PhD Researcher equivalent to Assistant Researcher

Offer Description

By order of the Deputy Director of FMUP, Professor Filipa Abreu Gomes de Carvalho, dated 9 October 2026, issued in the exercise of the powers delegated under sub-paragraph (iii) of point 1.1 of Order no. 9857/2026, published in the Official Gazette (Diário da República), 2nd Series, no. 150, of 5 August 2026, public notice is hereby given that this international competitive selection procedure is open for a period of 10 (ten) working days, counting from the working day following the publication of this notice in the Official Gazette (Diário da República), pursuant to Article 24 of the Regulation on Research, Science and Technology Staff of the University of Porto under Private Law, Regulation no. 849/2026, published in the Official Gazette (Diário da República), 2nd Series, no. 129, of 7 July 2026 (hereinafter the "Regulation"), with a view to the recruitment of one PhD Researcher equivalent to Assistant Researcher under an individual fixed-term employment contract of uncertain duration, to carry out research activities in the scientific areas of Pathological Anatomy and Pathology of FMUP and related areas, within the scope of the project HEALTH-UNORTE II – Promoção da Saúde_Unorte: integrated approaches to prevent, monitor and treat cardiovascular, neurological and infectious diseases and cancer (Ref. NORTE2030-FEDER-01786400), co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the North Regional Programme 2021-2027 (NORTE 2030), under Portugal 2030, being carried out at FMUP.

1. Scientific area: Pathological Anatomy, Pathology.

2. Applicable legislation:

The competition and the resulting recruitment are governed by the provisions of the following main legislation:

• Decree-Law no. 57/2016, of 29 August, approving the regime for the recruitment of PhD holders aimed at stimulating scientific and technological employment, published in the Official Gazette (Diário da República), 1st Series, no. 165/2016, as currently in force, hereinafter the RJEC;
• Regulation on Research, Science and Technology Staff of the University of Porto under Private Law, Regulation no. 849/2026, published in the Official Gazette (Diário da República), 2nd Series, no. 129, of 7 July 2026, as currently in force, hereinafter the Regulation;
• Decree-Law no. 63/2019, of 16 May, approving the Legal Framework for Institutions Engaged in Scientific Research and Development, published in the Official Gazette (Diário da República), 1st Series, no. 94, of 16 May 2019;
• Regulatory Decree no. 11-A/2017, of 29 December, defining the remuneration levels provided for in the regime for the recruitment of PhD holders approved by Decree-Law no. 57/2016, of 29 August;
• Disciplinary and scientific areas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, republished by Order no. 7793/2022, of 1 June, published in the Official Gazette (Diário da República), 2nd Series, no. 121, of 24 June 2022, as rectified by Rectification Statement no. 450/2023, published in the Official Gazette (Diário da República), 2nd Series, no. 117, of 19 June 2023;
• Law no. 73-A/2025, of 30 December, approving the State Budget for 2026;

and by the following subsidiary legislation:

• Labour Code, approved by Law no. 7/2009, of 12 February, as amended, hereinafter the CT;
• Code of Administrative Procedure, approved by Decree-Law no. 4/2015, of 7 January, as amended, hereinafter the CPA;
• Law no. 26/2019, of 28 March, establishing the regime of balanced representation between men and women in senior management staff and in the bodies of the Public Administration;
• Order defining the regime of balanced representation in the appointment of the non-elected collegial bodies of FMUP, of 2 August 2023.

3. Admission requirements:

3.1. General admission requirements:

The competition is open to national, foreign and stateless candidates holding a PhD degree in the scientific area of Medical Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Pathological Anatomy, Molecular Pathology, Oncology, Molecular Biology or related scientific areas, who demonstrate a profile suited to the activities to be carried out, in accordance with point 8 of this Notice.

