Job Information

Organisation/Company: FEUP
Department: Human Resources Division
Research Field: Engineering » Chemical engineering; Engineering » Other
Researcher Profile: First Stage Researcher (R1)
Positions: Undergraduate Positions
Application Deadline: 17 Sep 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Lisbon)
Country: Portugal
Type of Contract: Temporary
Job Status: Full-time
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

1 Research Initiation Grant (M/F)

Call open for applications for a Research Initiation Grant within the framework of project "NUTRILIX - Technological advances in nutrient recovery and PFAS treatment in sanitary landfill leachates", with nr. 17381 and operation code at the Funds Platform (Balcão dos Fundos) NORTE2030-FEDER-01189600, co-financed by the European Union through the NORTE 2030 Regional Programme, of Portugal 2030, under the following conditions:

Scientific Area: Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering and related fields

Admission requirements:

To be a student enrolled in a higher technical professional course, a bachelor's degree, in an integrated master's degree, or in a master's degree, in the area of environmental engineering, chemical engineering or related areas, a requirement to be duly proven at the time of signing the contract.

To be holder of an academic degree (bachelor's degree) enrolled in a non-academic degree course integrated in the educational project of a higher education institution, developed in association or cooperation with one or more R&D units, a requirement to be duly proven at the time of signing the contract.

If the degree has been awarded by a foreign higher education institution, it must comply with the provisions of the Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of august 16th, and any formalities established there must be fulfilled until the time of signing the contract.

In accordance with article 5º of the Regulation of Research Grants of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.:

The scholarship can only be awarded to those who do not exceed, with this scholarship contract, including possible renewals, an accumulated period of one year in that typology of scholarship, followed or interpolated.
The grant cannot be awarded to anyone who has already benefited from research grants directly or indirectly funded by FCT, awarded under the terms of Research Grant Holder Status.

Activity Outline: The NUTRILIX project aims to promote technological advances in nutrient recovery and in the treatment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) present in landfill leachates, contributing to improved efficiency of conventional treatment systems based on reverse osmosis. The activities to be carried out under the project include crystallization studies for the recovery of ammonia or ammonium from landfill leachates using an oscillatory flow reactor (OFR). Accordingly, the work plan will focus on optimizing the continuous precipitation/crystallization of ammonia or ammonium from leachates using a laboratory-scale OFR. During the work, the influence of several variables controlling ammonia or ammonium crystallization under continuous operation will be investigated, including oscillation frequency and amplitude, temperature, leachate flow rate, among others.

Legislation and regulations: Law Nº. 40/2004, of 18th August, in its current wording (Statutes of Scientific Research Fellow) and Regulation of Research Grants of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, in force and Regulation of Research Grants of University of Porto, in force.

Work place: The work will be developed at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), under the scientific supervision of Dr. António Manuel Azevedo Ferreira, Dr. Vítor Jorge Pais Vilar, and Dr. Lúcia Maria da Silveira Santos.

Grant duration: Initial duration of 04 months, with the predicted starting date in november 2026, on an exclusive basis, eventually renewable, but never exceeding the end of the project.

The eventual renewal of the scholarship will be carried out as determined in article 5º of the Research Grants Regulation of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P.

If it is not possible to ensure the duration of 04 months estimated in the previous paragraph, this duration will be adjusted according to the end date of the project, and provided that the minimum duration of 1 consecutive month is guaranteed, in accordance with paragraph 3 of article 5 of the Research Grant Regulations of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P.

Stipend: The grant stipend amounts to € 701,12 according to the table of values of the grants awarded directly by FCT, I.P. in the Country. The payment will be made by bank transfer.

Selection procedure:

Curricular evaluation (CE) will focus on the merit of the candidate, and the following criteria will be valued:

Academic training: Environmental Engineering or Chemical Engineering – 5 points; related areas – 2 points; other areas – 0 points.
Academic training classification: average equal or higher than 15/20 – 5 points; average equal to 14/20 – 4 points; average equal to 13/20 – 3 points; other – 0 points.
Experience named in the admission requirements – up to 5 points; Experience in other areas – up to 2 points; no experience – 0 points.

Candidates will be ranked according to the above criteria. Candidates obtaining a score lower than 11 points in the Curricular Assessment will not be admitted to the Interview (I).

During the interview, topics related to the work plan, previous experience and the candidate’s CV will be discussed. The Interview will be scored up to 5 points.

The final classification (FC) will be calculated as follows: FC = CE + I.

If the minimum score of 15 points is not reached by any of the candidates, the scholarship may not be awarded.

Selection Jury:

President: Dr. António Manuel Azevedo Ferreira

Effective member: Dr. Vítor Jorge Pais Vilar

Effective member: Dr. Tânia Filomena Castro Valente Silva

Supplementary member: Dr. Maria Francisca da Costa Moreira

Supplementary member: Dr. Catarina da Rocha Cruzeiro

Advertisement of final decision: The results of the evaluation will be released to the candidates by email to the email address indicated in the application process.

Deadline for applications and form of presentation of the applications:

The call is open from 04/09/2026 a 17/09/2026 (until 23:59 local time).

Applications must be submitted via the online application system available at https://www.apply.up.pt (Ref. NUTRILIX-BII-CRISTALIZAÇÃO-2-BOLS-FEUP-26-23) by 17/09/2026, accompanied by the following documents: Motivation letter, Copy of certificates evidencing academic degree (referring to the course average - for each cycle or integrated cycle - and grades in the course units) detailed Curriculum Vitae, Declaration on honor that the candidate fulfills the requirement contained in article 5 of the Regulation for Research Grants of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. (model below) and other documents considered relevant by the applicant.

Declaration on honour

I, (identification of the scholarship holder), holder of the Citizen Card / Visa / Residence Permit no., valid until, declare under honour, to be in the conditions of nos. 4 and 5 of article 5º of the Research Grants from FCT, IP - Regulation No. 950/2019, of 16 December.

Oporto, ___/___/____

Signature

Where to apply

Website: https://www.apply.up.pt