Pre-doctoral Researcher (Investigador en formación) I-PI 57-26

Universidad de Alicante; España; On-site; EUR 22,000 - 26,000; Full time

Job summary

Universidad de Alicante invites applications to create a pre-shortlist for a pre-doctoral researcher position in the project “Geodetic contributions to water transport and hydrometeorological risk.” The role requires pursuing doctoral training within Applied Mathematics to advance a thesis, with a 37.5-hour work week and monthly gross remuneration of €2,121.34, plus annual salary law increases.

Applicants must meet Spanish public service eligibility, language proficiency, and doctoral admission

Qualifications

• Be a Spanish national or be in one of the situations listed in article 57 allowing public employment.
• Have a good command of any official language of the Valencia Region for the job.
• Meet the academic requirements for admission to the University of Alicante PhD programme.
• Not hold a PhD awarded by a university.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate on the project and undertake doctoral training to pursue a doctoral thesis.
• Prepare research outputs and contribute to the project deliverables.

Skills

Programming in Python

Machine learning

Deep learning

Knowledge of English

Catalan knowledge

Education

Math/Computational Math

Data Science

Applied Satellite Geodesy

Job description

Department of Applied Mathematics and Aerospace Engineering

Organisation/Company Universidad de Alicante Department Department of Applied Mathematics and Aerospace Engineering Research Field Geosciences » Other Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions Master Positions Application Deadline 27 Nov 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Madrid) Country Spain Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 37,5 Offer Starting Date 16 Nov 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Other EU programme Reference Number PID2025-174289OB-I00 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Applications are invited by the University of Alicante President to create a pre-shortlist of candidates for the recruitment of research staff (contract type: fixed-term contract; job category: pre-doctoral researcher) to collaborate on the project “Geodetic contributions to water transport and hydrometeorological risk” of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Aerospace Engineering. Reference: I-PI 57-26

Pursuant to the provisions on the regulations governing calls for applications of research staff to cover a contractual research position, approved by the Governing Council of 29 June 2021 (BOUA of 30 June 2021) and with instructions of the University of Alicante Offices of the Registrar and the Comptroller, which establish the mandatory use of electronic means for the submission of applications, documentation, payment of fees, communications, notifications and all other procedures of the selection procedures for the temporary contractual administrative and services staff and research staff and other general applicable regulations, the University of Alicante calls for applications in accordance with the following terms:

First. General terms.

1.1. Purpose of the call

The purpose of this call is to create a pre-shortlist of candidates for the recruitment of research staff (job category: pre-doctoral researcher) for the project “Geodetic contributions to water transport and hydrometeorological risk”.

The project in which the successful applicant(s) will collaborate, as well as the number of available vacancies and the characteristics of the job role, are set out in the annex I hereto.

1.2. Talent pool creation and contacting candidates in the pool

The panel in charge of the recruitment process may decide to create a talent pool including candidates whose applications were unsuccessful. In such a case, the panel may set a minimum score for candidates to be placed in the pool. The pool will list candidates in descending order of score. Candidates in the pool may be contacted if a successful applicant does not accept the position offered or, after accepting it, is on a temporary leave of absence, resigns or is dismissedat any point during the first two years of the grant period. If candidates are offered a position, they will be contacted in the order listed in the pool.

In accordance with the provisions of the agreement of the Governing Council of 27 January 2022, which approves the University of Alicante 4th Plan for equal opportunities between women and men, and with article 61.2. f) of Valencia Government Law 4/2021, of 16 April, of the Valencian Civil Service it is hereby stated that the percentage distribution in the contractual job vacancies of pre-doctoral researcher for research projects is 49.03%for women and 50.97%for men,so there is no under-representation of either sex in this job category.

Second. Requirements for applicants.

Compliance with the requirements listed below must always refer to the date of expiry of the deadline for the submission of applications and must be maintained until the date of entering into the contract.Applicants must:

2.1. General requirements

2.1.1.Be a Spanish national or be in one of the situations listed in article 57 of Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October, which approves the revised text of the Act on the Basic Statute of Public Employees (BOE of 31 October). In the case established in point 4 of this article, when entering into the employment contract, the successful applicant must be a legal resident in Spain.

2.1.2. Have a good command of any of the official languages of the Valencia Region for the performance of the job.

2.1.3. Be at least 16 years of age and not exceed the maximum compulsory retirement age.

2.1.4. Possess the physical and mental capacities and aptitudes that are necessary for the performance of the corresponding functions or tasks.