3.2. Specific admission requirements:

For the purpose of determining the profile suited to the activity to be carried out, the following are specific requirements:

1. Experience in translational research in the area of oncology, with particular focus on tumour biology, biomarkers, precision medicine or the tumour microenvironment;
2. Experience in molecular pathology and pathological anatomy, including histopathological assessment, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, molecular characterisation of tumours or equivalent methodologies applied to biomedical research;
3. Scientific output through international peer-reviewed publications in the areas of oncology, pathology, molecular pathology, precision medicine or related areas.

3.3. Failure to provide proof of the requirements set out in points 3.1 and 3.2 shall result in the exclusion of the application.

4. Preferred selection criteria:

1. Experience in oncology-related research, focusing on solid tumours;
2. Experience in the characterisation of the tumour microenvironment, including the analysis of stromal, immunological and inflammatory biomarkers using immunohistochemistry, multiplex immunofluorescence or equivalent methodologies;
3. Experience in molecular pathology applied to diagnosis, prognosis or prediction of therapeutic response in oncology;
4. Experience in the use of Tumour Biobank resources for clinical and translational research, including scientific management of biological collections, case selection, clinicopathological characterisation and integration of histological, molecular and spatial data;
5. Theoretical and/or practical knowledge of computational methodologies in digital pathology and artificial intelligence applied to histological image analysis and/or the characterisation of the tumour microenvironment;
6. Experience in the implementation, validation or harmonisation of laboratory protocols and molecular diagnostic methodologies;
7. Experience of participation in Tumour Boards/multidisciplinary clinicopathological discussion, linking pathological findings with therapeutic decisions;
8. Participation in national or international competitive scientific projects;
9. Participation in scientific dissemination and knowledge transfer activities for health professionals or the scientific community.

5. Remuneration:

5.1. The gross monthly base salary corresponds to the 1st remuneration position, level 7, as provided for in Annexes I and II to the Regulation, under the exclusive dedication regime, amounting to €3,576.56, plus the meal allowance, without prejudice to Article 53(7) of the Regulation.

5.2. Research staff, as a rule, perform their duties under the exclusive dedication regime and may, upon expressing their wish to do so, perform them on a full-time basis, corresponding to 35 (thirty-five) working hours per week, pursuant to Article 43(1) of the Regulation.

5.3. Research staff who opt for the full-time regime receive an amount corresponding to two thirds of the remuneration level they would receive under the exclusive dedication regime, pursuant to Article 53(5) of the Regulation.

6. Place of work:

The place of work is located on the premises of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto or at other locations as may be necessary for the performance of duties, with the PhD Researcher being assigned to the Research and Development Unit RISE-Health, based at FMUP.

7. Contractual regime:

The PhD Researcher will be recruited under an individual fixed-term employment contract of uncertain duration, pursuant to the Regulation, Decree-Law no. 57/2016, of 29 August, the Labour Code and other applicable regulatory provisions. The contract shall remain in force only for the period necessary to carry out the tasks defined in the project identified above and shall in no case exceed the end date of the project, the budget allocation and/or the maximum limit of 6 (six) years, pursuant to Article 5(4) of the Regulation and Article 6(3) of the RJEC.

8. Activities to be carried out:

8.1. The duties of research staff comprise the following components, pursuant to Article 9(1) and Articles 10 to 13 of the Regulation:

1. Research;
2. Knowledge transfer and valorisation;
3. Science and technology management and communication, and other tasks;
4. Teaching and training activities.

8.2. The PhD Researcher equivalent to Assistant Researcher shall regularly carry out research and development activities, as well as other scientific and technical activities within the mission of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, and also:

1. Conduct research in the area of tumour biology, molecular pathology and the tumour microenvironment in solid tumours, namely breast cancer and colorectal cancer;
2. Participate in the histopathological, molecular and spatial characterisation of tumours using pathological anatomy, immunohistochemistry, multiplex immunofluorescence, molecular pathology and digital pathology techniques;
3. Collaborate in the creation, scientific validation and exploitation of sample collections from the Tumour Biobanks;
4. Select, characterise and validate, from a clinicopathological standpoint, surgical specimen samples stored in Tumour Biobanks, ensuring the quality and representativeness of the database;
5. Integrate clinical, histopathological and molecular information to identify prognostic biomarkers and biomarkers predictive of therapeutic response;
6. Collaborate in the development, training and validation of digital analysis methodologies and artificial intelligence algorithms for the recognition, quantification and spatial mapping of biomarkers in digitised histological images;
7. Validate, in coordination with the pathology team, the results generated by the AI algorithms, ensuring their reproducibility and correlation with previously defined histological, clinical and prognostic variables;
8. Contribute to the development of prognostic and therapeutic stratification models in the context of personalised medicine;
9. Produce scientific and technical reports, prepare funding applications and participate in the dissemination of the project's scientific results;
10. Prepare technical-scientific activity reports, submit scientific articles for international publication and ensure the dissemination of results, including deposit in open access repositories;
11. Other related or functionally linked duties assigned within the scope of the project.

9. Composition of the Selection Panel:

In accordance with Article 22(1)(g) and Article 25(4) and (5) of the Regulation and Article 13 of the RJEC, the Selection Panel is composed as follows:

Chair of the Selection Panel:

Professor Fernando Carlos de Landér Schmitt, Full Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, in his capacity as Principal Investigator of the HEALTH-UNORTE II project, by delegation of the Director of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, pursuant to Article 25(5) of the Regulation, conferred by Order no. 12604/2026, published in the Official Gazette (Diário da República), 2nd Series, no. 200, of 15 October.

Members of the Selection Panel:

1st full member: Professor Inês Maria Falcão Sousa Pires Marques, Full Professor at FMUP

2nd full member: Professor Raquel Maria Garcia dos Santos Chaves, Full Professor at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro

3rd full member: Professor Adhemar Longatto Filho, Associate Professor at the University of Minho

4th full member: Dr. António José de Almeida Soares, Principal Researcher at FMUP

1st substitute member: Dr. Rita Henriques Pinto de Barros, Assistant Researcher at FMUP

2nd substitute member: Dr. António de Sousa Barros, Assistant Researcher at FMUP

10. Selection methods:

Pursuant to Article 29(1), (3) and (4) of the Regulation and Article 5 of the Legal Framework for Scientific Employment (RJEC), the selection methods are:

a) Assessment of the Scientific and Curricular Path of the candidates (APCC) – 90%;

b) Interview (ENT), should the Selection Panel deem it necessary – 10%.

11. Assessment of the Scientific and Curricular Path (APCC):

11.1. The assessment of the scientific and curricular path takes into account the profile suited to the activity to be carried out and focuses on the relevance, quality and timeliness of the following criteria, which must be considered and weighted separately, pursuant to Article 31(1)(a), (b) and (c) of the Regulation and Article 5(2) of the RJEC:

1. The scientific and professional path, namely professional research experience in the scientific area or areas of the competition;
2. Scientific and technological output in the area(s) for which the competition is opened, and applied or practice-based research activities;
3. Knowledge extension and dissemination activities, management of science, technology and innovation programmes, or experience in the observation and monitoring of the scientific and technological system.

11.2. In assessing the criteria referred to in the preceding point, the activity carried out in the last 5 (five) years shall be taken into account, pursuant to Article 5(2)(a) of the RJEC.

11.3. The 5 (five) year period referred to in the preceding point may be extended by the Selection Panel, at the request of the candidate, where justified by a suspension of scientific activity for socially protected reasons, namely parental leave, prolonged serious illness and other legally protected situations of unavailability for work, pursuant to Article 5(3) of the RJEC.

11.4. The components, parameters and weightings of the Assessment of the Scientific and Curricular Path (APCC) are detailed below:

A. Criterion for the assessment of the Scientific and Professional Path (PCP) (5%):

A1. Scientific skills in the area or sub-areas for which the competition is opened, as evidenced by the scientific and professional path, namely area(s) of training and professional research experience (5%).

