2 (two) Doctoral Research Grants (BD) in the scientific area of History

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

Offer Description

Project Reference: História - 2026_CIDEHUS _UID/00057/2025

Description of the call:

A call for applications is open for the award of 2 (two) Doctoral Research Grants (BD) in the scientific area of History, under the strategic project with reference UID/00057/2025 – https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/00057/2025 , of the Interdisciplinary Centre for History, Cultures and Societies of the University of Évora (CIDEHUS.UÉ), within the scope of the multi-annual funding of R&D Units for the period 2025-2029, with the financial support of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P./MCTES (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P./MCTES) through national funds (PIDDAC), for the Doctoral Programme in History of the University of Évora.

General scientific area: History

Specific scientific area: Medieval History or Early Modern History or Contemporary History or History and Philosophy of Science –Museology.

Mandatory admission requirements:

In order to apply, candidates must:

• Hold a master's degree in History or in related areas;
• Not have previously held a doctoral grant directly or indirectly funded by FCT, regardless of its duration, whether awarded under a general or a specific call;
• Not hold a doctoral degree;
• Be enrolled in the Doctoral Programme in History of the University of Évora, or submit a declaration on honour stating that, should their application be selected, they will enrol in the said Doctoral Programme by the time the contract is signed;
• Have, or if selected come to have, a supervisor who is an integrated researcher at CIDEHUS;
• Contribute to the strategic programme of this Unit, which focuses on diversity and change in the South;
• Have completed the course of study leading to the master's degree by the end of the application period. If candidates do not yet hold the certificate of completion of the degree, a declaration on honour from the candidates stating that they will complete their qualifications by the end of the application period will be accepted. The award of the grant is always subject to the submission of proof of the academic qualifications required for the award of the grant;
• Have a command of spoken and written Portuguese. For candidates whose mother tongue is not Portuguese, this command must be demonstrated by submitting a proficiency certificate or evidenced in the interview.
• Have a command of English corresponding, at least, to level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (or equivalent). This command must be demonstrated by submitting a proficiency certificate or evidenced in the interview.

Candidate eligibility: candidates who meet the eligibility conditions set out in Article 9 of the FCT I.P. Research Grant Regulations (Regulation No. 950/2019) are eligible.

Preferred skills:

• Work or research experience in History;
• Peer-reviewed scientific publications;
• Good command of the Portuguese language;
• Good command of the English language;
• Good knowledge of IT tools and ability to work in Digital Humanities;
• Flexibility and ability to work in an interdisciplinary team in the development of scientific activities.

Work plan, scientific supervision and activities to be carried out under the grant:

The candidate must submit a work and research plan in the field of History, which should be articulated with the strategic project of CIDEHUS. The candidate must also set out, with due justification, the items indicated below.

The plan submitted must not exceed 4,000 words and must have the following structure:

1. Title;
2. Abstract;
3. Keywords;
4. State of the art and theoretical framework;
5. Central research problem;
6. Objectives;
7. Detailed description;
8. Methodology(ies);
9. Main sources and bibliography;
10. Timeline, which must indicate the approximate date for the submission of the thesis;
11. Ethical issues – if any, these must be identified and appropriately addressed.

The strategic project of CIDEHUS.UÉ may be consulted at https://cidehus.uevora.pt

Conditions to be met:

The candidate selected in this call undertakes to pursue research leading to a doctoral degree, complying with all of the following conditions:

1. Integrate their research activity into the scientific activity of CIDEHUS.UÉ;
2. Participate actively in the scientific and teaching activities promoted by CIDEHUS.UÉ and by the Doctoral Programme in History of the University of Évora, collaborating in their organisation;
3. Publish, over the course of the Doctoral Programme, at least 3 peer-reviewed scientific works;
4. Present papers at a minimum of 3 peer-reviewed scientific events over the course of the Doctoral Programme;
5. Hold regular meetings with their supervisor, from the moment the supervisor has been formally appointed;
6. At the end of each year of the grant, the grant holder must submit to CIDEHUS, to the Course Committee of the Doctoral Programme in History and to IIFA a detailed report, duly validated by their supervisor, demonstrating that the established work plan has been fulfilled and, where applicable, duly justifying any deviations. The annual renewal of the grant will always depend on a positive evaluation of this report by the Course Committee of the Doctoral Programme in History and by CIDEHUS.
7. Maintain permanent and habitual residence in Portugal for the duration of the grant, a requirement applicable to both Portuguese nationals and foreign nationals; upon signature of the contract, foreign candidates will be asked to provide their residence visa.

