Research Grant - Edital BI-ISISE-UMINHO-Med-IREN-4

Universidade do Minho - ISISE; Portugal; On-site; EUR 12,000 - 18,000; Full time

Job summary

A Universidade do Minho - ISISE abre uma bolsa de investigação no âmbito do projeto Med-IREN para avaliação de risco climático e resiliência de infraestruturas críticas. Duração de 12 meses, com início provisório em janeiro de 2027, em Guimarães.

O(a) bolseiro deverá ter Mestrado em Engenharia Civil ou áreas relacionadas e estar inscrito num doutoramento ou num curso não académico relevante, com prioridade a candidatos com experiência em modelação estrutural e análise de dados.

Qualifications

• Mestrado em Engenharia Civil ou áreas relacionadas.
• Candidatura deve atender aos requisitos de inscrição em doutoramento ou em curso não académico relevante.

Responsibilities

• Implementar, testar e refinar o quadro de avaliação de risco climático e resiliência de infraestruturas críticas.
• Contribuir para o desenvolvimento de materiais de ensino e cooperação com projetos relacionados.

Education

Mestre em Engenharia Civil

Doutorando/Curso não académico relacionado

Job description

Organisation/Company Universidade do Minho - ISISE Department ISISE Research Field Engineering » Civil engineering Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions Master Positions Application Deadline 10 Nov 2026 - 23:00 (Europe/Lisbon) Country Portugal Type of Contract Not Applicable Job Status Not Applicable Offer Starting Date 27 Oct 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Horizon Europe Reference Number 101157707 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

A call is open to award (1) research grant within the R&D Project “Med-IREN – Mediterranean critical Infrastructure Resilience Engineering with Nature-based solutions”, Project number 101157707, funded by the European Union through the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), in the following conditions:

RESEARCH FIELD:Civil Engineering or related fields.

RECIPIENT CATEGORY:

• Degree courses: Students enrolled in a PhD.
• Non-conferring degrees courses: Masters enrolled in non-academic degree courses.

CANDIDATES PROFILE / CANDIDATE ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Mandatory requirements:

In order to apply, the candidates must possess:

• A Master’s degree in the field of Civil Engineering or related fields;
• Applicants must comply with the eligibilityconditions established in point 8 of the University of Minho Scientific Research Grant Regulations (RBIC), approved by Order n. 4998/2025, published in the Official Gazette, 2nd series, n. 81, of April 28, rectified and republished through Rectification Statement n. 634/2025/2, published in the Official Gazette, 2nd series, n. 132, of July 11.

At the time of the respective hiring, candidates must prove that they are enrolled in one of the following courses:

• PhD in the field of Civil Engineering or related fields;
• In a Course that does not confer an academic degree, in the area or area related to that requested in the tender (e.g.: postgraduate studies, advanced studies, specialized training).

Preferential factors:

• Previous experience in risk and resilience assessment and management of civil infrastructure.
• Previous experience in structural modelling and data analysis applied to reliability assessment civil infrastructure performance.
• Previous experience in applying Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to the protection of critical infrastructure (CI).

Requirement for granting the fellowship:

• The applicants may apply without prior registration in the course for which the fellowship is open. The requirement to enroll in a degree course or non-academic degree course will be verified on the date of contracting the fellowship.
• Only fellowships whose selected applicants present a valid proof of enrollment in a degree course or non-academic degree course will be contracted, issued by a Higher Education Institution, according to the type of the fellowship, indicating the academic year or its duration (start and term).

APPLICATION / ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

The call is open from 27/10/2026 to 10/11/2026 (23:00 – Europe/Lisbon).

Failure to comply with the deadline for submitting the application, such as failure to submit or late submission of the application and the documents referred to in points 2) to 4), determines the exclusion of the application.

Regarding the above mentioned admissibility requirements, the following should be noted:

