Two PhD Researchers

Professor Alexandra Curvelo, Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at NOVA University Lisbon (NOVA FCSH), hereby announces that an international competitive selection procedure is open for a period of 25 working days, for the recruitment of two PhD Researchers, under employment contracts for a fixed term employment contract of uncertain duration, at NOVA University Lisbon – School of Social and Human Sciences, to carry out scientific research activities within the scope of the strategic project funded through the Programme-Based Funding from the Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon (CLUNL) – UID/03213/2025, supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through national funds.

The opening of the selection procedure, as well as the appointment of the jury, were authorised by decree of the Vice-Dean for Research of NOVA FCSH, under the subdelegation of powers conferred by Dispatch No. 9269/2025, of 30 July, published in the Diário da República, 2nd series, using the power of subdelegation provided for in Dispatch No. 8927/2025, of 22 July, published in the Diário da República, 2nd series, of 23 of July 2026, following a favourable opinion from the Scientific Council of NOVA FCSH of 17 of July 2026.

1. The recruitment of the PhD Researchers shall be governed by Decree-Law No. 57/2016 of 29 August, as amended by Law No. 57/2017 of 19 July, which establishes the legal framework for the hiring of PhD holders to promote scientific and technological employment (RJEC), by the Portuguese Labour Code, approved by Law No. 7/2009 of 12 February, as amended, and by Regulatory Decree No. 11-A/2017 of 29 December.

2. The successful candidates will be recruited for an indefinite duration as lawfully established in RJEC, article 6, no. 1, paragraph b), ex vi, of no. 2 of article 18 of RJEC. The contracts shall remain in force only for the period strictly necessary for the performance of the tasks assigned under the project described below.

3. The present competition seeks to recruit two (2) PhD Researchers to develop research projects in the field of Language Sciences, for an expected period of two (2) years.

4. In accordance with Article 2 of Regulatory Decree No. 11-A/2017 of 29 December, the contracts shall carry a gross monthly base salary of €2,408.11, corresponding to Level 33 of the first salary position.

5. The place of work shall be the premises of the Research Centre for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon, located at Colégio Almada Negreiros – Campolide Campus, 1099-032 Lisbon, and/or any other locations required for the proper execution of the research activities.

6. Applicants may be Portuguese nationals, foreign nationals or stateless persons who hold a PhD degree in Linguistics or a related field, and whose scientific and professional profile is appropriate to the duties to be performed.

7. Applicants must cumulatively meet the following requirements:

a) Hold a PhD degree, by the deadline for submission of applications, in Language Sciences or in a field deemed relevant;

b) Demonstrate a scientific trajectory compatible with independent research in Language Sciences;

c) Submit an original Scientific Project with a Two-Year Work Plan (up to 12,000 characters), aligned with the CLUNL research areas referred to in Point 10;

d) Submit a duly completed application in accordance with Point 8;

e) Demonstrate proficiency in Portuguese or English, adequate for the exercise of the duties and integration into an international research environment.

8. Under penalty of exclusion, applications must include the following documents:

a) Application form (available at https://www.fcsh.unl.pt/content/uploads/2020/02/Formulário-de-Candidatura_Application-Form-Researcher.pdf), with explicit reference to this application procedure;

b) Proof of award of the PhD degree; where the degree was awarded by a foreign higher education institution, a solemn declaration in the appropriate form should be submitted (available at https://fcsh.unl.pt/faculdade/concursos_para_investigadores/);

c) Curriculum vitae organised in accordance with Point 13, including a Narrative CV (Annex I);

d) Scientific Project and Work Plan referred to in Point 7(c);

e) Email contacts of two academic referees;

f) Letter of Motivation.

9. Applications must be submitted in Portuguese or English, within 25 working days from the day following publication of this Notice in the Diário da República, by email to dgrhrecrutamento@fcsh.unl.pt, indicating the reference of this Notice in the subject line. All documents must be submitted in PDF format.

The Selection Committee may request, at any time, documentary evidence of statements made by the applicants. Applications that are incorrectly submitted or that fail to demonstrate compliance with the requirements shall be excluded.

10. Applicants must demonstrate capacity for high-quality, independent research in Language Sciences, with relevant experience in one or more of the following CLUNL research areas:

a) Experimental linguistics (acquisition, development, processing);

b) Corpus linguistics, including lexical statistics and corpus tools;

c) Linguistic knowledge organisation and modelling;

d) Lexical, terminological or computational resources;

e) Linguistic, textual and discourse mediation using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods.