Applicable legislation and regulations: the call is governed by this Call for Applications, by the Research Grant Holder Statute (Estatuto do Bolseiro de Investigação Científica) approved by Law No. 40/2004, of 18 August, as amended by Decree-Law No. 123/2019, of 28 August (available at https://dre.pt/dre/legislacao-consolidada/lei/2004-58216179), and by the Research Grant Regulations of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., approved by Regulation No. 950/2019, of 16 December, in its current wording (available at https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/aviso-extrato/412-2026-996320857).

Contracting Institution: University of Évora - CIDEHUS.

This call will result in a reserve list of selected candidates, which may be used for a maximum period of 6 months, if justified.

Place of work: the work will be carried out in person on the premises of the University of Évora, namely at CIDEHUS.UÉ, without prejudice to any travel required to carry out the activities set out in the work plan.

Duration of the grant: the grant will have a duration of 12 months, expected to start in 2026, and may be renewed up to a maximum of 48 months, in accordance with the provisions of the Research Grant Regulations of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. and the funding available to CIDEHUS.

Monthly maintenance allowance: The monthly amount is €1,359.64, in accordance with the FCT table of monthly allowances for grants awarded directly by FCT: https://www.fct.pt/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Tabela-de-Valores-SMM-2026.pdf

The candidate may also be reimbursed for the amount corresponding to Voluntary Social Insurance (Seguro Social Voluntário – SSV), should they join that scheme. The grant will be paid monthly by bank transfer by the contracting entity, in accordance with the model contract made available by FCT.

Payment of grant components: payments due to the grant holder are made by bank transfer to the account identified by the grant holder.

Payments of the registration, enrolment or tuition fee components are deducted by the University of Évora and processed directly to the national institution managing the funding programme of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. (FCT).

Terms and conditions for grant renewal:

Renewal of the grant always depends on a request submitted by the grant holder within the 60 working days prior to the start date of the renewal, accompanied by the following documents:

1. an opinion issued by the supervisor(s) and by the host institution(s) on the monitoring of the grant holder's work and the evaluation of their activities;
2. an updated document proving compliance with the exclusive dedication regime;
3. a document proving renewal of enrolment in the course of study leading to the doctoral degree.

Exclusivity: the grant holder's duties are performed on an exclusive basis, under the terms of Article 5 of the Research Grant Holder Statute and of the Research Grant Regulations currently in force.

Selection criteria and methods:

The evaluation takes into account the merit of the candidate and the merit of the work programme and will use a scale of 0 to 20.

Criterion A - Merit of the Candidate, resulting from the weighting of the following sub-criteria:

• Sub-criterion A1 - Academic record, which includes the area of study and the academic grades, with a weighting of 20%. The average of the final grades obtained in the bachelor's (licenciatura) and master's degrees will be calculated. If the master's grade is qualitative, it will be converted into a quantitative grade, according to the table below:

Conversion table for qualitative grades stiva

Converted grade

Excellent

Very Good with Distinction

Distinction and Honours

Magna Cum Laude/ Summa Cum Laude

18

Very Good

Pass with Distinction

Good with Distinction

Cum Laude

16

Good

Pass / Unanimous Pass

14

Sufficient

12

• Sub-criterion A2 - Curriculum Vitae (CV), with a weighting of 30%. The CV must present, in an organised manner and clearly identified by sections, academic qualifications; complementary training; research experience, including participation in R&D projects, identifying the projects and the roles performed; professional experience in other areas; scientific publications and other technical-scientific outputs, where applicable; conference papers, prizes, grants and other activities relevant to the area of the call. The CV must be accompanied by certificates, statements or other means of documentary proof, or by active links to digital sources that unequivocally identify the candidate's participation, so that the information can be taken into account for scoring purposes.

Criterion B– Merit of the Research Work Plan, assessed on the basis of its scientific quality, taking into account the elements and requirements set out in this call notice.

Criterion C – Interview, assessed on the basis of the candidate's ability to present and defend the Research Work Plan, their motivation for developing the doctoral project, and their command of the English language and, in the case of candidates whose mother tongue is not Portuguese, of the Portuguese language.

