Research Fellowship; 1 vacancy

Job Information

Organisation/Company: Universidade do Minho
Department: Escola de Ciências
Research Field: Physics; Engineering
Researcher Profile: First Stage Researcher (R1)
Positions: Master Positions
Application Deadline: 24 Aug 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Lisbon)
Country: Portugal
Type of Contract: Temporary
Job Status: Full-time
Hours Per Week: 35
Offer Starting Date: 11 Aug 2026
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

Title: Research Fellowship; 1 vacancy

Reference:31/ECUM/CFUM/2026 – Plasmon-2Detect

A call for applications is now open for the attribution of 1 (one) research grant , with reference "31/ECUM/CFUM/2026 – Plasmon-2Detect", by the University of Minho, within the scope of the R&D project entitled "Hybrid Plasmonic/2D Nanomaterials and New Optical-Based Sensing Principles for Detection of Water Pollutants Using Machine Learning Algorithms", with financial support from FEDER and national funds, related to operation no. 16004, operation code COMPETE2030-FEDER-00714300, under the following conditions:

Scientific Area: Nanotecnology.

Recipient category: Masters in: Physics, Physics Engineering, Materials Engineering, Biophysics and Bionanosystems, or related areas.

Type of scholarship to be awarded:

Degree courses: Masters, students enrolled in a PhD program.

Or,

Non-conferring degrees courses: Masters enrolled in non-academic degree courses.

Requirement for granting the fellowship:

The applicants may apply without prior registration in the course for which the fellowship is open. The requirement to enrol in a degree-leading course or a non-academic degree course will be verified on the date of contracting the fellowship.
Only fellowships whose selected applicants present a valid proof of enrolment in a degree course or non-academic degree course will be contracted, according to the type of the fellowship, issued by a Higher Education Institution, indicating, respectively, the academic year or its duration (start and term).

Applicants’ eligibility:Candidates who meet the conditions set out in Article 9 of the Research Grant Regulations, No. 950/2019, of 16-12-2019, of FCT I.P. are eligible.

Nationals or citizens of other European Union member states, third-country nationals, stateless persons, and citizens with political refugee status are eligible to apply for this competition.

Candidate eligibility requirements:

Mandatory requirements: Master’s degree Certificate.
Factors of preference: Experience in one, or more activities of the following: characterization of plasmonic sensors; fabrication and/or characterization of 2D materials (e.g. graphene); thin film deposition; functionalization of nanomaterials with biorecognition elements (e.g., antibodies); characterization of materials (e.g., electron microscopy); optical characterization (including Polarimetry); modelling of optical and plasmonic properties of materials; experience in using/developing machine learning tools.

Workplan and objectives to be achieved:

The selected candidate will develop some of the project activities, as well as participate in the writing of project reports and scientific articles. The tasks to be developed fall within different activities of the project, namely,

Work Plan:Research work in the framework of Activity 1 of the Project, “*Production and Functionalization of Hybrid (Plasmonic/2D) Nanomaterials*”, and other related activities.

Applicable legislation and regulations:Research Fellow Statute (EBI), approved by Law nº. 40/2004 of August 18, in its current wording and FCT Research Fellowship Regulation, approved by Regulation nº 950/2019, published in the Diário da República, 2nd series, of December 16, 2019, in its current wording, and Scientific Research Fellowship Regulation (RBIC) of the University of Minho, approved by order nº 4998/2025, published in the Diário da República, 2nd series, nº 81, of April 28, 2025 Amended and republished through amendment statement no. 634/2025/2, published in the Official Gazette, 2nd series, no. 132, of July 11.

Host/Contracting institution and scientific supervision:

The work plan will be developed at the School of Sciences, Physics Centre, University of Minho, located at the Gualtar Campus (Braga) and Azurém Campus (Guimarães), under the scientific supervision of Dr. Joel Borges (Assistant Professor, FCT Tenure, Department/Centre of Physics, ECUM), and under the coordination of Professor Mikhail Vasilevskiy (Full Professor, Department of Physics, ECUM).