Interdisciplinary profiles will be particularly valued.

11. The selection of the PhD researchers to be recruited shall be carried out through the evaluation of the applicants admitted, based on a final classification scale from 0 to 100 points, taking into account:

• scientific merit;
• academic and professional career trajectory;
• adequacy of the applicant’s profile to the activities to be performed;
• strategic contribution to CLUNL.

The evaluation process comprises the following components:

1. Curriculum Evaluation, weighted at 60 points, focusing on the scientific and professional career developed over the last five years;
2. Scientific Project Evaluation, weighted at 30 points, focusing on the quality, relevance, feasibility and integration of the proposed project within the CLUNL research areas;
3. Interview, weighted at 10 points, intended solely for the clarification and discussion of aspects related to research results.

The final score shall result from the sum of the scores obtained in each of the above components.

12. The classification of applicants is expressed on a single numerical scale from 0 to 100 points.

Applicants who obtain a minimum score of 50 points out of 100, calculated as the sum of the scores awarded in the Curriculum Evaluation and the Scientific Project Evaluation, shall be admitted to the Interview stage.

13. The assessment of the candidate’s scientific and academic record will focus on the relevance, quality, and timeliness of:

a) The candidate’s most significant scientific, technological, and academic outputs produced during the last five years;

b) Theoretical, applied, or practice-based research activities undertaken during the last five years that the candidate considers to have had the greatest impact, as well as a Research Proposal;

c) Outreach and knowledge-dissemination activities carried out during the last five years, particularly those aimed at promoting scientific culture and scientific practice, which the candidate considers most significant;

d) Experience in the management of science, technology, and innovation programmes, or in the observation and monitoring of the science and technology system or higher education sector, in Portugal or abroad.

13.1 Curriculum Evaluation (60 points)

The Curriculum Evaluation shall be based on the following criteria:

a) Quality, relevance and impact of scientific output over the last five years, as evidenced in the curriculum vitae (including, e.g., explicit indicators from the Journal Citation Reports where appropriate) and in the Narrative CV, in accordance with Annex I (0–25 points);

b) Experience in linguistic data analysis and processing, including advanced quantitative methods and/or computational approaches, demonstrated through research projects or specialised training (0–10 points);

c) Capacity for data modelling, design of linguistic resources and/or methodological development relevant to the Language Sciences (0–10 points);

d) Participation in or leadership of scientific projects, preferably funded through competitive calls, with impact demonstrated through subsequent funded projects, publications, outreach activities, and knowledge-dissemination initiatives within the academic community or society at large (0–10 points).

e) Activities involving the management of science, technology, and innovation programmes, undertaken in Portugal or abroad (0–5 points).

13.2 Scientific Project Evaluation (30 points)

The evaluation of the Scientific Project shall take into account:

a) Scientific quality, originality and relevance of the proposed project (0–15 points);

b) Feasibility of the work plan, including objectives, concrete actions, timetable, foreseeable funding and integration within the CLUNL research areas (0–15 points).

Only applicants who obtain a minimum of 50 points in the combined evaluation of Sections 13.1 and 13.2 shall proceed to the Interview stage.

13.3 Interview (10 points)

The Interview will assess:

a) Motivation for carrying out the proposed Scientific Project and clarity in the presentation of its objectives and work plan (0–5 points);

b) Capacity for institutional integration, experience of teamwork and contribution to collaborative research environments (0–5 points).

14. The reference period of five years, referred to in the previous section, may be extended by the Selection Committee, at the request of the applicant, where duly justified by interruptions to scientific activity for socially protected reasons, namely:

• parental leave;
• prolonged serious illness;
• other legally protected situations resulting in temporary unavailability for work.

15. Applicants must further demonstrate the ability to contribute to ongoing research projects at CLUNL, by providing scientific and methodological support to research teams, through one or more of the following competences:

a) Solid knowledge of quantitative methods applied to the Language Sciences;

b) Experience in the processing, analysis and/or modelling of linguistic data;

c) Skills in computational or data-driven approaches, preferably using languages or environments such as R, Python, CQL, or structured data formats (e.g. JSON, XML).

Capacity to adapt to different research contexts and to work collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams shall be particularly valued.

