RESEARCH ASSISTANT – 1 (one) vacancy

Offer Description

RESEARCH ASSISTANT – 1 (one) vacancy

Call for applications CES/29/2026-RA-TRACE

The Centre for Social Studies (CES) – Associate Laboratory - University of Coimbra (Portugal), opens a call for applications for one (1) Research Assistant in the project TRACE – Tracing Queer Citizenship over Time: Ageing, ageism and age-related LGBTI+ politics in Europe – Grant Agreement 101044915, funded by the European Union within the scope of the European Research Council (ERC), and coordinated at CES by Ana Cristina Santos.

CES provides a stimulating intellectual environment in social sciences and humanities. The project is part of Thematic Line 2 "Democracy, Justice and Human Rights” of the Centre for Social Studies.

a. Project Description:

TRACE – Tracing Queer Citizenship over Time: Ageing, ageism and age-related LGBTI+ politics in Europe. In recent years, ageing has been considered a priority area in both governmental policies and research agendas. Sitting at the intersection between Gender and LGBTI Studies, on the one hand, and Age, Ageing and Life Course Studies on the other, and bringing together distant memories and the current daily management of intimate life, TRACE sociologically explores the impacts in later life of growing up in a time when legal recognition was not available for LGBTI+ people. TRACE pays particular attention to issues related to health and well-being, care and intimacy.

Taking queer citizenship as a set of criteria through which democracies can be evaluated, TRACE also explores the extent to which the EU has influenced local political and socio-legal advancements in LGBTI+ rights, narratives and experiences over time. To respond to this aim, TRACE develops an innovative age-sensitive, analytical lens focused on ageing, ageism and age-related LGBTI+ politics through which progress and backlash in countries that experienced substantial changes in their intimate citizenship regimes are investigated.

Expected duration of the project: 48 months, started on January 1, 2023.

b. Scientific field:

Social Sciences and/or Humanities: Anthropology, Archival Studies, Documentation and Information Sciences, History, Sociology; other fields in Social Sciences and/or Humanities.

c. Work plan, tasks:

The selected candidate is expected to have the following responsibilities:

• To contribute to the implementation of the Portuguese Queer Archive being developed within the project, with both digital and material dimensions.
• More specifically, under the supervision of the PI, the selected candidate will collect, organise, catalogue, analyse, and prepare materials, in Portuguese and in English, including journals, zines, bulletins, books, photographs, posters, letters, banners and a variety of additional objects collected, produced and/or donated for the archive from a vast array of sources;
• The selected candidate will prepare the materials to be preserved for the future as well as available for consultation (digital and/or in-presence, according to the PI’s decision) before the term of the contract;
• The selected candidate will prepare a selection of materials to feature temporary exhibitions and other forms of dissemination and communication;
• The selected candidate will support the PI and team in identifying, and collecting new materials for the archive;
• The selected candidate will support the PI and team in organising the collection and collecting materials donated or shared, in physical and digital formats, under established protocols with partner organisations and individuals;
• The selected candidate will be available to support the PI and the research team in the organisation of events organised by the project, and other required dissemination, communication and networking activities;
• All of the above tasks require proficiency in written and spoken Portuguese and English.

d. Applicable Legislation and Regulations:

Labour Code Law No. 7/2009, of February 12th (and subsequent amendments).

e. Workplace:

The tasks will be performed at the Centre for Social Studies facilities or in other locations when necessary for the good implementation of the work plan, under the scientific supervision of the Principal Investigator, Ana Cristina Santos.

f. Duration of the contract:

A full-time temporary contract (termo certo) will be signed with the duration of 6 months, to be renewed in case of scientific need, financial availability, and positive assessment of the work developed. Moreover, according to Article 112 of the Labour Code, paragraph 2 a), a trial period of 30 days is established.

The contract will be foreseeably starting in December, 2026.

g. Application dates:

Opens on: October 26, 2026

Closes on: November 9, 2026

After November 9, 2026, 23h59 Lisbon time, applications will not be considered for evaluation.

h. Application process:

Applications must include:

1. a letter of intent/motivation in English with the reference CES/17/2026-RA-TRACE, e-mail and phone number;
2. detailed Curriculum Vitae in Portuguese, highlighting the items most relevant to the topic of the call;
3. copy of bachelor’s degree certificate and other relevant documents for eligibility purposes (candidates must meet the Mandatory Requirements and conditions indicated in point k.);

c1) Applicants need to have a bachelor’s degree by the deadline of this call.

If, for the duration of the application period, the applicant does not have proof of recognition of their academic degree by the Portuguese Higher Education System (law DL66/2018), they must submit a declaration of honour committing themselves to deliver the recognition of the degree within 30 days after the communication of the application results (Mandatory).

c2) Proficiency in the Portuguese language, unless the candidate is a native speaker of Portuguese.

