The Algarve Centre for Marine Sciences (CCMAR) opens a call for an Assistant Researcher (M/F) of any nationality, including stateless candidates. The employment contract will be for an uncertain length of term in projects ALG-01-0145-FEDER-022121 and UID/Multi/04326/2013 funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. and FEDER.

Job Summary and Duties:

The Assistant Researcher will:

a) develop innovative, high-quality, research applying computational approaches to the solution of marine biological questions,

b) supervise students of different levels, in particular Master and doctoral students,

c) develop CCMAR’s bioinformatics services and contributions to ELIXIR, EMBRC and other infrastructure projects,

d) further the development of the CCMAR strategy, and

e) obtain external funding for research and collaborate in collective initiatives of CCMAR.

 

Relevant Legislation:

• Decree-Law nr 57/2016, from 29th August, altered by Law nr 57/2017, from 19th July, (RJEC).
• Portuguese Labour Law, approved by Law nr 7/2009, from 12th February in its current form. 
• Decree – Law nr 124/99, from 20th  April  in its current form.
• Regulatory Decree nr 11-A / 2017, of 29th December.
• Decree – Law nr 29/2001 of 3rd February.
• Portuguese Administrative Procedure Code

 

Starting Date: The contract is expected to start in December 2018 and will only last  for the necessary execution of the working plan.

Workplace: The workplace is CCMAR  (Gambelas Campus of the Algarve University, Faro, Portugal)

Working Schedule: 35 hours per week.

 

Monthly Remuneration: Gross monthly remuneration is 3191.82€, corresponding to index 195 of the assistant researcher remuneration scale.

Application Period:  Between 29th October 2018 and 13th November 2018.

 

Required Profile:

1. A PhD in Biology, Computational Biology, or a related discipline, with at least 5 years’ experience after completion of the PhD.
2. Demonstrable research capability through publication in internationally recognized journals within the field of computational biology,
3. Demonstrable skills in the administration of UNIX(-like) systems, proficiency in a scripting languages such as C, C#, Python, Perl, node.js, and/or Java, and a familiarity with relational databases, SQL, programming web-interfaces, and other relevant technologies,
4. Experience of analyzing large life science data sets, such as genomic data and/or physical measurement data, using bioinformatics tools and web-based resources,
5. A high proficient in English (spoken and written)

 

Non-compliance with any of these requirements invalidates the application. Provision of false documentation will be punished by law.

Selection panel: in accordance with article 13º of RJEC the selection panel is composed of Adelino Canário, Professor at Algarve University and CCMAR’s President (President), Cymon J. Cox researcher at CCMAR (Member), and João Varela, Professor at Algarve University and researcher at CCMAR  (Member).

Evaluation and Selection Process

The evaluation is carried out in two phases, which will result in a final classification between 0 and 100 points.

 

First phase: Curricular assessment

The selection is made through the evaluation of the motivation letter and CV, which will include the activity and career development plan within the subject area, and of the candidate’s scientific and professional career path focusing on the relevance, quality, and timeliness of the criteria referred to in Article 5 (2) (a) to (d) of the RJEC. The following assessment criteria, and the candidate’s ability to perform the duties required, will be considered:

 

CA) Scientific, technological production in the last five years, deemed most relevant by the candidate;

CB) Activities of applied research or based on practice, developed in the last five years, that the candidate considers with greater impact;

CC) Activities of extension and dissemination of knowledge, namely in the promotion of the culture and the scientific practices, developed in the last five years, that the candidate considers more relevant;

CD) Project management activities and programmes of science, technology and innovation, or experience in observation, monitoring and evaluation of the scientific and technological system or higher education in Portugal or abroad developed in the last five years. Included here are the activities of preparation and submission of applications for science, technology and innovation projects.

 

The period of five years referred in the evaluation criteria may be increased by the selection panel, at the request of the candidate, when justified on grounds of suspension of scientific activity for socially protected reasons, namely for reasons of parental leave, prolonged serious illness, and other situations of unavailability for work legally protected.