B. Criteria for the assessment of the Scientific and Technological Output in the area(s) for which the competition is opened and of applied or practice-based research activities (PCT) (90%):

B1. Scientific output in oncology, pathology, molecular pathology and precision medicine (30%);

B2. Participation in Tumour Boards/multidisciplinary clinicopathological discussion, linking pathological findings with therapeutic decisions (40%);

B3. Translational research activities involving biomarkers, the tumour microenvironment, molecular pathology and therapeutic resistance (20%);

C. Criterion for the assessment of Knowledge Extension and Dissemination Activities (AEDC) (5%):

C1. Participation in scientific dissemination, knowledge transfer, development of technical guidelines, organisation of scientific events or collaboration with clinical and academic entities (5%).

11.5. The final APCC score is obtained using the following formula: APCC = (A1 × 0.05) + (B1 × 0.3) + (B2 × 0.4) + (B3 × 0.2) + (C1 × 0.05).

12. Assessment of the Interview (ENT):

12.1. Should the Selection Panel deem the interview necessary, up to a maximum of 3 (three) of the highest-ranked candidates in the Assessment of the Scientific and Curricular Path shall be admitted to it, pursuant to Article 29(4)(b)(ii) of the Regulation.

12.2. The interview is aimed exclusively at clarifying aspects related to the research carried out by the candidates, pursuant to Article 33(1) of the Regulation, and comprises the following components, parameters and weightings:

D. Clarification of the research activities carried out in the scientific area of the competition, with particular focus on the work and publications submitted for assessment – 50%

E. Clarification of the practical experience in the methodologies evidenced in the application documents – 50%

12.3. The interview shall last no longer than one hour, pursuant to Article 33(1) of the Regulation, and may be held by videoconference, on the initiative of the Chair of the Selection Panel or at the reasoned request of the candidate, pursuant to paragraph 2 of the same Article.

12.4. Failure by candidates to attend the interview stage is equivalent to withdrawal from the competition, and such candidates shall be excluded from the selection procedure, pursuant to Article 22(1)(c) and Article 29(3) and (4)(b)(ii) of the Regulation.

12.5. The ENT score is obtained using the following formula: ENT = (0.5 × D) + (0.5 × E).

13. Final Score (CF):

The final score (CF) of the candidates is expressed on a scale of 0 to 100 points and is determined by the following formula: CF = (0.9 × APCC) + (0.1 × ENT) or, where the Interview (ENT) method is not applied, by the following formula: CF = APCC.

In the event of a tie in the final score, the candidate with the higher score in the Assessment of the Scientific and Curricular Path shall prevail and, should the tie persist, the candidate with the higher score in criterion B of that assessment; should the tie still persist, the Chair of the Selection Panel shall have the casting vote, pursuant to Article 27(7)(b) and Article 32(3) of the Regulation.

14. Scoring of the selection methods:

Pursuant to Article 34 of the Regulation, each member of the Selection Panel assesses the scientific and curricular path and, where applicable, the interview, on a scale of 0 to 100 points, scored to two decimal places.

15. Assessment methodology:

The methodology for ranking the applications, the voting rules and the drawing up of the respective minutes are governed by Articles 27 (Decisions of the Selection Panel) and 32 (Ranking of candidates – Assessment of the scientific and curricular path) of the Regulation, to which reference is hereby made.

16. Submission of applications:

16.1. Applications must be submitted by 2 November 2026, until 11:59 p.m. (mainland Portugal time), within the period of 10 working days, pursuant to Article 24 of the Regulation.

16.2. Applications must be submitted on the U.Porto recruitment platform, APPLY UP: https://app.apply.up.pt – Ref. INVTERM-FMUP-26-22.