Fellowship duration: The grant will take place for a period of 4 (four) months, with a provisional starting date on the 1-st of November 2026. Non-renewable.

Amount of the research grant: The amount of the grant corresponds to 1 359,64 €/month, according to the table of values of the Research scholarship of the University of Minho, updated annually, as decided by the Management Board.

Payment is made on the 23rd of each month, through bank transfer to the Bank Identification Number of the fellow identified in the hiring process.

Other components of the research grant:Not applicable.

Other benefits: Reimbursement of Voluntary Social Insurance, if the candidate chooses to receive it, corresponding to the 1st level of discounts (for research grants with a total duration 6 months or higher) and personal accident insurance.

Exclusivity regime:The grantee will perform the activities under exclusivity, as foreseen in article 5º of the Research Fellow Statutes and applicable regulations.

Selection panel:

President of the Jury: Dr. Mikhail Igorevich Vasilevskiy, Full Professor, Department of Physics, School of Sciences, University of Minho.

Effective member: Dr. Joel Nuno Pinto Borges, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, School of Sciences, University of Minho.

Effective member: Dr. Rui Miguel Soares Pereira, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, School of Sciences, University of Minho.

Substitute Member: Dr. Maria de Fátima Guimarães Cerqueira, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, School of Sciences, University of Minho.

Substitute Member: Dr. Yuliy Bludov, Principal Investigator, Centre for Physics, School of Sciences, University of Minho.

The first effective member will substitute the President of the selection panel in case of impediment, being nominate the first substitute member in the place of the first effective member.

Criteria and procedures for applications assessment and selection: The applications assessment will focus on the candidate's Merit, following evaluation criteria, valued on a scale of 1 to 5 points:

Applicant Merit - AM (80%):
- A1: Academic path (considering the classifications of academic degrees), with a weighting of 50%;
- A2: Personal curriculum (considering professional and scientific background), with a weighting of 40%
- A3: Motivation letter, with a weighting of 10%.

The final classification of the applicant’s merit with the achieved through the following formula:

AM= (A1* 0.50) + (A2* 0.40) + (A3* 0.10)

Note: Applicants with degrees obtained abroad must present proof of recognition of qualifications in Portugal and conversion of the final classification obtained in them to the Portuguese classification scale or declaration under the terms indicated in the previous point. Candidates who do not comply with one of these provisions, the selection panel will assign the minimum grade (according to evaluation scale) of the graduation and/or master course. Candidates will be evaluated on the remaining parameters.

Candidates ranked in the first 5 (five) positions, and who obtain a minimum classification of 4.0 in AM, will be admitted to the Interview phase, and the Jury will evaluate the following sub-criteria:

Interview – INT (20%):
- B1: Interpersonal skills (20%)
- B2: Demonstrated knowledge in the area in question (40%)
- B3: Motivation (20%)
- B4: Language skills (20%)

The Interview classification (INT) will be obtained by applying the following formula:

INT=(B1*0.20) + (B2*0.40) + (B3*0.20) + (B4*0.20)

The final classification (CF) will be obtained by applying the following formula:

CF=(AM*0.80) + (INT*0.20)

Application deadline and submission: The call for applications is open for a period of 10 working days from the date of publication.

Applications must be submitted by email to bolsas@ecum.uminho.pt, indicating the reference number of the competition in the subject line - 31/ECUM/CFUM/2026 – Plasmon-2Detect. Only applications submitted within the established deadline and accompanied by the following documents will be accepted:

a) Candidate's updated curriculum vitae;
b) Certificates of the academic degrees obtained or, if applicable, the candidate's declaration of honor that he/she has completed the degrees required in the notice by the application deadline (not applicable to research initiation grants). For degrees obtained abroad, the record of recognition of the academic degrees and record of the conversion of the respective final classification to the Portuguese classification scale must be presented, or, alternatively, a declaration of honor from the candidate. This declaration must attest to facts that occurred prior to the application. In the event of a discrepancy between the information contained in the declaration and the documentation submitted for the purposes of contracting the scholarship, only the information contained in the latter will be considered. If it is found that the documents proving the academic degree and diploma, or their recognition under the terms of Decree-Law n. º 66/2018, of August 16, do not correspond to the classifications awarded in the assessment of the academic career and may consequently alter the candidate's ranking, the scholarship will not be contracted; Other mandatory documents to be attached at the time of application.
c) Motivation Letter;
d) Other documents that the candidate considers relevant to the evaluation process.