16. Only applicants who obtain a minimum final classification of 75 points shall be eligible for recruitment.

17. Where the PhD degree was awarded abroad, formal recognition under Decree-Law No. 66/2018 of 16 August must be completed prior to contract signature.

Candidates ranked immediately below the second-placed candidate will be invited to take up the position should the PhD degree not be recognised following the completion of the aforementioned formalities.

18. Selection Committee

Chair:

Susana Correia, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, and Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Full Members:

Ana Castro, Coordinating Professor, School of Health, Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, and Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Margarida Ramos, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, and Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Matilde Gonçalves, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Ana Madeira, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, and Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Alternate members:

Rute Costa, Full Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, and Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Alexandra Fiéis, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Antónia Coutinho, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, and Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

19. False statements shall be punishable in accordance with the law.

20. NOVA University Lisbon actively promotes equal opportunities and non-discrimination. No applicant shall be advantaged, disadvantaged or deprived of any right or duty on grounds including, but not limited to, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital or family status, economic condition, education, social origin, genetic heritage, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin, language, religion, political or ideological beliefs, or trade union membership.

1 September 2026 — The Vice-Dean for Research, Professor Sónia Vespeira de Almeida.

Annex I

Guidelines for a Narrative CV

(from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.)

The applicant’s Narrative CV comprises five sub-sections:

i) Career profile;

ii) Contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies or knowledge;

iii) Contributions to the development of individuals and/or research teams;

iv) Contributions to the research community and the broader society;

v) Further details on up to five scientific activities and contributions.

Any false declarations in this or other sections of the application determine the exclusion from the Call, as mentioned in the Call for applications (Aviso de Abertura). This includes misleading statements regarding your role or contribution to a given activity or output.

Applicants are strongly advised to not use metrics. As part of the FCT’s commitment to The Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment, as set out by the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), Evaluation Panels are advised not to use metrics as a surrogate measure of the quality of individual outputs and applicant’s contributions.

Additionally, according to Decree Law 57/2016,2 which rules the hiring of PhD holders for research, evaluation criteria should “not adopt merely quantitative procedures, based on indicators, in counting publications, or in calculating their cumulative impact factors”.

Therefore, the assessment of the Merit of the Applicant will encompass a diverse range of research activities, focusing on the quality and impact of your individual research contributions and outputs. The assessment of the Merit of the Applicant criterion by the Evaluation Panels will not be based on a quantitative approach.

Career profile (max. 4000 characters)

This section intends to inform the Evaluation Panel about your profile and research trajectory. Your scientific and curricular path should be written in a narrative form describing your trajectory as researcher and informing reviewers as much as possible about your education and training and your research experience, skills and profile.

You may include in this section:

• Information on your education, namely the PhD degree;
• Details on your professional experience, including international experience;
• Abilities and skills to adequately execute the proposed research plan. In this context, you should refer to relevant research experience, scientific production and activity beyond the last five years, to provide the Evaluation Panel with sufficient context information on your research profile and path, as well as on your abilities and skills to carry out your research plan;
• If applicable, you may also specify any periods of leave from research, such as parental leaves, long-term absence due to illness, periods of work in industry, secondments, volunteering or other non-research activities. Mention how long each interruption lasted, and how these interruption(s) or unconventional path and/or gap(s) in your research career has/have impacted your activity, to be clearly understood by the Evaluation Panel.

In the following sections of the Narrative CV, you should describe your activities and contributions to science, to the scientific community and to the broader society in the last five years (February 2021- January 2026). Exceptions to this time frame apply to researchers who have interrupted their scientific activity due to parental leave and/or serious illness in the last five years. In those cases, the period under evaluation can be extended according to the career break(s) mentioned in the Career profile section.

To better inform the Evaluation Panel on the relevance of your contributions, when including ‘what’ those are, also consider ‘how’ or ‘why’ they are relevant or important, the roles you played in them, who has benefitted from your outputs/achievements, and how.

Contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies or knowledge (max. 5000 characters)

Some examples of the activities and contributions you may refer to in this section are: publications, key data sets, software, intellectual property (patents, licences, trademarks, copyrights, novel assays and reagents), conference presentations and proceedings, research and policy publications, or other scientific, technological, cultural or artistic achievements. You can also mention any awards you have received in recognition of your contributions to the generation of knowledge.

