Research Grant for Master's Students

Offer Description

The Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-Iscte) at Iscte - Knowledge and Innovation is offering four (4) Research Grant for Master's Students under the project PARPLE - The chain of party pledges: From deciding what to promise to the consequences of (un-)fulfilling the mandate, registered with no. 2023.16141.ICDT whose funding was approved by Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., under the following terms:

1. Scientific area: Political Science

2. Funding Source: Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. under the 2023 Call for R&D Projects in All Scientific Domains

3. Admission Requirements: Applicants must hold a bachelor's in Political Science, or another field deemed appropriate for the project by the selection panel, and must be enrolled in a master's degree course (according to Article 6 of the Regulation of Research Grants of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., Reg. No. 950/2019).

Academic degrees obtained in foreign countries must be registered by a Portuguese institution, in accordance with Article 25 of Decree-Law No. 66/2018 of 16 August, which establishes the legal framework for the recognition of academic degrees and higher education diplomas awarded by foreign higher education institutions, and with subparagraph (e) of paragraph 2 of Article 4 of Decree-Law No. 60/2018 of 3 August. Presentation of the certificate is mandatory for the signing of the contract.

Preferred criteria:

1. Be enrolled in a master's degree in Political Science.
2. Proven experience in the use of quantitative or qualitative data analysis software, such as SPSS, Stata, R, MaxQda or other;
3. Proven experience in data analysis and writing of scientific texts of a statistical or qualitative nature;
4. Experience in the preparation and validation of quantitative databases;
5. Experience in carrying out qualitative or quantitative research work, participation in research projects, and/or publication of scientific papers.
6. Good command of spoken and written English.

4. Work Plan: The work plan is based on support for research activities within the scope of the PARPLE project - The sequence of party promises: From the decision on what to promise to the consequences of (non)compliance with the mandate, namely:

1. Evaluation of the fulfilment of electoral promises, ensuring their validation and subsequent preparation of the database;
2. Support for monitoring the application of a questionnaire survey to Portuguese voters, validation of the respective database, and preparation of data for statistical analysis;
3. Carrying out other tasks inherent to the monitoring of the development of the project.

5. Applicable legislation and regulations: Statute of Scientific Research Fellows, approved by Law No. 40/2004 of August 18, in its current wording published by Decree-Law No. 123/2019 of August 28; Regulations on Research Fellowships of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. - in force and available at: https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT2019.pdf and https://dre.pt/application/file/a/127230968, Decree-Law No. 66/2018, of 16 August (Legal regime for the recognition of academic degrees and higher education diplomas awarded by foreign higher education institutions) and other applicable rules.

6. Workplace: The work will be developed at the Center for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-Iscte), of the Iscte Knowledge and Innovation Association, under the scientific supervision of Professor Ana Maria Belchior.

7. Duration of the grant: The grant will have a duration of 4 months, renewable up to the maximum limit of the approved funding or up to the maximum duration of this type of fellowship (whichever occurs first), and may not in any case exceed the limits of paragraphs 3 and 6 of article 7 of Regulation no. 950/2019, of 29 November, published in Diário da República, no. 241, 2nd Series, of 16 December (Regulation of Research Grants of FCT, I.P.).

8. Amount of the monthly maintenance allowance: The amount of the scholarship, on an exclusive and full-time basis, corresponds to €1090.98, according to the table of scholarships awarded directly or indirectly by FCT, I.P. in Country (https://www.fct.pt/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Tabela-de-Valores-SMM-2026.pdf), paid monthly by bank transfer to the holder. The scholarship holder may also be reimbursed the amount corresponding to the Voluntary Social Security, in case of joining this scheme.

9. Methods of selection and evaluation of applications: The selection process will be developed based on the curricular evaluation based on the following criteria:

1. final grade of a degree (30%);
2. experience and skills demonstrated in the items indicated in the preferred factors (70%).

The curricular evaluation of the candidates is based on the indicated criteria, taking place on an entire scale between 0 and 100 points.

In the event that several applicants demonstrate that they have the right profile to carry out the work plan, the jury reserves the right to call the four best classified in the curricular evaluation for an interview, which will have a weight of 40% in the final grade. If the jury considers it unnecessary to carry out interviews, the curricular evaluation will have a final weighting of 100%.

The jury reserves the right to:

1. invite the best-scoring candidates to the four positions in question, following the order established in the final ranking list, whenever the selected applicants do not meet the requirements for the formalization of the contract or in case of unavailability;
2. not to award the grant in case none of the applicants corresponds to the desired profile.

This call may be terminated until the approval of the final ranking list of applicants, remaining valid for the duration of the project.

10. Composition of the Selection Jury:

President: Professor Ana Maria Belchior (Associate Professor at Iscte - University Institute of Lisbon, researcher at CIES-Iscte and Principal Investigator of the project).

Effective Member: Professor Susana Rogeiro Nina (Assistant Professor at Lusófona University).

Effective Member: Professor Pedro Silveira (Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities - NOVA FCSH and researcher at IPRI-NOVA).

11. Form of publication/notification of results: The results of the evaluation are disclosed within a maximum period of 90 working days from the deadline for submission of applications, by notifying candidates by email to the email address indicated in the application process.

Candidates are informed, at a prior hearing, under the terms enshrined in the Code of Administrative Procedure, of the probable meaning of the final decision, and may, within 10 working days from this notification, comment on this decision.

12. Application deadline and form of submission of applications:

The call is open from September 25 to October 9, 2026 and only applications submitted within this deadline will be admitted.

Applications must be formalized on the recruitment portal of the Iscte Association - Knowledge and Innovation (https://recrutamento.conhecimentoinovacao.iscte-iul.pt/jobs) and through the submission of the following documents:

1. Detailed Curriculum Vitae;
2. Copy of the certificate of qualifications of the bachelor's degree with the course units detailed;
3. Proof of enrollment in a cycle of studies leading to the award of a Master's degree or, alternatively, a declaration under oath that you will be able to present this document on the date of signing the contract.
4. Motivation letter
5. Other supporting documents considered relevant, including certificates of participation in training/courses of qualitative or quantitative analysis (SPSS, MAXQDA), as well as in research and/or intervention projects, internships, works or publications already carried out, etc.

Applications submitted through another means will not be considered.

Within the scope of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers, Iscte adopts the Open, Transparent and Merit-Based recruitment principles (OTM-R Policy), providing equal opportunities for all people who apply.

Requirements

• Research Field: Political sciences
• Education Level: Undergraduate

Work Location(s)

• Number of offers available: 1
• Company/Institute: Associação Iscte Conhecimento e Inovação – Centro de Valorização e Transferência e Tecnologias
• Country: Portugal

Contact

• City: Lisbon
• Website: https://conhecimentoinovacao.iscte-iul.pt/
• Street: Avenida das Forças Armadas
• Postal Code: 1649-026
• E-Mail: concursos.cies@iscte-iul.pt