Form of publication/notification of results: The results of the evaluation are published in a single list (final score obtained), posted in a visible and public place in the host unit, as well as by email to all candidates, attaching, for this purpose, the minutes of the jury's deliberations, within a maximum period of 90 working days from the deadline for submission of applications.

Candidates are informed, at a preliminary hearing, in accordance with Articles 121 and 122 of the Administrative Procedure Code, of the likely outcome of the final decision, and may comment within 10 working days of this notification.

An appeal may be lodged against the final decision within 15 working days, or an appeal may be lodged with the highest executive body of the funding entity within 30 days, both after the respective notification (Article 12(nº6) of the FCT Research Grant Regulations).

Within 10 working days of notification of the grant award, the applicant must declare their acceptance in writing. In case of non-acceptance, the next highest ranked applicant will be notified immediately.

Constitution of a selection reserve list:The applicants ranked in the next positions on the ordered list will be included in a selection reserve list, which can be used until 31/12/2026.

Fellowship contractualization:The scholarship is awarded through the signing of a contract between the University of Minho and the scholarship recipient, in accordance with point 2.4 of the Rules for the Award and Management of Scholarships https://www.fct.pt/wpcontent/uploads/2022/03/Normas_de_Atribuicao_de_Bolsas_2021.pdf and the draft contract in Annex II of the University of Minho's Scientific Research Scholarship Regulations.

The contract can only be signed after receipt of all the documentation required for the type of scholarship, which must occur within a maximum period of 6 months, including proof of academic degrees or diplomas, as well as enrolment in non-degree study cycles or courses, as applicable.

Once all the documentation has been received, the contracting entity has 60 working days to sign the scholarship contract. Once received by the scholarship holder, the contract must be returned, duly signed, within 15 working days.

Term and cancellation of fellowship contracts:Without prejudice to the other grounds laid down in the University of Minho's Scientific Research Scholarship Regulation and in the Research Fellow Statute, the scholarship will cease on completion of the contracted work plan, as well as on expiry of the period for which it was granted or renewed.

The final report must be submitted to the scientific advisor, in accordance with the defined objectives and evaluation criteria, no later than 60 working days after the end of the scholarship and must be drawn up in accordance with Annex I of the Regulations of the University of Minho.

Non-discrimination and equal access policy: Universidade do Minho actively promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access, so that no candidate may be privileged, benefited, harmed or deprived of any right or exempt from any duty due, namely, to ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, 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.

Declaration of Honor

Academic qualifications

I, (full name), candidate for the vacancy for the award of a (type of scholarship), within the scope of the project (name or reference of the project), with the reference (ref. notice), declare on my honor that I have completed the academic degree of (academic degree), qualifying for the type of scholarship in the competition, namely the course (designation), by the (University conferring the degree), on the date XX/XX/XXXX, with a final average of XXXXX values on the YY scale.

As it is not possible for me to present proof of qualifications until the end of the competition, I declare that I undertake to present the aforementioned certificate at the moment of the scholarship contract, in the event that I am selected for the vacancy in the competition.

As this is true, I hereby date and sign this declaration.

(Place), (date).

____________________

(full name)

Declaration of Honor

I, (full name), bearer of identification document number (XXXX), candidate for a research grant (type of grant), within the scope of the project (name or reference of the project), with the reference (ref. call for proposals), declare on my honor that (I have not received any research grants to date / I have received the following research grants) under the Research Grant Holder Statute.

University

Financing Entity

Project

Type of Grant

Duration

Start

Term

As this is true, I hereby date and sign this declaration.

(Place), (date).

____________________

(full name)

Where to apply

E-mail: bolsas@ecum.uminho.pt

Requirements

Research Field: Physics

Education Level: Master Degree or equivalent

Research Field: Engineering

Education Level: Master Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications