Call for Research Grant Assignment | 1228562 | REMORA

Universidade de Coimbra; Portugal; On-site; EUR 14,000 - 17,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Cobertura de taxa doutoral

Financiamento ERDF

Job summary

A Universidade de Coimbra apresenta uma bolsa de investigação no Departamento de Engenharia Eletrotécnica e de Computadores para prosseguir com o projeto REMORA. A posição envolve design de controlo, integração humano‑manada e desenvolvimento de protótipos com ROS2.

Este estágio de 12 meses admite candidatos com doutoramento em áreas afins ou mestrado em áreas relevantes, com financiamento da ERDF. Beneficiações adicionais abrangem a cobertura de taxa doutoral e seguro social voluntário.

Qualifications

• Estudantes matriculados em doutoramento na área científica de Engenharia Eléctrica e Sistemas Inteligentes.
• Mestre/licenciatura em áreas indicadas (ver I.I) com matrícula em curso não conferente de grau.
• Cursos não conferentes de grau devem estar relacionados com a atividade da bolsa.

Responsibilities

• Desenho e implementação de leis de controlo locais para emergentes comportamentos de manada para uma MANET e amostragem adaptativa em casos aquáticos.
• Desenvolvimento de métodos de interação humano-manada para induzir mudanças no comportamento coletivo a partir de níveis macroscópicos.
• Implementação de algoritmos de robótica de manada e protótipos de pesquisa usando ROS2 e simuladores compatíveis.
• Execução de experiências com enxames de robôs físicos e participação em campanhas de campo com parceiros REMORA.

Education

Doutorando em Engenharia Eléctrica e Sistemas Inteligentes

Mestre em Engenharia Eletrotécnica/Computadores/Engenharia da Computação/Engenharia Física/Engenharia Mecânica/Engenharia Biomédica/Computação ou Data Science

Tools

ROS2

Job description

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Organisation/Company Universidade de Coimbra Department Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Field Engineering » Electrical engineering Engineering » Computer engineering Engineering » Mechanical engineering Engineering » Biomedical engineering Computer science Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions Master Positions Application Deadline 23 Oct 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Lisbon) Country Portugal Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 35 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Other EU programme Reference Number 18254 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Call for Research Grant Assignment

The University of Coimbra opens a call for the assignment of a research grant, with one position(s), under the project REMORA - Robótica de Enxame para Melhoria e Observação de Recursos Aquáticos.

The call is governed by this Notice of Opening, the University of Coimbra Research Grant Regulations (RBI-UC), subsidiarily by the Research Grant Regulations of the Foundation for Science and Technology (RBI-FCT), by the Research Fellow Statute (EBI), by the Norms for Grant Assignment and Management within R&D Projects, by the Code of Administrative Procedure (CPA), all in their current wording, and by other applicable national and community legislation.

Procedure Reference: IT137-26-388

I - Legal admission requirements
I.I - Grant Recipients:
Students enrolled in a doctoral degree, in the scientific area of Electrical Engineering and Intelligent Systems.
OR
Master’s degree holders, in the scientific area of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, or Data Science, enrolled in a non-degree-granting course.

I.II - The non-degree-granting course must be related to the type of activity covered by the grant. Non-degree-granting courses are defined as those referred to in subparagraph e) of paragraph 3 of Article 4 of Decree-Law No. 74/2006, in its current wording, provided that, under subparagraph e) of Article 3 of RBI-FCT, they are developed in association or cooperation between the higher education institution and one or more R&D units.

I.III - Ineligible candidates:
Candidates enrolled in non-degree-granting courses who have already benefited from a grant contract and who, with this grant assignment, including possible renewals, exceed a total accumulated period of two consecutive or non-consecutive years in this type of grant.
Candidates who have already benefited from two research grant contracts with UC in the condition of being enrolled in a doctoral degree, regardless of whether each contract has reached the maximum legally permitted duration.