• In the case of a degree granted by a foreign higher education institution, and in order to ensure the application of the principle of equal treatment to candidates holding foreign and national academic degrees, it is mandatory to recognize the degree and convert the respective final grading to the Portuguese grading scale. The academic degrees and diplomas documents, or their respective recognition when awarded by foreign higher education institutions are not mandatory in the application phase, being replaced by a declaration of honor of the candidate with the contents of academic results. The documents of academic qualification or respective recognition will be required in the contracting phase and must attest facts that occurred on a date prior to the application. In situations of divergence between the information contained in the declaration and the documentation submitted for contracting the grant, only the information contained in the latter will be consider. If the documents proving the ownership of the academic degree and diploma, or the respective recognition under the terms of Decree-Law No. 66/2018, of August 16, do not correspond to the classifications awarded in the evaluation of the academic path, which can change the candidate's ranking, the fellowship won’t be contracted.
• Applicants with degrees obtained abroad must present proof of recognition of qualifications in Portugal and conversion of the final classification obtained in them to the Portuguese classification scale or declaration under the terms indicated in the previous point. Candidates who do not comply with one of these provisions, the Selection Panel will assign “0” in the respective criteria. Candidates will be evaluated on the remaining parameters.
• Only candidates who have completed the required qualification by the end of the application period will be admitted. If they do not yet have the official degree certificate, a declaration of honor from the candidate stating that he/she has completed the qualifications required by the end of the application period, will be accepted. At the time of the respective hiring the candidate must present the official degree certificate.

DURATION OF THE RESEARCH GRANT

The research grant will last for 12 months, with a provisional starting date in January 2027.

The grant may be, possibly, renewed until the end of the project and/or applicable legislation, if it is necessary to complete the academic degree or to carry out activities that are essential for the conclusion of the project.

If the grant is awarded to candidates enrolled in a course that does not confer an academic degree, the grant cannot be renewed.

WORK PLAN AND OBJECTIVES

The work plan involves implementing, testing, and refining the climate risk and resilience assessment framework in selected Med-IREN demonstrator and replicator regions, adapting procedures to each case study. Activities will assess the criticality, vulnerability, risk, and resilience of critical infrastructure; compare conditions with and without Nature-based Solutions (NbS); account for uncertainties in data, models, and climate scenarios; and integrate heterogeneous monitoring sources. The work will also contribute to capacity building and knowledge exchange, particularly by preparing training materials, integrating project results into existing curricula and joint educational activities, and collaborating with related projects, networks, and initiatives.

HOST INSTITUTION AND SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISION

The work will be carried out at ISISE - Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering - Civil Engineering Department, School of Engineering of the University of Minho, located at Azurém (Guimarães), under the scientific supervision of Doctor Hélder Manuel Silva Sousa and coordination of Doctor José Manuel Sena Cruz.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

The evaluation of the applications will focus on the merit of the candidate, by applying the following criteria on a scale of 0 to 5 points:

Candidate's Merit – CM (100%):

• Criterion A - Motivation letter, with a weighting of 20%;
• Criterion B - Academic path (final grade obtained in the Master’s degree), with a weighting of 50%;
• Criterion C - Personal curriculum (considering professional and scientific background), with a weighting of 30%:
  • Sub‑criterion C1 - Professional or academic experience in civil engineering, particularly in structural engineering and risk assessment - 50%;
  • Sub‑criterion C2 - Publications in journals and conferences on topics relevant to the project - 50%.

The final classification of the Candidate’s Merit (CM) will be obtained by applying the following formula:

CM = (A*0,20) + (B*0,50) + (0,30 * ((C1*0,50) + (C2*0,50)))

Candidates with CM less than 3.5 points are immediately excluded.

The jury may choose to conduct an Interview. The first four candidates on the ranked list of the CM will be selected for the Interview.

Interview – INT (40%):

• Criterion E1 - Motivation, with a weighting of 30%;
• Criterion E2 - Technical knowledge required to carry out the work plan, with a weighting of 30%;
• Criterion E3 - Overall assessment, with a weighting of 40%.

The Jury also decided on the valuation of the Interview, according to the following levels:

• Good – 4 points;
• Satisfactory – 3 points;
• Unsatisfactory – 2 points;

The final classification of the Interview (INT) will be obtained by applying the following formula:

INT = (E1*0,30) + (E2*0,30) + (E3*0,40)

The final classification (FC) of Candidate’s Merit (CM) and Interview (INT) will be obtained by applying the following formula:

FC = (CM*0,60) + (INT*0,40)

The Selection Panel reserves the right not to award the research grant in the competition based on the evaluation results of the applicants and their suitability for the project objectives.

SELECTION PANEL

The Selection Panel is composed by the following elements:

• President: Doctor José António Silva Carvalho Campos Matos, Associate Professor with Habilitation at Department of Civil Engineering, ISISE, School of Engineering, University of Minho.
• Effective members: Doctor Hélder Manuel Silva Sousa, Assistant Researcher, ISISE, School of Engineering, University of Minho, and Doctor Monica Patrícia Santamaria Ariza, Invited Assistant Researcher, ISISE, School