16.3. Applications must be accompanied by documents proving the conditions set out in this Notice of Opening, namely:

1. Copy of the certificate or diploma of the PhD degree;
2. Curriculum Vitae, detailed, in Portuguese or English, containing all information relevant to the assessment of the application and to demonstrating compliance with the criteria set out in points 3 and 4 of this Notice, organised according to the APCC criteria set out in point 11.4;
3. Cover letter, containing:
   1. motivation for the position;
   2. most relevant scientific activities, in accordance with point 11 of this Notice; and
   3. availability to take up duties;
4. Supporting documents deemed relevant for verifying the eligibility of the application and documents which the candidate considers relevant for the assessment of their merit, namely proof of scientific skills, scientific and technological output, research activities, participation in projects and publications.

16.4. Failure to submit the documents referred to in points 16.3(a) to (d) shall result in the exclusion of the application.

16.5. Whenever it deems necessary, the Selection Panel may request candidates to submit additional documentation related to the curriculum submitted, pursuant to Article 26(2)(a) of the Regulation.

17. Notifications and prior hearing of interested parties:

17.1. Notifications are made by publication on the APPLY UP electronic platform, pursuant to Article 112(1)(c) of the CPA, taking effect pursuant to Article 113(5) of the CPA, and pursuant to Article 22(1)(i) of the Regulation.

17.2. Candidates have a period of 10 working days to submit, should they so wish, their observations within the prior hearing of interested parties, under Articles 121 et seq. of the CPA and Article 35 of the Regulation, on the APPLY UP electronic platform.

18. Period of validity:

This selection procedure is valid exclusively for filling the position(s) under competition and expires once the position(s) has/have been filled. In the event of refusal, withdrawal or impossibility of recruiting the selected candidate, pursuant to Article 37(4) of Regulation no. 849/2026, the next candidates on the final ranking list may be called for the same position.

19. Other provisions:

FMUP actively promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access, pursuant to Article 1(3) of the Regulation and Law no. 26/2019, of 28 March. Accordingly, no application may be privileged, favoured, disadvantaged, deprived of any right or exempted from any duty on the grounds of, namely, ancestry, age, sex, 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, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions and trade union membership.

20. Approval of the Notice of Opening:

This Call was approved by the Deputy Director of FMUP, Professor Filipa Abreu Gomes de Carvalho, under the powers delegated by sub-paragraph iii) of paragraph 1.1 of Order (Despacho) No. 9857/2026, published in the Official Gazette (Diário da República), 2nd series, No. 150, of 5 August 2026, following a favourable opinion of the FMUP Scientific Council, issued at its meeting of 16 September 2026, pursuant to Article 21(3) of the Regulation. The amendments subsequently introduced were endorsed by the members of the Scientific Council on 7 October 2026.

This notice is a translation of the original Portuguese version. In the event of any discrepancy between the Portuguese and English versions, the Portuguese version shall prevail.

Porto, 19 October 2026.

The Deputy Director of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto,

Professor Filipa Abreu Gomes de Carvalho.

1. The Portuguese acronyms used for the selection methods, assessment criteria and final score (e.g. APCC, ENT, PCP, PCT, AEDC and CF) have been retained in this English version so that the formulas are identical in both language versions.
2. If the PhD was awarded by a foreign higher education institution, it must be recognised by a Portuguese higher education institution, pursuant to Article 25 of Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of 16 August, which approves the legal framework for the recognition of academic degrees and higher education diplomas awarded by foreign higher education institutions, and Article 4(2)(e) of Decree-Law no. 60/2018, of 3 August; any formalities established therein must be completed by the date of the act of recruitment.

Where to apply

Website: https://app.apply.up.pt/procedures/m6pmo8y5zt406i3v

Requirements

• Research Field: Medical sciences » Other
• Education Level: PhD or equivalent
• Research Field: Medical sciences » Other

Additional Information

Work Location(s)

• Number of offers available: 1
• Company/Institute: Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto
• Country: Portugal

Contact

• City: Porto
• Website: https://sigarra.up.pt/fmup/pt/noticias_geral.ver_noticia?p_nr=118965
• Street: Alameda Professor Hernani Monteiro
• Postal Code: 4200 - 319
• E-Mail: contratacaorh@med.up.pt