The evaluation of all candidates in the first phase must be completed within a period of no more than one calendar month after the applications are received.
The candidates who have obtained less than 70 points in the curricular assessment will be considered not approved in absolute merit.

 

Second phase: Interview

 

If the selection panel considers it necessary for the evaluation, the top five candidates with the highest scores of the curricular assessments that were approved in absolute merit will qualify for the second phase, consisting of an individual interview, either face-to-face or through a videoconference. The interview will be weighted, at most, as 10% of the final classification score and will serve the sole purpose of clarifying aspects related to the results of scientific research of the candidates.

 

The interviews will be conducted within a period not exceeding 10 working days after the decision of the Jury.

 

Functioning of the Selection Panel

Each member of the selection panel will assess all the candidates in all the factors from CA to CD scoring between 0 and 100, and must present the reasons for the scores attributed. Abstention is not allowed. A similar procedure will be followed regarding the candidates that are called for the interview. The candidates that are not called for an interview will have 0 points in the second phase.

The curricular assessment (C) of each candidate is obtained according to the average of the criteria that is evaluated by the weights of the following formulation, expressed to the first decimal.

C = CA*45 + CB*45 + CC*5 + CD*5

The final score (FS) of each candidate is obtained according to the average of the final results of the curricular assessment (C) and of the interview (I), if applicable, that is evaluated by the weights of the following formulation, expressed to the units.
FS = C*90 + I*10

After completing the application of the selection criteria, each member of the selection panel will rank the candidates according to the final scores assigned to them. A candidate is selected when they receive the majority of votes. If this does not happen in the first round of voting, the least ranked candidate is eliminated and the procedure is repeated with the remaining candidates (with tie-breakers based on the average of the final classifications). In case of a draw the vote of the President of the selection panel decides.

The selection panel will write minutes of the meetings with a description of the evaluation and selection process including an ordered list of candidates, their classification, and the final decision. The CCMAR Board of Directors shall validate the final decision of the selection panel.

In the event that no applicant has the necessary profile, or the funding conditions have significantly changed since the announcement of this position, the selection committee reserves the right to close the call without any recruitment. In the event that the selected person does not accept the position or resigns during the contract, the jury reserves the right, upon convenience and opportunity, to assign the post to the next applicant in accordance with the ranking positions.

 

Application submission process and documents: Only applications submitted through the CCMAR website will be considered. Applications are considered to be correctly submitted only after the candidate has received a confirmation e-mail from CCMAR. Applications (in English) should include a Motivation Letter (including a personal assessment of the relevance of the activities of the last five years for the present competition, highlighting the chosen scientific publications), copy of the candidate’s Ph.D. certificate, a detailed CV (in accordance with the requirements and selection criteria of the application), digital copies (e.g PDFs) of up to 3 relevant publications, other documents deemed as relevant for the application, and the email contacts of up to 3 referees.

Results: The lists of admitted and excluded candidates, and the final classification list, shall be posted on the CCMAR website at and all candidates will be notified by email. 

 

Preliminary Hearing and Final Decision Deadline: After notification, candidates have 10 working days to contest the preliminary decision. The final decisions will be announced within 90 days of the application deadline.

Disabled candidates shall be preferred in a situation of equal classification, and said preference supersedes any legal preferences. Candidates must declare, on their honour, their respective disability degree, type of disability and communication / expression means to be used during selection period on their application form, under the regulations above.

CCMAR’s non-discrimination and equal access opportunities policy – No candidate can be privileged, benefited, jeopardised or be deprived of any right or exempt of any claim in regards to descendent, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, economic situation, origin, social economy, genetic heritage, disability, chronic disease, nationality, ethnicity, territory of origin, language, religion, politics, ideology or union membership. 

 

The members of the jury approved this announcement on October 25th 2018.