For the purposes of the decision on the award of the grant, candidates will be ranked according to the weighted average of the scores obtained in the three criteria, expressed by the following formula:

For tie-breaking purposes, candidates will be ranked on the basis of the scores awarded for each of the evaluation criteria in the following order of precedence: criterion B, criterion A, criterion C. Preference is given to candidates whose research is more closely aligned with the research areas of CIDEHUS. For tie-breaking, the final score will be rounded to the third decimal place. When the fourth decimal place is equal to or greater than 5 (five), it will be rounded up; when the fourth decimal place is less than 5 (five), the third decimal place will remain unchanged.

• The jury may decide not to award one or both grants if no candidate has sufficient merit, and reserves the right to invite only the highest-ranked candidates to interview, in which case the procedure ends, without interview, for the remaining candidates.
• No grants will be awarded to applications with a final score below 13 (on a scale of 0 to 20).

Important notice for candidates with diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions:

• Candidates with diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions may apply and will be evaluated under the same criteria as candidates with diplomas issued by Portuguese institutions, provided that they submit, with their application, proof of recognition of their academic degrees and of the conversion of the final grade to the Portuguese grading scale under the terms of the applicable legislation. In order to ensure the application of the principle of equal treatment to candidates holding foreign and national academic degrees, the recognition of such degrees and the conversion of the respective final grade to the Portuguese grading scale are mandatory.
• Recognition of foreign academic degrees and diplomas, as well as the conversion of the final grade to the Portuguese grading scale, may be requested from any public higher education institution or from the Directorate-General for Higher Education (Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior – DGES) (only in the case of automatic recognition). On this matter, candidates are advised to consult the DGES portal at the following address: http://www.dges.gov.pt .
• Candidates with recognised foreign diplomas who do not submit proof of the conversion of the final grade to the Portuguese grading scale will be assessed with the minimum grade of 10/20 in Sub-criterion A1 for the respective degree.
• In any case, grant contracts with candidates holding diplomas issued by foreign institutions will only be concluded upon submission of the certificate of recognition of the academic degree, as indicated above.

Composition of the Jury, as approved on 9 May 2026:

Chair: Prof. Fernanda Olival

1st Member – Prof. Flávio Miguel Fernandes Miranda

2nd Member – Prof. Ana Sofia Vieira Ribeiro

3rd Member – Prof. Frédéric Vidal

1st Substitute Member – Prof. João Paulo da Silva Pinto Salvado

2nd Substitute Member – Prof. André Filipe Madruga Coelho

3rd Substitute Member – Prof. Maria Ana Bernardo

4th Substitute Member – Prof. Ricardo Lema Sinde Rosmaninho Seabra

The evaluation panel will assess the applications in accordance with the evaluation criteria set out in this Call for Applications.

Any member of the jury whose supervisee is among the candidates has a direct conflict of interest and must therefore withdraw from the jury and be replaced immediately.

Minutes shall be drawn up for each meeting of the evaluation panel, for which all its members are responsible.

The minutes and their annexes must include the following information:

• Name and affiliation of all members of the evaluation panel;
• Provisional list of scores and ranking of candidates, in descending order of final score, of all applications evaluated by the panel;
• Conflict of Interest (COI) declarations of all panel members;
• Any delegation of voting rights and powers owing to justified absence;
• List of fundable candidates in the event that the first-ranked candidate(s) withdraw(s), should the jury consider such a list necessary.

Publication and notification of results: the results will be made public within 60 working days after the closing date for applications. Candidates selected and admitted to interview are invited by e-mail, and the interview may take place online. The call notice and the results of the evaluation will be published by means of a list ranked by final score, and the successful candidate will be notified by e-mail. All candidates will be notified of the decision by e-mail.