I.IV - Eligible for grant assignment if meeting the requirements:

• Portuguese nationals or nationals of other EU Member States
• Nationals of third countries
• Stateless persons
• Beneficiaries of political refugee status

II - Grant location: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Coimbra

III- Scientific supervision/coordination of the grant: Rui Paulo Pinto da Rocha

IV - Work Plan / Goals to be achieved: 1. Design and implementation of local control laws to enable emergent swarm behaviors for deploying a MANET and performing adaptive data sampling in aquatic use cases;
2. Development of human-swarm interaction methods to enable a human operator to induce changes in swarm collective behavior specified at the macroscopic level;
3. Implementation of swarm robotics algorithms and research prototypes using the ROS2 middleware framework and ROS2-compliant simulators;
4. Execution of experiments with physical robot swarms and participation in field-testing campaigns in collaboration with other REMORA project partners.

V - Initial grant duration: 12 months

V.I - Renewal Possibility: Possibily renewable

VI - Funding and financial conditions of the grant

VI.I - Monthly grant amount (paid by bank transfer at the end of each month): 1.359,64€

VI.II - Other financial components of the grant: To this amount is added the Doctoral fee, in the maximum amount of €2.750.00, for students enrolled in a Doctoral Course at the University of Coimbra, supported by their own income.

VI.III - In addition to the above amounts, voluntary social security (SSV) is included when the grant has a duration of six months or more, corresponding to the first level, if the candidate opts for it, as well as mandatory personal accident insurance.

VI.IV - Funding: The grant(s) assigned under this call will be funded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Innovation and Digital Transition Program (COMPETE 2030) of Portugal 2030| reference of operation no. 18254, operation COMPETE2030-FEDER-01429400 on Balcão dos Fundos.[

VI.V - Information and publicity about the funding: All R&D activities directly or indirectly financed by the grant, namely all communications, publications and scientific creations, as well as theses, carried out with the support provided by the grant, must mention the financial support of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the Innovation and Digital Transition Program (COMPETE 2030) of Portugal 2030.

VII – Selection Methods: Evaluation of the academic record (AR) and/or Interview (I)

VII.I - AR - In the evaluation of the academic record, the candidates' academic performance will be assessed according to the following weights and criteria:

• Criterion 1: Absolute merit of curriculum vitae
• Criterion 2: Adequacy of the candidate’s profile to the work plan to be developed
• Criterion 3: Motivation to pursue a PhD thesis related to the work plan

VII.II- I – In the evaluation of the interview, candidates' performance will be assessed according to the following weights and criteria:

• Criterion 1: Motivation and interest
• Criterion 2: Knowledge and profile appropriate to the functions to be developed
• Criterion 3: Ability to express oneself and verbal fluency

VII.III- The evaluation of the criteria and the final classification will be based on a scale from 0 to 100, with scores rounded to the nearest hundredth, applying the following formulas:

• AR: criterion 1 * (40%) + criterion 2 * (40%) + criterion 3 * (20%) = 100%
• I: criterion 1 * (40%) + criterion 2 * (40%) + criterion 3 * (20%) = 100%
• Final Classification (FC): AR * (60%) + I * (40%) = 100%

VII.IV - All candidates who meet the admission requirements are subject to the academic record evaluation, carried out according to the criteria and weights defined in VII.I.

VII.V - Candidates who score below 50 in any selection method will be excluded, and subsequent methods, if any, will not apply to them. Candidates who are duly notified but fail to attend the interview (if applicable) or withdraw at any stage will also be excluded.

VII.VI - Only the top 4 candidates, based on the ranking from the academic record evaluation, will be admitted to the interview.

VII.VII - Tie-breaking criteria: In the event of a tie in the rankings, candidates will be ordered in descending order as follows:

• a) Based on the score obtained in the first method applied;
• b) Based on the score of their academic qualifications.

VII.VIII - All provisional and final jury decisions must be justified, recorded in minutes, and published on https://apply.uc.pt/ .

VII.IX - Jury Composition:

President: Rui Paulo Pinto da Rocha

Effective Members: Lino José Forte Marques, David Bina Siassipour Portugal

Alternate Members: Paulo Jorge Carvalho Menezes, Ian Connor Rankin

VII.X - Selection reserve list: the reserve list consists of candidates approved in all selection methods who do not secure one of the available vacancies under this procedure. The reserve list is valid for 12 months

VIII- Application Submission
Candidates must access and register on the electronic platform https://apply.uc.pt/ to submit their application, selecting the procedure to which they wish to apply.
Documents uploaded for the application must be in portable document format (PDF).
Applications are submitted by completing the sections available in the electronic platform