2.1.5. Not have been dismissed, following disciplinary proceedings, from the service of public administrations, public universities or constitutional or statutory bodies, nor have been totally or specially disqualified from public service by a court decision. Nationals of another state must not be under disqualification or equivalent status, nor have been subjected to a disciplinary or equivalent sanction that prevents, under the same terms, access to public service in the relevant state.

2.2. Specific requirements

2.2.1. Hold or be in the process of obtaining a former second-cycle undergraduate degree (including engineering and architecture studies) of at least 300 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) credits, or an undergraduate degree (Spanish MECES level 2 or EQF level 6) plus an official Master’s degree (Spanish MECES level 3 or EQF level 7). Applicants who are not in possession of the degree certificate must provide proof of payment of the diploma issuing fee or submit an academic certificate stating that they have completed all the studies leading to the award of said certificate.

2.2.2.Qualifications gained abroad

Have a document (if the required qualification was obtained overseas) confirming that the relevant official approval or statement of comparability has been secured.

In the event of qualifications for which the relevant official approval, statement of comparability or recognition has not been secured by the application deadline, the following will apply:

• The applicant will be required to present evidence that, prior to entering into the contract, they have initiated the official approval, comparability or recognition process.
• When a statement of comparability is submitted, it must be accompanied by the qualification certificate and the academic transcript on which the statement of comparability is based, in order to determine whether the relevant qualifications are indeed equivalent.

2.2.3. Meet the academic requirements necessary for admission to the University of Alicante PhD programme in Mathematical Methods and Modelling for Science and Engineering (Spanish MECES level 4 or EQF level 8). Proof of admission to said doctoral programme must be submitted, at the latest, when entering into the contract.

2.2.4. With regard to the maximum duration of pre-doctoral contracts, under Article 21.c) of Spanish Act 14/2011 of 1 June, amended by Act 17/2022 of 5 September, candidates having already reached the maximum limit of four years on a pre-doctoral contract (or six years in the case of candidates with a disability) are not eligible for this position. For these purposes, all previous periods under this contract type – regardless of the employer – will be taken into account.

2.2.5. Not hold a PhD awarded by a Spanish or foreign university.

2.3. Obligation to meet all requirements throughout the recruitment process

If an applicant, at any point during and before the completion of the recruitment process, no longer meets all the necessary conditions, they will be required to file a request to withdraw from the process. Otherwise, as soon as it is detected that they do not comply with all the requirements, they will be excluded from the process.

Fourth. List of accepted and rejected candidates

Verification of compliance with requirements and grounds for exclusion

If at any point during the recruitment process the panel becomes aware that a candidate does not meet all the requirements set out herein, and once said candidate has been heard, the panel will propose to the University President that the candidate be excluded from the process. In order to ensure that the appropriate measures are taken, the panel will also specify the inaccurate or false information provided by the candidate in their application. Should the candidate be excluded from the recruitment process, they may file an appeal for the decision to be reviewed by the University President.

Sixth. Selection system

6.1. Selection system

Merit-based assessment. The assessment panel will examine the achievements listed on the applicant’s CV. The specific assessment criteria, to be previously agreed by the panel, will be in line with the following criteria and sub-criteria:

• Criterion 1. Applicant’s academic and/or scientific-technical career (maximum 50 points)
  • Sub-criterion 1.1. Scientific-technical contributions (maximum 45 points). The applicant’s academic record and other training and research achievements will be considered, also taking into account whether these are related to the tasks to be carried out in view of the applicant’s qualifications and professional experience.
  • Sub-criterion 1.2. Mobility and internationalisation (maximum 5 points). Research visits at national and international centres and/or in the industrial sector, with a focus on the relevance and impact these visits had on the applicant’s research career. The prestige of the host entity and the activity carried out there will be taken into account.
• Criterion 2. Applicant’s suitability for the research work to be undertaken (maximum 50 points). The applicant’s suitability for the research programme, project or activities to be conducted will be assessed based on their qualifications and prior experience. For this, the panel will take into account the added value the project will bring to the applicant’s research career, to the host centre and to the host team.

6.2. Talent pool

The panel may decide to create a talent pool including candidates whose applications were unsuccessful, in accordance with section 1.2 of this call for applications.

