Master’s Fellowship – 1 vacancy

 

Within the project – Photo-Plas

Project number: EXPL/CTA-AMB/1613/2021

 

Ref. ª: CCMAR/BM/16/2022

The Centre for Marine Sciences (CCMAR) opens one (01) Master's Fellowship (Bolsa de Mestrado) for a person with a Bachelor degree, of any nationality, including stateless candidates, and holders of political refugee statute, in the scientific field of Environmental Sciences, within the research project: Photo-Plas “Foto-libertação de poluentes e de microplásticos a superfície de plásticos.” Ref. EXPL/CTA-AMB/1613/2021, funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P./MCTES through national funding (PIDDAC) under the following conditions:

Host and Contracting Institution: CCMAR

This fellowship is intended for R&D activities, by a student with a bachelor degree enrolled in a Master's Degree in the field of environmental sciences, chemistry, biochemistry or related areas at the beginning of the fellowship, with a view to consolidating his/her scientific training, through the development of research work leading to the achievement of a Master's degree.

Work Plan, Tasks to perform and objectives:

The Photo-Plas project aims understanding the photodegradation of plastics and microplastics.

Specifically, the fellowship holder will be involved in the following tasks and objectives:

1 – Perform the irradiation of pure and sand adsorbed polyethylene (PE) and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) microplastic particles, in the absence of oxygen, under lamp irradiation (xenon).

2 – Extract the compounds released from the irradiated materials.

3 – Analyse the released compounds by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS).

4 – Identify and quantify the main photoreaction products.

5 – Perform tasks 1-4 after irradiation in the presence of oxygen.

6 – Propose a photoreaction mechanism.

Scientific Supervisor:

Dr. José Paulo da Silva, Coordinator of the project and researcher at CCMAR.

Work place:

The work will be developed at CCMAR.

Requirements for the application:

Candidates must meet all the following requirements:

1. The candidate must hold a bachelor degree (licenciatura) in environmental sciences, chemistry biochemistry or related fields.
2. The candidate must agree to enrol, if not already enrolled, in a master’s degree at the beginning of the fellowship.

Non-compliance justifies exclusion from the procedure.

 

Evaluation criteria:

Through the analysis of the application documents the evaluation criteria for the applications and their relative weight for ranking are as follows:

1. BSc. final score (45%)
2. Proven general laboratory skills (25%)
3. Proven experience in chromatography techniques (20 %)
4. Proven experience in UV-Vis spectrometry (10 %)

The selection committee reserves the right to contact and interview candidates if additional information or clarification about their application is necessary. In case it takes place, the interview aims to evaluate in more detail the curricular items used to grade the candidate according to the list above.

 

In the event that no applicant has the necessary profile, the selection committee reserves the right to close the call without any recruitment. In the event that the selected person does not take up the position because of failure to comply with documentary requirements or any other reason, or later during the contract if they resign, the jury reserves the right, upon convenience and opportunity, to assign the post to the next applicant in accordance with the ranking positions based on the selectable reservation list that can be used up to 06 months of the date of the present announcement.

 

Fellowship conditions: The fellowship will have a duration of 08 months, expected to start from June 2022 eventually renewed for periods of 04 months, or until the end of the project never exceeding a total maximum of 24 months. The fellowship must be carried out under an exclusivity regimen, according to the FCT Fellowship Regulation (RBI) and of the CCMAR fellowship regulations (see here) based on the Portuguese law 40/2004, of 18 of August (Scientific Research Fellowship holder statutes) amended by the Decree-Law 123/2019 of 28 of August. A maintenance allowance of 875.98€ will be paid monthly, through bank transfer, and will be updated as stipulated by the Foundation for Science and Technology (see here https://bit.ly/2ZcxUGJ).

 

Application period: from 02nd June  2022 to 20th June  2022 at 23:59 (Lisbon time, Portugal).

Application process and mandatory documents:

Complete applications must be submitted online at https://www.ccmar.ualg.pt/list/job and must include, at risk of exclusion, the following documents:

1. a motivation letter in English;
2. a detailed Curriculum Vitae in English;
3. a copy of the Bachelor degree Certificate with the final classification (if awarded by a Portuguese Higher Education Institution) or a copy of the certificate of recognition of the bachelor degree with the conversion of the final classification in the Portuguese scale by a Portuguese Public Higher Education Institution or by DGES – Directorate General for Higher Education (if the degree was awarded by a foreign University);

or

4. the complete declaration of honour available from the application platform, if they are unable at the time of application, to provide a copy of the bachelor degree certificate with the final classification (if awarded by a Portuguese Higher Education Institution) or a copy of the certificate of recognition of the bachelor degree with the conversion of the final classification in the Portuguese scale (if the degree was awarded by a foreign University), as indicated above;
5. the email contact of up to 3 referees.

Non-compliance with these documents/information determines the immediate rejection of the application.

 

Results and Preliminary Hearing: The admission and evaluation results will be communicated by email within 90 working days after the application deadline. After notification, candidates have 10 working days to contest the preliminary decision.

Candidates holding degrees awarded by a foreign university should have their degree recognized in Portugal no later than the date indicated in the communication of selection for the position. Non-compliance justifies exclusion from the procedure. Information about the recognition procedures can be obtained at any Portuguese public higher education institution or by Directorate General for Higher Education – DGES (here https://bit.ly/3afyQQU). The CCMAR board of Directors reserves the right to extend the above mentioned period, after request from the selected applicant, and as long as it does not cause a negative impact the working plan.

 

Selection Committee:

Dr. José Paulo da Silva, Coordinator of the project and researcher at CCMAR (president of the jury), Professor Dr. Deborah Power full professor at UALG and group leader at CCMAR (Member) and Dr. Joana Cruz, researcher at CCMAR (member).

Notes:

Hiring Documents

After the candidate is selected and for the hiring purpose the following documentation/information will be requested:

- proof of the enrolment (Recibo de inscrição/matricula) from the Academic Services in a master degree course (in accordance with the declaration on honour).

-  If applicable, copy of the bachelor degree with the final classification (if awarded by a Portuguese Higher Education Institution).

- If applicable, certificate of recognition of the bachelor degree with the conversion of the final classification in the Portuguese scale by a Portuguese Public Higher Education Institution or by DGES – Directorate General for Higher Education (if the degree was awarded by a foreign University).

- Declaration of commitment stating the exclusivity regime.

- Civil, fiscal and social security Identification (if applicable).

- Account Number – IBAN

- Ciência ID: https://www.ciencia-id.pt/CienciaID/HomePage.aspx

Fellowship Agreement model

After the candidate selection and all information is received, it will be signed a fellowship agreement in accordance with the model  here

Fellowship holder Assessment

At the end of each period of duration of the fellowship contract, the activity developed by the grant-holder will be evaluated by the supervisors, by applying the following criteria, in accordance with the model below using the following scale:

Criteria 1 – Use the UHPLC independently (70%)

Criteria 2 – Identification of the main photodegradation products (30%)

Supervisor report model here

Fellowship holder report

By the end of each fellowship period, the fellowship holder must present a report. You can find the fellowship holder final report model here

The board of Directors reserves the right, due to a change in circumstances at the date of the present announcement, to cancel the present call without any recruitment.

Disabled candidates shall be preferred in a situation of equal ranking, 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. 

 

Faro, 30th May 2022