Regarding publications, only published work should be referred, since the Evaluation Panel will not consider work in progress nor submitted manuscripts.

Do not mention journal impact factors, citation metrics or other scientific performance metrics.

Contributions to the development of individuals and/or research teams (max. 2000 characters)

You may refer here to activities and contributions to the development of individuals or teams, such as project participations, leadership or management, collaborative contributions, team support, teaching activities, workshops or summer schools, the supervision and mentoring of students. You can also detail your role in past and ongoing funded projects (as PI, team member or other; period of funding; funding amount), as well as the management of science, technology and innovation programs or projects, and involvement in collaborations/networks from the institution to the international level.

Contributions to the research community and the broader society (max. 3000 characters)

You may refer here to activities and contributions to the research community and the broader society, such as editing, reviewing, refereeing, participation in evaluation processes (as Panel Chair, Panel member or Expert reviewer) of funding applications, organization of events that have benefited the research community, or improved research culture, societal engagement, transfer and dissemination of knowledge (to the public, private or non-profit sectors or to the public in general), outreach activities, and other types of engagement with the broader society.

Further details on up to five scientific activities and contributions (max. 1000 characters each)

Provide further details on a maximum of five scientific activities or contributions mentioned in the previous sections that best illustrate your research work during the last 5 years. For each one, indicate the role you played in it, and explain its relevance in your career path and how it has impacted a) the advancement of knowledge in the respective scientific area, and/or, if applicable, b) the research community or the broader society.

Each field must correspond solely to one specific activity or output (one publication, project, patent or any other type of activity), not a group of activities or outputs.

Whenever outputs have a DOI, please include it. Additionally, in case of peer-review articles, indicate your position and role in the list of authors. The Panel will only consider published and accomplished achievements.

Where to apply

E-mail: dgrhrecrutamento@fcsh.unl.pt

Requirements

Research Field: Language sciences

Education Level: PhD or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

6. Applicants may be Portuguese nationals, foreign nationals or stateless persons who hold a PhD degree in Linguistics or a related field, and whose scientific and professional profile is appropriate to the duties to be performed.

7. Applicants must cumulatively meet the following requirements:

a) Hold a PhD degree, by the deadline for submission of applications, in Language Sciences or in a field deemed relevant;

b) Demonstrate a scientific trajectory compatible with independent research in Language Sciences;

c) Submit an original Scientific Project with a Two-Year Work Plan (up to 12,000 characters), aligned with the CLUNL research areas referred to in Point 10;

d) Submit a duly completed application in accordance with Point 8;

e) Demonstrate proficiency in Portuguese or English, adequate for the exercise of the duties and integration into an international research environment.

Specific Requirements

10. Applicants must demonstrate capacity for high-quality, independent research in Language Sciences, with relevant experience in one or more of the following CLUNL research areas:

a) Experimental linguistics (acquisition, development, processing);

b) Corpus linguistics, including lexical statistics and corpus tools;

c) Linguistic knowledge organisation and modelling;

d) Lexical, terminological or computational resources;

e) Linguistic, textual and discourse mediation using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods.

Interdisciplinary profiles will be particularly valued.

Additional Information

Benefits

4. In accordance with Article 2 of Regulatory Decree No. 11-A/2017 of 29 December, the contracts shall carry a gross monthly base salary of €2,408.11, corresponding to Level 33 of the first salary position.

Selection process

11. The selection of the PhD researchers to be recruited shall be carried out through the evaluation of the applicants admitted, based on a final classification scale from 0 to 100 points, taking into account:

• scientific merit;
• academic and professional career trajectory;
• adequacy of the applicant’s profile to the activities to be performed;
• strategic contribution to CLUNL.

The evaluation process comprises the following components:

1. Curriculum Evaluation, weighted at 60 points, focusing on the scientific and professional career developed over the last five years;
2. Scientific Project Evaluation, weighted at 30 points, focusing on the quality, relevance, feasibility and integration of the proposed project within the CLUNL research areas;
3. Interview, weighted at 10 points, intended solely for the clarification and discussion of aspects related to research results.

The final score shall result from the sum of the scores obtained in each of the above components.

12. The classification of applicants is expressed on a single numerical scale from 0 to 100 points.

Applicants who obtain a minimum score of 50 points out of 100, calculated as the sum of the scores awarded in the Curriculum Evaluation and the Scientific Project Evaluation, shall be admitted to the Interview stage.

13. The assessment of the candidate’s scientific and academic record will focus on the relevance, quality, and timeliness of:

a) The candidate’s most significant scientific, technological, and academic outputs produced during the last five years;

b) Theoretical, applied, or practice-based research activities undertaken during the last five years that the candidate considers to have had the greatest impact, as well as a Research Proposal;

c) Outreach and knowledge-dissemination activities carried out during the last five years, particularly those aimed at promoting scientific culture and scientific practice, which the candidate considers most significant;

d) Experience in the management of science, technology, and innovation programmes, or in the observation and monitoring of the science and technology system or higher education sector, in Portugal or abroad.

13.1 Curriculum Evaluation (60 points)

The Curriculum Evaluation shall be based on the following criteria:

a) Quality, relevance and impact of scientific output over the last five years, as evidenced in the curriculum vitae (including, e.g., explicit indicators from the Journal Citation Reports where appropriate) and in the Narrative CV, in accordance with Annex I (0–25 points);

b) Experience in linguistic data analysis and processing, including advanced quantitative methods and/or computational approaches, demonstrated through research projects or specialised training (0–10 points);

c) Capacity for data modelling, design of linguistic resources and/or methodological development relevant to the Language Sciences (0–10 points);

d) Participation in or leadership of scientific projects, preferably funded through competitive calls, with impact demonstrated through subsequent funded projects, publications, outreach activities, and knowledge-dissemination initiatives within the academic community or society at large (0–10 points).

e) Activities involving the management of science, technology, and innovation programmes, undertaken in Portugal or abroad (0–5 points).

13.2 Scientific Project Evaluation (30 points)

The evaluation of the Scientific Project shall take into account:

a) Scientific quality, originality and relevance of the proposed project (0–15 points);

b) Feasibility of the work plan, including objectives, concrete actions, timetable, foreseeable funding and integration within the CLUNL research areas (0–15 points).

Only applicants who obtain a minimum of 50 points in the combined evaluation of Sections 13.1 and 13.2 shall proceed to the Interview stage.

13.3 Interview (10 points)

The Interview will assess:

a) Motivation for carrying out the proposed Scientific Project and clarity in the presentation of its objectives and work plan (0–5 points);

b) Capacity for institutional integration, experience of teamwork and contribution to collaborative research environments (0–5 points).

14. The reference period of five years, referred to in the previous section, may be extended by the Selection Committee, at the request of the applicant, where duly justified by interruptions to scientific activity for socially protected reasons, namely:

• parental leave;
• prolonged serious illness;
• other legally protected situations resulting in temporary unavailability for work.

15. Applicants must further demonstrate the ability to contribute to ongoing research projects at CLUNL, by providing scientific and methodological support to research teams, through one or more of the following competences:

a) Solid knowledge of quantitative methods applied to the Language Sciences;

b) Experience in the processing, analysis and/or modelling of linguistic data;

c) Skills in computational or data-driven approaches, preferably using languages or environments such as R, Python, CQL, or structured data formats (e.g. JSON, XML).

Capacity to adapt to different research contexts and to work collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams shall be particularly valued.

16. Only applicants who obtain a minimum final classification of 75 points shall be eligible for recruitment.

17. Where the PhD degree was awarded abroad, formal recognition under Decree-Law No. 66/2018 of 16 August must be completed prior to contract signature.

Candidates ranked immediately below the second-placed candidate will be invited to take up the position should the PhD degree not be recognised following the completion of the aforementioned formalities.

18. Selection Committee

Chair:

Susana Correia, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, and Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Full Members:

Ana Castro, Coordinating Professor, School of Health, Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, and Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Margarida Ramos, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, and Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Matilde Gonçalves, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Ana Madeira, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, and Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Alternate members:

Rute Costa, Full Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, and Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Alexandra Fiéis, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Antónia Coutinho, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University Lisbon, and Research Center for Linguistics at NOVA University Lisbon

Website for additional job details: https://www.fcsh.unl.pt/faculdade/concursos_para_investigadores/

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available: 2

Company/Institute: CLUNL

Country: Portugal

City: Lisbon

Contact

City: Lisboa

Website: http://www.fcsh.unl.pt

Street: Av. de Berna, 26 C

Postal Code: 1069-061