Post-Doctoral Fellowship – 1 vacancy

Within the project - SMARTCELL
ALG-01-0247-FEDER-047169
Ref. ª: CCMAR/BPD/02/2022

The Centre for Marine Sciences (CCMAR) opens a position for one (01) Post-Doctoral Fellowship (BPD -  Bolsa de Pós-Doutoramento) for applicants of any nationality, including stateless candidates, and holders of political refugee statute, in the scientific field of Biological Sciences within the research project: ALG-01-0247-FEDER-047169, named as “SMARTCELL” funded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) through the Operational Programme for Algarve (PO CRESC ALGARVE 2020) under the following conditions:

Host and Contracting Institution: CCMAR

Work Plan, Tasks and Objectives:
The SMARTCELL project is focused on the study of the effect of cryopreservation on viability and differentiation of specific mammalian cell lines and the final objective is to compare two different systems for the cryopreservation of mammalian cells.

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

1.    Growth and expansion of specific mammalian cell lines.
2.    Effect of cryopreservation on the viability and cell differentiation of mammalian cell lines under study using flow cytometry and microscopy.

Supervisor:
Professor Eduardo José Xavier Rodrigues de Pinho e Melo, Associate Professor with agregação at Algarve University and researcher at CCMAR.

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

Requirements for the application:
1.    This Post-Doctoral fellowship (BPD) is intended for PhDs that hold a Doctoral Degree in Biological Sciences, Biotechnology, Biomedicine or Biochemistry obtained in the three years prior to the date of submission of this application. 
2.    Candidates that carried out the research work leading to the award of the PhD with CCMAR as host institution are not eligible. 
3.    At the time of application, candidates shall not have been awarded a post-doctoral fellowship, under the framework of the Decree Law no. 123/2019, August 28th (fellowship Holder By-Laws), and/or the prior regulation for more than 22 months, considering Article 3, no. 1 (d) and no. 2 of CCMAR Regulation for Fellowships, so that eventual renovation periods might be possible. – to be confirmed at the CV.

Non-compliance justifies exclusion from the procedure.

Evaluation criteria: Through analysis of the application documents, the evaluation criteria and their relative weight for ranking are as follows:
1.    Merit of scientific curriculum, based on the number and quality of scientific publications (70%);
2.    Experience in animal cell culture (20%);
3.    Other aspects scientifically relevant in the scientific curriculum such as communications in scientific meetings and fluency in English language (10%).

Some candidates might be call for an interview to clarify any aspect of the CV found less clear by the jury but the selection criteria will remain those listed 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 6 months of the date of the present announcement.

Fellowship conditions: The fellowship will have an initial duration of 5 months, expected to start from March 2022 and can be, eventually, renewed for additional periods of 7 months never exceeding a maximum of 36 months and or the end of the project. The fellowship must be carried out under an exclusivity regimen, according to the CCMAR fellowship regulations (see here https://bit.ly/3aXyXQu), and the FCT fellowship regulation 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 1 686,00 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 11th of February  to 25th of February  2022 at 23:59 (Lisbon time, Portugal).

Application process and mandatory documents: 
Applications must be complete and submitted online at https://www.ccmar.ualg.pt/list/job and must include:
⦁    a motivation letter (in English); 
⦁    a detailed Curriculum Vitae (in English); 
⦁    copy of the Doctoral Certificate (if awarded by a Portuguese Higher Education Institution) or copy of the certificate of recognition of the Doctoral Degree by a Portuguese Public Higher Education Institution or by DGES – Directorate General for Higher Education (if the degree was awarded by a foreign University); 
⦁    the complete declaration of honour, available from the application platform, for applicants that at the time of application cannot provide a copy of the doctoral certificate (if awarded by a Portuguese Higher Education Institution) or of the certificate of recognition of the doctoral degree (if the degree was awarded by a foreign University), as indicated above; 
⦁    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, by email, candidates have 10 working days to contest/comment 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). 

Selection Committee: 
Professor Eduardo José Xavier Rodrigues de Pinho e Melo, Associate Professor with agregação at Algarve University and researcher at CCMAR (President); Doctor Liliana Isabel Tomé dos Anjos,  researcher at UALG and CCMAR (Member), Doctor Rute Castelo Félix, researcher at UALG and CCMAR (Member).

Notes:
Hiring Documents 
After the candidate is selected and for the hiring purpose the following documentation/information will be requested: 
-  If applicable, copy of the doctoral degree (if awarded by a Portuguese Higher Education Institution).
- If applicable, certificate of recognition of the doctoral degree 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
 - Proof of country of residence, residence authorization, or other document legally equivalent, if applicable, in force at the time of fellowship start date.

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 fellowship holder will be evaluated by the supervisor, by applying the following criteria, in accordance with the model below.

Criteria 1 - Commitment to the experimental work (50%)
Criteria 2 - Skills on mammalian cell culture and handling capabilities on the experimental techniques used (50%) 

Supervisor report model here

Fellowship holder report
By the end of each fellowship period (if applicable) 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,07th  February  2022