Scholarship for Master Degree holder - PROFILER 1

UNIVERSIDADE DE ÉVORA; Portugal; On-site; EUR 14,000 - 17,000; Full time

Job summary

A Universidade de Évora está a oferecer uma bolsa de investigação para mestre em Data Science e Inteligência Artificial, no âmbito do projeto PROFILER. O/a bolseiro/a irá trabalhar com dados clínicos e biomédicos, desenvolvendo modelos preditivos e simulações com pacientes virtuais, em colaboração com equipas multidisciplinares.

A bolsa tem duração de 12 meses, com início previsto para dezembro, com majoração conforme regulamentos FCT; o montante mensal é de €1.359,64.

Qualifications

• Mestrado com componente quantitativo e computacional.
• Experiência com preparação, integração, limpeza e análise de dados.
• Experiência em Python e/ou R.
• Experiência em ML e modelagem preditiva.
• Familiaridade com avaliação de modelos (AUC, F1, SHAP/LIME).

Responsibilities

• Coletar, integrar, limpar e normalizar dados clínicos, incluindo variáveis de multimorbidade.
• Conduzir análise exploratória, redução de dimensionalidade e clustering.
• Desenvolver, treinar, otimizar e validar modelos de ML para prever eventos adversos.
• Contribuir para modelos de simulação com pacientes virtuais, com avaliação de desempenho.

Skills

Data preparation

Python

R

Machine learning

Model explainability

PCA

Clustering

Statistical analysis

Education

Master's degree in Data Science or AI

Tools

Python

R

Pandas

Job description

Organisation/Company UNIVERSIDADE DE ÉVORA Department CIMA Research Field Computer science » Database management Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions Master Positions Application Deadline 25 Nov 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Lisbon) Country Portugal Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week NA Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Research Scholarship for Master's Degree Holders — Data Science and Artificial Intelligence — 1 VACANCY

27 October 2026

A call is open for the award of one Research Scholarship (BI) for a Master's degree holder in the area of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, within the scope of the PROFILER project — Clinical, Therapeutic and Evolutionary Profiles for Personalised and Predictive Management of Chronic Diseases in Alentejo, reference ALT2030-FEDER-02667200, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union through the Alentejo Regional Programme 2021–2027 — Alentejo 2030, under Portugal 2030 and Call ALT2030-2024-60 — SACCCT — Scientific and Technological Research — R&D Projects, under the following conditions:

Scientific area: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence

Admission requirements: Applicants must hold a Master's degree in Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science/Informatics, Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Engineering, or a related field with a strong quantitative and computational component.

The following knowledge and experience will be considered preferential factors when documented:

• experience in data preparation, integration, cleaning, validation and analysis;
• knowledge and programming experience in R and/or Python;
• experience in machine learning and predictive modelling;
• experience with methods such as Random Forest, XGBoost, neural networks or equivalent methodologies;
• experience in dimensionality reduction and/or clustering, including PCA and k-means;
• knowledge of model evaluation and explainability, including, where applicable, AUC, F1-score, SHAP/Shapley Values and LIME;
• experience in computational simulation and/or agent-based modelling, particularly valued for the virtual-patient component;
• previous experience with clinical, pharmacological or other health data, where applicable.

Under the Research Grant Regulations of the University of Évora, the scholarship is intended for R&D activities carried out by students enrolled in a Master's or PhD programme. Accordingly, for contracting purposes, the selected candidate must provide proof of effective enrolment in a study cycle leading to an academic degree.

Work plan: The work plan will be carried out within Activities 1 to 4 of the PROFILER project. In Activity 1 — Data Collection and Processing, the scholarship holder will participate in the preparation, integration, cleaning, validation, normalisation and structuring of clinical, biometric, demographic and pharmacological data, including variables related to multimorbidity, polypharmacy, treatment duration and prescribing patterns. In Activity 2 — Exploratory Analysis and Statistical Modelling, the scholarship holder will contribute to the identification of clinical and therapeutic patterns, the construction of analytical variables, the application of dimensionality-reduction and clustering methods, including PCA and k-means, and the definition of phenotypic profiles based on clinical, sociodemographic and therapeutic characteristics. In Activity 3 — Development and Validation of Predictive Models, the scholarship holder will participate in the development, training, optimisation and validation of machine-learning models to predict adverse events, namely hospital admission, emergency department use and mortality, using, among other appropriate methods, Random Forest, XGBoost and neural networks. The scholarship holder will also participate in model-performance assessment, including metrics such as AUC and F1-score, and in model explainability using methods such as SHAP/Shapley Values and LIME. In Activity 4 — Simulation Models with Virtual Patients, the scholarship holder will contribute to the development of agent-based computational models to simulate disease progression and response to different therapeutic regimens, explore clinical scenarios and evaluate alternatives related to polypharmacy in virtual populations constructed from real-world data. All activities will be carried out in coordination with the statistical and clinical components of the project and in accordance with the applicable ethical, security, confidentiality and data-protection rules.