4. other relevant documents for eligibility purposes.

Applications should be sent by e-mail to concursos@ces.uc.pt by the application deadline date. The "Subject" field of the e-mail must contain the reference of the call and the applicant's name (i.e. CES/29/2026-RA-TRACE - NAME OF APPLICANT).

SKILLS/ QUALIFICATIONS

i. Preferred selection criteria and their weighing:

1. Adequacy of the CV to the project description, research objectives and work plan (40%);
2. Demonstrated experience and/or training in archival construction and management, records management, and/or digital archives, including collecting, organising, analysing, cataloguing and preparing materials for future preservation, consultation, digital archiving and material archiving (40%);
3. Experience in outreach activities as well as other dissemination events including exhibitions (20%).

The jury reserves the right not to select any candidate.

BENEFITS

j. Monthly Allowance

The monthly salary is 1122,84euros gross (plus months 13 and 14), equivalent to level 12 of the TRU, meal allowance, and all social security charges, in accordance with the Portuguese Labour Code.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

k. Mandatory requirements

1. Hold a Bachelor degree in Social Sciences or Humanities.
2. (see associated conditions in a) and b);

a) Applicants need to have a BA degree by the deadline of this call.

b) Applicants with an academic degree and diploma issued by a foreign Higher Education Institution must present proof of recognition of the academic degree by the Portuguese Higher Education System, (law DL66/2018). Any candidate without the recognition of the degree(s) will be admitted to the competition, but during the evaluation process, the selection panel cannot:

1. recognise the candidate's grades and assess according to the possession of such grades;
2. give equivalence to, or validate, the grade of her/his degree;
3. use that note or its conversion as an evaluation parameter.

If, for the duration of the application period, the applicant does not have proof of recognition of their academic degree by the Portuguese Higher Education System (law DL66/2018), they must submit a declaration of honour committing themselves to deliver the recognition of the degree within 30 days after the communication of the application results (Mandatory declaration of honour).

In case of selection, the contract can only be signed after recognising the academic degree by the Portuguese authorities, under the terms of the Law-decree n66/2018, August 16. The selected candidate must deliver the recognition of the degree within 30 days after the communication of the results. After the 30 days, the jury may decide to (1) extend the deadline for the candidate to prove the recognition; (2) assign the contract to the second place; (3) or not award the contract.

3. Proficiency in the Portuguese language, unless the candidate is a native speaker of Portuguese.

SELECTION PROCESS

l. Selection process

Applicants will be selected based on their curricular evaluation. In case of equivalent curricular evaluations, the best-positioned applicants should be short-listed for an interview, meant to assess the applicant's potential in integrating the project's scientific dynamic and the applicant’s motivation in pursuing studies related to the project's thematic areas. If applied, the two methods of selection applied will have a rating of 50% in the final classification.

The jury reserves the right to not select any applicants for the positions, if applications do not meet the necessary standards and/or profiles in terms of absolute merit.

m. Selection panel:

• Ana Cristina Santos (president)
• Miguel Cardina (permanent member)
• Ana Lúcia Santos (permanent member)
• Inês Nascimento Rodrigues (substitute member)
• Júlia Garraio (substitute member)
• Carlos Nolasco (substitute member)

n. Communication of Results:

All candidates will receive the results by e-mail. The meeting minutes of the selection panel will become available publicly. After the communication of results, applicants have 10 working days to present a redress to the evaluation and the result by e-mail.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Equality of opportunities:

CES abides by the national law that regulates the prevention, prohibition and fighting against discrimination on the grounds of racial and ethnic identity, colour, nationality, family background, territory of origin, and disability (Law nº 93/2017, 23 August; Law nº 4/2019, 10 January).

Data protection:

By submitting your application, you are agreeing with the use of your personal data by CES administrative services for the sole purpose of the current call, namely to be contacted directly by CES services and allow the communication of results as in point n. of this call. CES abides by the principles of GDPR.

Contact:

Centro de Estudos Sociais
Colégio S. Jerónimo, Apartado 3087
3000-995 Coimbra, Portugal
concursos@ces.uc.pt

Where to apply

E-mail: concursos@ces.uc.pt

Requirements

Research Field: Information science

Education Level: Bachelor Degree or equivalent

Work Location(s)

• Number of offers available: 1
• Company/Institute: Centro de Estudos Sociais
• Country: Portugal

Contact

City: Coimbra
Website: www.ces.uc.pt
Street: Colégio S. Jerónimo Apartado 3087 3001-401 Coimbra