ANNEX I

purpose of call i-pI 57-26 and job profile

This contract is part of the grant for the research project with reference code PID2025-174289OB-I00, awarded by the Spanish State Research Agency and funded by MCIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ERDF-EU and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+)

This grant is awarded under the 2025 scheme (approved in accordance with the procedure for the accelerated implementation of funding programmes) to conduct Knowledge Generation Projects and pre-doctoral research staff training actions associated with said projects, regulated by Order CIN/1025/2022, of 27 October, and its amendments (Order CNU/1459/2023, of 26 December, and Order CNU/307/2024, of 4 April), in the framework of the Spanish State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2024-2027.

1. Project in which the successful applicant will collaborate:

1.1. Name of the project: “Geodetic contributions to water transport and hydrometeorological risk”.

1.2. Reference: PID2025-174289OB-I00.

1.3. Funding agency: Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and Spanish State Research Agency.

1.4. Co-funding agency:European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).

1.5. Dept. / Institute: Department of Applied Mathematics and Aerospace Engineering.

2. Number of vacancies and features of the job vacancy.

2.1. Entering into the employment contract, as well as its terms and conditions, will be subject to the receipt of the funding for the project from the relevant agencies, i.e. the Spanish State Research Agency, MCIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ERDF-EU and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).

2.2. Number of job vacancies: one.

2.3. Job position: pre-doctoral researcher under a pre-doctoral contract in accordance with Article 21 of Spanish Act 14/2011, of 1 June, and Spanish Royal Decree 103/2019, of 1 March.

2.4. Working hours: 37.5 hours/week, mornings/afternoons.

2.5. Remuneration: €2,121.34 gross/monthly (each monthly payment includes the amount corresponding to the extra payment for that month), as well as any salary increases approved by law for each year.

In any case, the remuneration amounts may not be less than 75% of the salary set for the equivalent categories in the relevant collective bargaining agreements for any of the applicable years; nor may it be less than the minimum interprofessional wage established each year, in accordance with Article 27 of the Recast Version of the Workers’ Statue Law. When establishing the above amounts, the reference threshold will be the category corresponding to Professional Group M3 of contractual staff, as per the salary table contained in the single agreement for contractual staff of the Spanish National Public Administration.

2.6. Duration of the contract: maximum 4 years.

2.7. This contractual research position also covers research visits undertaken by the selected candidate at R&D centres and enrolment fees in doctoral studies at the University of Alicante, in accordance with the provisions and amounts specified in Article 12, 13 and 14 of the Order approving the funding programme, for the year 2025, for “Knowledge Generation Projects” and pre-doctoral research staff training actions associated with these projects, in the framework of the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2024-2027.

2.8. Tasks to be carried out:

The successful applicant will collaborate on the project “Geodetic contributions to water transport and hydrometeorological risk (PID2025-174289OB-I00)” by carrying out research tasks and undertaking doctoral training in the area of Applied Mathematics to pursue a doctoral thesis within the scope of the aforementioned project.

Third. Job profile

The achievements to be considered in the merit-based assessment will be those relevant to the criteria set out in section 6 of the call for applications, as long as they are related to:

3.1. Satellite geodesy, altimetry data analysis, geoid models and hydrographic profiles.

3.2. Numerical methods, modelling and estimation of geostrophic ocean circulation and mass balances.

3.3. Earth’s rotation dynamics, calculation of oceanic angular momentum (OAM) and Earth orientation parameters (EOP).

3.4. Programming in Python, machine learning and deep learning.

3.5. Knowledge of English.

3.6. Knowledge of Catalan.

• Undergraduate degree in Mathematics, in Computational Mathematics or in Engineering Physics and Mathematics (Spanish MECES level 2 or EQF level 6), or any other degree with equivalent content.
• Master’s degree in Data Science, in Advanced Mathematics or in Applied Satellite Geodesy and Geophysics for Engineering and Geology (Spanish MECES level 3 or EQF level 7), or any other Master’s degree with equivalent content or focused on research training in data science, advanced mathematics or geodesy.

Please note that you must use the University of Alicante’s CV template for recruitment processes for pre-doctoral researchers, in the framework of the Spanish State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2024–2027, which is available on the University website: https://s.ua.es/es/VTQk

It must be attached in the “Modelo de CV” [“CV template”] section.