PhD student or Master enrolled in non-academic degree course research fellowship

Reference Number: SMARTB_2026_01

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

Offer Description

A call for applications is now open for the attribution of 1 PhD student or Master enrolled in non-academic degree course research fellowship, reference no SMARTB_2026_01, in the area of Communication Sciences and Marketing, under the Research Fellowship Statute (EBI); and the University of Minho Regulation of Scientific Research Fellowships (RBIC).

Funding

The Fellowship will be funded by the Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional do Norte (CCDR-N), under the scope of the SMART_BUILDING_COOP - Gestión y Transformación para la Eficiencia Energética y Sostenibilidad de los Edifícios Project.

Recipients

The PhD student or Master enrolled in non-academic degree course research fellowships are intended for enrolled candidates or those who may demonstrate the necessary conditions to be admitted to a Doctoral Program. Or enrolled masters or masters who may prove to have the conditions required to enrol in non-academic degree courses.

Requirements 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 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 enrollment in a degree course or non-academic degree course will be contracted, according to the type of the fellowship, indicating, respectively, the academic year or its duration (start and term).

Host institution and scientific orientation: The research activities will be carried out in the Communication and Society Research Centre (CECS), University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, under the scientific supervision of Professor Doctor José Gabriel Andrade, which may also involve travelling to other locations necessary for the performance of the work (e.g., event venues, fieldwork).

Goals and work plan

The fellowship holder will carry out activities in support to the organization and technical-scientific development of the project, namely:

• Collection and analysis of documents;
• Co-ordination and scheduling of visits to management and academic communities in the region;
• Technical support for visits to the region as part of the project;
• Preparation and technical support for visits;
• Preparation and technical support for working meetings;
• Transcription of focus groups and interviews conducted as part of the project;
• Review of reports produced as part of the study;
• Production of content for the project’s websites and social media;
• Publication of scientific articles;
• Other tasks related to the project’s development.

Deadline and form of submission

The call for applications is open for 10 working days from the date of the publication of this notice.

Applications and application support documents requested in this call (‘Application Admissibility Requirements’) must be submitted via e-mail to cecs_candidaturas@ics.uminho.pt, indicating the call reference in the email subject “SMARTB_2026_01”. Applications sent by other means or extemporaneously will not be accepted.

Applicants' admissibility requirements

• Master’s degree in Communication Sciences, Marketing, Digital Marketing or a related field.
• Proficient command of Portuguese and English;
• Not benefited from a non-conferring degree research fellowship for a cumulative period of 2 years, followed or interpolated.
• Not benefited from a PhD student research fellowship for a cumulative period of 4 years, followed or interpolated.

Applicable legislation and regulations

Research Fellowship Holder Statutes, approved by Law nº 40/2004 of August 18, in its current version published by Decree-Law nº 123/2019 of august 28; Regulation of Scientific Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in “Diário da República”, 2nd serie, nº 81, through dispatch nº 4998/2025 of 28-04-2025, ratified by ratification declaration nº 634/2025/2 of 11-07-2025 and Regulation of Research Studentships and Fellowships (RBI) of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. - in force.

Where to apply

E-mail: cecs_candidaturas@ics.uminho.pt

Requirements

Research Field: Communication sciences

Education Level: Master Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

Profile

Applicants to the current call must comply with the following:

• Nationals or citizens of other member states of the European Union;
• Citizens of third countries;
• Stateless persons;
• Citizens with political refugee status

Application Admissibility Requirements

It is essential, under penalty of non-admission to the call, to attach to the application the following documents:

• Curriculum vitae;
• Certificates of the academic degrees obtained or, if applicable, the candidate's declaration of honour that he/she has completed the degrees required in the notice by the application deadline;
• 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 the candidate's declaration of honour;
• Proof of proficiency in Portuguese, if the candidate does not have Portuguese as a first language / Proof of proficiency in English if the candidate does not have English as a first language. Alternatively, a declaration of honour by the candidate;
• Proof of research experience;
• Declaration of honour on the history of research fellowships;
• Motivation Letter.

Preferential requirements

• Research experience employing qualitative methodologies for data collection, processing and analysis;
• Proven experience in science communication, institutional communication and/or communication for research units;
• Proficiency in video-conferencing and webinar platforms (ZOOM, Teams);
• Experience in developing scientific dissemination activities for different audiences;
• Experience in producing and reviewing scientific reports;
• Publications as an author or co-author.

Languages: PORTUGUESE

Level: Excellent

Languages: ENGLISH

Level: Excellent

Additional Information

Benefits

The fellowship will take place for a period of 06 months, with a provisional starting date on December 2026. The fellowship grant may eventually be renewed up to the applicable legal limit.

Monthly maintenance allowance (MMA) amount: The value stipend (MMA) is 1359,64€/per month, in accordance with the stipends values published by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT I.P.) in the country (Annex I – Monthly Stipends Values for the maintenance allowances of the FCT Regulation for Research Studentships and Fellowships) and Annex II of the Regulation of Scientific Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in “Diário da República”, 2nd serie, nº 119, through dispatch nº 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration nº 447/2021 of 22-06-2021, according to the applicable regulation.

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

Benefits: Reimbursement of Voluntary Social Security (Social Security contributions), corresponding to the 1st level of discounts (for research grants with a total duration of 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.

Eligibility criteria

Applicants must comply with the eligibility conditions in Article 9 of the Research Grants Regulation of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (2019).

Note:

The academic degrees and diplomas documents, or their respective recognition when awarded by foreign higher education institutions, are not mandatory in the application phase, being replaced by a declaration of honour of the candidate with the contents of academic results. The documents of academic qualification or respective recognition will be required in the contracting phase and must attest to facts that occurred on a date before the application. In situations of divergence between the information contained in the declaration and the documentation submitted for contracting the grant, only the information contained in the latter will be considered. If the documents proving the ownership of the academic degree and diploma, or the respective recognition under the terms of Decree-Law No. 66/2018, of August 16, do not correspond to the classifications awarded in the evaluation of the academic path, which can change the candidate's ranking, the fellowship won’t be contracted.

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. If candidates do not comply with one of these provisions, the selection panel will assign “0” in the grade of the graduation and/or master's course. Candidates will be evaluated on the remaining parameters.

Selection process

The application assessment will focus on the Candidate's Merit (MC), taking into account several subcriteria. The evaluation subcriteria to be used will be as follows:

1. Academic trajectory: 30 points;
2. Personal and professional curriculum: 50 points;
3. Motivation letter: 20 points.

The Candidate Merit (MC) classification will be obtained by applying the following formula: MC = a + b + c

For further clarification, in the event of a tie between the candidates with the highest score, they may be subject to an Interview (ENT). In this case, for candidates who pass the interview phase, the Jury proceeds to assess the following subcriteria:

1. Interpersonal skills: 30 points;
2. Knowledge demonstrated in the contest area: 40 points;
3. Motivation: 20 points;
4. Language skills: 10 points

The Interview Classification (ENT) will be obtained by applying the following formula: ENT = a + b + c + d

In the case of an interview, the Final Classification (CF) of the Candidate Merit (MC) and the Interview (ENT) will be obtained by applying the following formula: CF = (MC*0,7) + (ENT*0,3)

If the interview does not take place, the final classification (CF) will correspond to 100% of the evaluation obtained in the Candidate Merit (MC).

The jury may not attribute the fellowship if the quality of the candidates is inferior to that intended.

Jury composition

President of the Jury

José Gabriel de Oliveira Andrade Júnior, Professor Associado com Agregação, CECS, Universidade do Minho

Effective Members

Maria José Boavida Miguel Caldeira, Professora Auxiliar, CECS, Universidade do Minho

Sara Margarida da Silva Matos, Técnica Superior, Doutorada, CECS, Universidade do Minho

Substitute Members

Luís António Martins Santos, Professor Associado, CECS, Universidade do Minho

Alberto Manuel Teixeira Sá, Professor Auxiliar, CECS, Universidade do Minho

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

Reserve/substitute list: in case of cancellation of the fellowship, up to 5 months after its attribution, the vacancy(s) will be filled by the candidate(s) from the list of substitutes, according to the final ordering.

Additional comments

Publication of results

The evaluation results project, based on the selection panel minutes, will be sent to the applicants by email, in accordance with Article 13 of UMinho's RBIC.

In case of unfavourable results, the candidates have a period of 10 working days to comment, if desired, in a prior hearing to interested parties, pursuant to Articles 121 and 122 of the Code of Administrative Procedure (DL nº 4 / 2015 of January 7th).

Complaint and Appeal Procedures

The final results of the evaluation will be published through an ordered list (alphabetically, by final grade obtained), posted in a visible and public place of the host unit, as well as by email to all applicants, enclosing for that purpose, the minutes of the jury deliberations.

The selected candidate must inform their willingness to accept the grant in writing. In case of rejection, the fellowship will be awarded to the next candidate in the ordered list of applicants.

The final decision can be contested within 15 working days by sending to the President of the jury the corresponding claim. Interested parties may also submit an optional hierarchical appeal, addressed to the Pro-Rector with delegated competences in this area.

Contract template and final report template

The fellowship will be attributed by signing a fellowship contract between the University of Minho and the fellow, accordingly with the contract minute (annex IV of the Regulation of Research Fellowships of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in Diário da República, 2nd Série, nº 119, through dispatch nº 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration nº 447/2021 of 22-06-2021, as indicated in 2.4 of the FCT document: “Rules for Granting and Management of Grants within the scope of R&D projects, including infrastructure projects, the multi-annual financing program for R&D units and other FCT financing instruments (Version 2021)”.

The contract may only be concluded after all the documentation required is collected, which must take place within a maximum period of 6 months.

Once all the documentation has been received, the contracting entity has 60 working days to conclude the scholarship contract. Once received, the fellow must return the contract duly signed within 15 working days.

The activities under the fellowship contract can only begin after proper authorisation by the contracting entity.

Term and cancellation of fellowship contracts

Without prejudice to the other causes provided in the fellowship regulations (FCT and UMinho) and in the Statute of the Research Fellow, the fellowship ends with the completion of the work plan, as well as with the expiration date for which it was granted or renewed.

At the end of the fellowship, the grantee is obliged to present a Final Report of the work carried out, in accordance with the objectives and evaluation criteria defined with the scientific advisor, within 30 days after the end of the scholarship.

The final report must be prepared in accordance with Annexe I of the Scientific Research Fellowships Regulation of the University of Minho (RBIC), published in Diário da República, 2nd Série, nº 119, through dispatch nº 6524/2020 of 22-06-2020, ratified by ratification declaration nº 447/2021 of 22-06-2021.

Website for additional job details: http://www.cecs.uminho.pt/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Edital_PT_SMARTB_2026_01.pdf

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available: 1

Company/Institute: CECS, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade do Minho

Country: Portugal

State/Province: Braga

City: Braga

Contact

City: Braga

Website: http://www.comunicacao.uminho.pt/cecs/index.asp

Street: Campus de Gualtar

Postal Code: 4710-057 Braga

E-Mail: cecs_candidaturas@ics.uminho.pt