Applicable legislation and regulations: The Research Scholarship will be awarded upon execution of a contract between the University of Évora and the scholarship holder, according to the template in Annex I, pursuant to the Research Fellowship Statute (Law No. 40/2004 of 18 August, as amended), and other applicable legislation and regulations, namely the Research Grant Regulations of the University of Évora (published by Order No. 8131/2024, of 22 July 2024), https://files.diariodarepublica.pt/2s/2024/07/140000000/0035300366.pdf , and the Research Grant Regulations of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. (Regulation No. 950/2019, of 16 December, as amended).

Place of work: The work will be carried out at the University of Évora, in coordination with the other members of the PROFILER project team and, whenever applicable, with the other units and entities involved in the project, under the general coordination of the Administrator of the University of Évora and the scientific supervision of Professor Paulo Quaresma, who shall issue an opinion on the final activities report of the scholarship.

Duration of the scholarship: The scholarship will have an initial duration of 12 months, with the expected starting date of December . The scholarship contract may be renewed, subject to a favourable evaluation and availability of funding, and it can not, under no circumstances, exceed the limits applicable to the respective scholarship type or the eligible duration of the operation.

Amount of monthly maintenance allowance: The monthly maintenance allowance is €1,359.64, in accordance with the table of research scholarship values applicable in 2026, published by the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. (FCT), with payments made monthly through the payment methods adopted by the University of Évora. The amount will be updated if, at the date of contracting or during the scholarship period, a new legally applicable table comes into force.

Selection methods: Selection will be based on Curricular Evaluation (AC) and Interview (ENT). The Curricular Evaluation, on a scale from 0 to 20 points, will have a weight of 70% and will be calculated as AC = 0.20 HA + 0.20 CD + 0.30 IA + 0.15 SIM + 0.15 PC, where: HA — academic qualifications and suitability of the academic background for the scholarship profile (20%); CD — documented experience in data preparation, management, programming and analysis (20%); IA — documented experience in machine learning, predictive modelling, model validation and explainability (30%); SIM — documented experience in computational simulation/agent-based modelling (15%); PC — participation in projects, publications, scientific communications, software or other relevant scientific/technical outputs (15%). The three candidates with the highest AC scores will be invited to interview, provided they achieve an AC score of at least 10 points; in the event of a tie for the final interview position, all tied candidates will be invited. The Interview, on a scale from 0 to 20 points, will have a weight of 30% and will assess: technical and scientific expertise relevant to the work plan (50%), reasoning and problem‑solving ability (25%), and motivation, communication and ability to work in a multidisciplinary team (25%). The final score will be CF = 0.70 AC + 0.30 ENT. In the event of a tie in the final score, the AC, IA and CD scores will be considered successively. The jury may decide not to award the scholarship if no candidate demonstrates a profile suited to the work plan.

Composition of the Selection Jury:

• 1st Full Member — Professor Paulo Infante

Advertising/notification of results: The evaluation results will be published as a list ranked by final score, posted in a visible and public place at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Évora, and candidates will be notified by email. In accordance with the right to a prior hearing of interested parties, the provisional final classification will be communicated to the candidates, who will have 10 working days to submit comments should they wish to do so. A complaint against the final decision may be submitted to the jury within 15 working days, or an appeal may be lodged with the highest executive body of the University of Évora within 30 working days, under the Research Grant Regulations of the University of Évora. Based on the final ranking list, a reserve list may be established and used in the event of withdrawal, failure to submit mandatory documentation, or early termination of the scholarship. The jury reserves the right not to award the scholarship if no candidate demonstrates the appropriate profile. In accordance with the right to a prior hearing of interested parties, the provisional Final Classification will be announced in writing to all interested parties.

Following communication of the provisional evaluation results, candidates will have 10 working days to submit comments, should they wish to do so, under the prior‑hearing procedure for interested parties. Based on the final ranking list, a reserve selection list will be established for the possible recruitment of new scholarship holders within the scope of this project, up to the duration limit of the scholarship. This list may be used if the first‑ranked candidate withdraws, fails to submit the mandatory documentation, or if the scholarship holder terminates the scholarship early. If none of the candidates demonstrates the profile required to carry out the work plan, the jury reserves the right not to award the scholarship.

Application deadline and submission of applications: The call is open from11 November 2026 to 25 November 2026. Applications must be submitted by email, quoting reference PROFILER_BI_CDIA_2026, and must include: an application/motivation letter; a detailed Curriculum Vitae; degree certificate(s); proof of enrolment in a study cycle leading to an academic degree or, alternatively, a declaration of honour stating that such proof will be provided at the contracting stage; and supporting documents for the curricular elements that the candidate wishes to have considered in the evaluation. Under the University of Évora Regulations, proof of academic degrees may be replaced, at the application stage, by a declaration of honour, with contracting remaining conditional upon subsequent documentary proof. Academic degrees obtained abroad must undergo the recognition legally required in Portugal for contracting purposes.