. The equivalent capacity that may have occurred in the professional work carried out in companies is also relevant, if the candidate has this experience.

6.3.1.4. Intervention in the scientific and professional communities (MC4) – 5%

Ability to intervene in the scientific and professional communities, expressed by collaborating in editing journals, presenting invited lectures and participating in academic juries outside the institution, with particular emphasis on the disciplinary sub-area of Metallurgy and in the domain of Casting. 

6.3.2. Criteria for the evaluation of the Dimension “Pedagogic experience and merit” (VEMP) – 25%

6.3.2.1. Production of teaching materials (EMP1) – 5%

Quality and quantity of teaching material produced by the candidate, as well as publications of a teaching nature in prestigious international journals or conferences. Particular relevance will be given when in the disciplinary sub-area of Metallurgy and in the domain of Casting. 

6.3.2.1. Teaching Activity (EMP2) – 20%

Quality of the teaching activity carried out by the candidate, using, whenever possible, objective methods based on broad opinion surveys (pedagogical surveys), with being particularly relevant the demonstration of teaching experience in the disciplinary sub-area of Metallurgy and in the domain of Casting, in the last 5 (five) years at bachelor's and/or master's level. 

6.3.3. Criteria for the evaluation of the dimension University Extension Tasks and the Economic and Social Valorisation of Knowledge” (VTC) – 10%

6.3.3.1. Authorship and co-authorship of patents, registration of ownership of rights, development of technical standards and regulations (TC1) – 2%

Authorship and co-authorship of patents, registration of ownership of intellectual property rights on software, mathematical and mental activity methods. Participation in the development of technical standards and regulations.

6.3.3.2. Consulting services and studies and development contracts (TC2) – 5%

Consultancy services and study and development contracts, particularly relevant those developed in the disciplinary sub-area of Metallurgy and in the domain of Casting.

Coordination of and participation in consultancy activities and/or study and development activities involving the business community and the public sector.

Coordination of and participation in projects funded by companies, with particular relevance to those that have produced innovative products or services.

Participating as an expert in panels and evaluation processes for research and development projects technological (R&TD) in companies and/or organisations in the scientific and technological system (SCT).

Coordinating and participating as a teacher in vocational training or specialisation courses aimed at companies or the public sector. 

6.3.3.3. Dissemination of Science and Technology (TC3) – 3%

Dissemination of science and technology, particularly in the disciplinary sub-area of Metallurgy and in the domain of Casting.

Coordination and participation in initiatives to disseminate science and technology to the scientific community (e.g. organisation of congresses and conferences) and to various audiences. 

6.3.4. Criteria for assessing the Scientific-Pedagogical Project (PCP) – 25%

PCP - Programme for the development of research, teaching and university extension activities

Proposal for the research, teaching and university extension activities that the candidate intends to develop during the first five years of his/her activity as Assistant Professor, within the disciplinary area of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, in the sub-area of Metallurgy and in the domain of Casting.

 7. Working methodology of the Jury

7.1. Scoring the candidates

Each member of the jury will carry out an evaluation exercise, scoring each candidate for each assessment aspect on a scale of 0 to 100 points, rounded up to the nearest tenth, considering the criteria approved for each assessment aspect and program, with a degree of demand appropriate to the category for which the competition is open.

7.2. Public hearing

The Jury can hold a public hearing, under equal circumstances, for all candidates who have passed the competition on absolute merit to personally clarify the evaluation elements contained in the documentation they have submitted.

If it is necessary to hold these public hearings, they will take place between the 30th and 70th day following the deadline for submitting applications, and all candidates will be informed by email at least ten working days in advance of the date and place where these public hearings will take place.

7.3. Final result

The Final Result (FR) of the assessment of each candidate by each member of the Jury is calculated using the formula for weighting the various curricular aspects.

Following their assessment, each member of the Jury builds their ranked list of candidates, with which they participate in the votes that lead to the decision to approve the candidates on absolute merit and the final ranking of the candidates under the terms of point 6., where there can be no tie between candidates in the final ranking.

7.4 Deliberations of the Jury

7.4.1. Any deliberations will be the result of Article 17º, no. 12, of the Regulations for Competitions for the Recruitment of Full, Associate and Assistant Professors of the University of Porto, applicable under Article 83º-A of the ECDU, which determined the approval of the same to implement the rules of that legal diploma, covering the procedural process of the competitions, namely the system of evaluation and final classification. Therefore, under the terms of Article 17º, no. 12 of the aforementioned Regulation, the Jury will decide by roll call vote based on the selection criteria adopted and publicized for the approval and ranking of candidates, with an absolute majority required for any decision, and abstentions are not permitted.

7.4.2.Metodologia de seriação

In the various votes, each member of the Jury must respect their ranking list, observing the following in the votes:

1. the first vote is intended to determine the candidate in 1st place, counting the number of votes each candidate received for that position;
2. if a candidate obtains an absolute majority of the votes for 1st place, they are placed in that position and removed from the ballot, and the procedure for choosing the candidate who will take 2nd place begins;
3. if no candidate obtains an absolute majority of the votes for 1st place, a new ballot begins, only among the candidates who obtained votes for 1st place, after the candidate who received the least votes for that place in the previous ballot has been removed;
4. in the event of a tie between two or more candidates for the position of least voted, a tie-breaking vote is held between them only, counting the number of relative first positions for each, and the least voted candidate is removed;
5. if there is still a tie between two or more candidates in the least voted position, but the number of tied candidates in the least voted position has been reduced compared to the previous round of voting, a new tie-breaking vote is held between the tied candidates in the least voted position only, counting the number of relative first positions of each, and the least voted is removed;
6. in the event of a tie between two or more candidates in the least-voted position, without the number of candidates tied for the least-voted position having been reduced compared to the previous round of voting, the tie-breaker is made by the Chairman's casting vote or by exercising the casting vote, as the case may be, and the candidate voted for by the Chairman is chosen to take part in the subsequent vote for the same position;
7. in the event of a tie when there are only two or more candidates left for 1st place, the tie-breaker is the Chairman's casting vote or the casting vote, as the case may be;
8. if the candidate for 1st place is chosen, he or she is removed from the ballot, and the procedure for selecting the candidate for 2nd place begins, and the process referred to in the previous paragraphs is repeated for the subsequent places until a single ordered list of all the candidates is obtained.