Application admissibility requirements:

Applications must be submitted by sending the following documents in digital format (PDF):

1. Application letter, formalising the application to the call and containing the identification of the candidate.
2. Letter of motivation, in which the candidate explains the reasons for the application and their interest in carrying out their research within the context of CIDEHUS.UÉ, framing the respective Research Work Plan within their career objectives.
3. Document proving the civil identification of the candidate (Citizen Card, Identity Card or equivalent identification document) and the respective tax identification number (NIF).
4. Curriculum Vitae, prepared in accordance with the provisions of Sub-criterion A2 and accompanied by the respective supporting documents, including, where applicable, language proficiency certificates. Information that is not documented will not be taken into account for evaluation purposes.
5. Certificates of the academic degrees obtained at Portuguese higher education institutions, indicating the degree obtained, the final grade and, if possible, the grades obtained in all course units completed. The document proving that the candidate holds a master's degree may be replaced, in the cases provided for in the admissibility requirements, by a declaration on honour, under the terms defined therein. In the case of academic degrees and higher education diplomas awarded by foreign higher education institutions, these must be accompanied by the respective certificates of registration of recognition and grade conversion. Failure to submit these documents will result in a score of “0” (zero) in sub-criterion A1 - Academic record. If the recognition does not include the grade conversion, a score of 10/20 will be awarded in sub-criterion A1.
6. Research Work Plan, as indicated in this call notice;
7. Proof of enrolment in the Doctoral Programme in History of the University of Évora or, if not yet enrolled, a declaration on honour stating that, should the application be selected, the candidate will enrol in the said programme by the date of signature of the contract.
8. Other supporting documents considered relevant by the candidate.

The following documents, if not submitted with the application, must be delivered by the time the grant contract is signed, as they are indispensable for its conclusion:

9. Proof of enrolment in the Doctoral Programme in History of the University of Évora.
10. Proof of permanent and habitual residence in Portugal (in the case of foreign candidates, residence visa).

Submission of applications

The application and all associated documents, including the letters of motivation, must be written in Portuguese and/or English. The entire application must be submitted by e-mail to cidehus@uevora.pt All applications sent to another e-mail address, or by other means, will be considered invalid. The same will apply to those submitted as a corrupted or blank file. Documents submitted blank or as a corrupted file are likewise not valid.

Documents must be sent as PDF files named with the candidate's name, and the e-mail subject line must read: Candidatura Bolsa de doutoramento em História_UID/00057/2025

Only applications received during the opening period of the said call will be considered. Each candidate may submit only one application; failure to comply will result in the cancellation of all applications submitted. Failure to submit any of the documents required in the call notice is grounds for exclusion (in accordance with Article 10 of the FCT I.P. Research Grant Regulations, Regulation No. 950/2019).

Making false statements or committing plagiarism constitutes grounds for cancellation of the application, without prejudice to the adoption of other sanctioning measures.

Application period and submission method: The competition is open from September 24th to October 22th, 2026, and the selection results will be published by October 30th, 2026.

Complaints and appeals: following the final decision and notification to candidates, they have a period of 10 working days to submit their observations to the Chair of the Jury, exclusively via the e-mail cidehus@uevora.pt or to lodge an appeal with the highest executive entity within 30 working days. The prior hearing of interested parties may not be used to submit any documents or information that should have been submitted with the application.

Termination and cancellation of grants: grant holders must submit a final report on their activities to the contracting entity within 30 days after the end of their grant.

A grant holder who fails to achieve the objectives set out in the approved work plan, or whose grant is cancelled due to a serious breach of their duties for reasons attributable to them, may be required, depending on the circumstances, to return to the contracting entity all or part of the amounts received.

Rules on the dissemination of results and open access:

All activities directly or indirectly funded by the grant must explicitly acknowledge the financial support of FCT and of the strategic programme of CIDEHUS, with all the symbols and codes involved, as well as the grant reference code.

The dissemination of results arising from the grant must, as a rule, comply with the FCT open access rules for data, publications and other research outputs currently in force.

The call notice may be consulted on the general website and on the University of Évora website (Investigar > Oportunidades de Investigação > Bolsas de Investigação [Research > Research Opportunities > Research Grants]).

Where to apply

E-mail: cidehus@uevora.pt

Requirements

Research Field: History » Medieval history

Education Level: Master Degree or equivalent

Additional Information

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available: 1

Company/Institute: Universidade de Évora

Country: Portugal

State/Province: Évora

City: Évora

Postal Code: 7000-803

Street: Largo dos Colegiais, 2

Contact

State/Province: Alentejo

City: Évora

Website: http://www.uevora.pt/

Street: Largo dos Colegais, nº. 2

Postal Code: 7000-803

E-Mail: cidehus@uevora.pt