8. Submission of applications

8.1. Submission of applications

Applications must be submitted exclusively on the FEUP’s website, at the following address: https://sigarra.up.pt/feup/pt/CNT_CAND_GERAL.CONCURSOS_LIST, by the deadline.

8.2. Application instructions: 

Applications must be accompanied by the following documents, under penalty of exclusion:

1. Application form (personal details and declarations), fully completed, dated and signed, in accordance with the compulsory form available at https://sigarra.up.pt/up/pt/conteudos_geral.ver?pct_pag_id=1004282&pct_parametros=p_pagina=1004282&pct_grupo=3123&pct_grupo=2013&pct_grupo=2015&pct_grupo=2461#2461;
2. PhD certificate, except for cases corresponding to obtaining a PhD from the University of Porto. Applicants who are selected for the post(s) to be filled and hold a doctoral degree obtained abroad must present the recognition or registration (as applicable) of their degree at the time of signing the contract, under the terms of Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of 16 August, under penalty of exclusion;
3. Candidates of foreign nationality, except those from Portuguese-speaking countries, must declare on honour that they have language skills at level B or above of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). If you are hired, you must present the respective certificate or diploma of communicative competence in Portuguese at level B1 or higher, in accordance with point 4.2. of this notice.
4. Curriculum Vitae, in Portuguese, containing all the relevant information for the evaluation of the application, as well as for demonstrating compliance with the criteria set out in point 5 of this notice, taking into account the evaluation and ranking criteria set out in point 6. of this notice for the evaluation strands and parameters; 

5. Works mentioned in the curriculum vitae submitted, which serve to verify the requirements of point 5 and assess the criteria outlined in point 6 of this notice.

   Additionally, candidates may highlight up to ten of those they consider most representative of their work, providing the reasons that justify the selection of the highlighted documents.

6. A file containing the Scientific and Pedagogical Project, in Portuguese.

8.3. Each document listed in e) of point 8.2. of this notice must be submitted in an individual file and in full in the Sigarra system. The documents can be integrated into folders with a compressed format (zip, rar, 7z). However, it is necessary to consider the system's limit for uploading, which is set at a maximum of 720 MB per file or compressed folder. Each application can submit several compressed files or folders, each with a limit of 720 MB, and the total number of compressed files/folders submitted is not limited.

8.4. For assessment purposes, any documents that can be accessed via links will not be considered, except those that refer to publications with a DOI.

8.5. The documents mentioned in point 8.2. must preferably be submitted in a non-editable format.

8.6. Failure to comply with point 8.1. will result in the application being rejected.

8.7. Failure to submit or submit after the deadline of the documents referred to in points a) to f) of paragraph 8.2 will result in the application not being accepted.

9. Notification and hearing of interested parties

9.1. The Human Resources Department of the University of Porto's Common Resources and Services Centre will notify candidates of the order admitting or not admitting them to the competition, which will be based on compliance or non-compliance with the requirements laid down in the legislation in force and in no. 4 of this notice, and with the conditions established regarding the application form referred to in no. 8.2.

9.2. Candidates who have not been admitted administratively, those who have not been approved on absolute merit, and candidates ranked in a position on the list of candidates who cannot be filled for the post in the competition will be given a hearing under the terms of Articles 121º and 122º of the Code of Administrative Procedure. All candidates will be notified of the Jury’s final decision.

9.3. Notifications are made by email, in accordance with Articles 112.º, no. 1, al. c) and 113.º, no. 5 and no. 6 of the CPA.

Candidates have ten working days to submit their written comments.

10. Composition of the Jury

Chairman:

Doctor Rui Artur Bártolo Calçada, Director and Full Professor of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, in the use of delegated competence by order no. 4953/2025, published in the Diário da República, 

2nd series, no. 80 of April 24.

Members:

Doctor Luis Filipe Menezes, Full Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Coimbra;

Doctor Virgínia Isabel Monteiro Nabais Infante, Full Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Lisbon; 

Doctor João Paulo Davim Tavares da Silva, Full Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro;

Doutor Abílio Manuel Pinho de Jesus, Full Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto;

Doctor João Manuel Ribeiro da Silva Tavares, Full Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto.

11.  Other provisions

Joint Order no. 373/2000 of 31 March, issued by the Minister for State Reform and Public Administration and the Minister for Equality, stipulates that the following must be mentioned in entry and access competitions:

"In fulfillment of point 9 of Article 9 of the Constitution, the Public Administration, as an employer, actively promotes a policy of equal opportunities for men and women in access to employment and professional advancement, taking scrupulous care to avoid any form of discrimination."

In this sense, the terms "candidate(s)", "teacher(s)" and the like are not used in this notice to refer to people's gender.

Likewise, no candidate may be favored, benefited, disadvantaged, or deprived of any right or exempted from any duty on the grounds of ancestry, age, sexual orientation, marital status, family situation, economic situation, education, social origin or condition, genetic heritage, reduced working capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin or race, the territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions, and trade union membership.

The Vice-Rector, Professor José Manuel Pereira Dias de Castro Lopes, 20 of May of 2025.