Scholarship for Master Degree holder - PROFILER(2)

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

Job summary

The University of Évora is offering a Research Scholarship for Master's degree holders in Biostatistics and Epidemiology. The role will focus on data processing, statistical validation, and development of predictive models within the PROFILER project, under ERDF funding.

The scholarship runs for 12 months with potential renewal, starting in December, and a monthly maintenance allowance of €1,359.64, paid through FCT standards.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Biostatistics, Statistics, Epidemiology, Public Health, Mathematics, or related field.
• Experience in processing and statistical analysis of health data.
• Knowledge of R or similar statistical software.
• Descriptive and multivariate analyses; PCA and clustering.

Responsibilities

• Process, clean, and validate clinical/biometric data.
• Perform descriptive and multivariate analyses including PCA and clustering.
• Develop and validate predictive models for hospital admission, ED use and mortality.
• Coordinate with data-science team and clinical component.
• Ensure ethical and data-protection compliance.

Skills

R programming

Statistical analysis

Longitudinal data analysis

Multimorbidity research

Predictive model validation

Epidemiology

Tools

R

Job description

Organisation/Company UNIVERSIDADE DE ÉVORA Department DEPARTAMENTO DE MATEMÁTCA Research Field Mathematics » Statistics Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions Master Positions Application Deadline 30 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

Centre for Research in Mathematics and

Applications and Department of Mathematics

Research Scholarship for Master's Degree Holders — Biostatistics and Epidemiology — 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 Biostatistics and Epidemiology, 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: Biostatistics and Epidemiology

Admission requirements: Applicants must hold a Master's degree in Biostatistics, Statistics, Epidemiology, Public Health, Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Data Science, or a related field with a strong quantitative component.

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

• experience in the processing, validation and statistical analysis of clinical or epidemiological data;
• knowledge and programming experience in R and/or other suitable statistical software;
• experience in descriptive and multivariate statistical analysis, statistical modelling and longitudinal data analysis;
• knowledge of dimensionality-reduction and clustering methods, including PCA and k-means;
• experience in the study of multimorbidity, polypharmacy, therapeutic regimens, healthcare utilisation or other health data, where applicable;
• experience in the statistical validation of predictive models and interpretation of performance metrics, including AUC and F1-score;
• experience in epidemiological research applied to 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, with particular emphasis on the processing, analysis and biostatistical and epidemiological validation of the data. In Activity 1 — Data Collection and Processing, the scholarship holder will participate in the operational definition of analytical variables and outcomes, as well as in the cleaning, validation, normalisation and assessment of the quality and consistency of clinical, biometric, demographic and pharmacological data, including variables related to polypharmacy, treatment duration and prescribing history. In Activity 2 — Exploratory Analysis and Statistical Modelling, the scholarship holder will conduct descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses to characterise clinical and therapeutic profiles, including, where appropriate, PCA, logistic regression and clustering methods, as well as analyses of the association between multimorbidity, polypharmacy, medication adherence, prescribing regimens, clinical evolution and adverse outcomes. Where supported by data availability and quality, the scholarship holder will also contribute to the project objectives related to pharmacological effectiveness and evaluation of the effect of vaccination. In Activity 3 — Development and Validation of Predictive Models, the scholarship holder will support the definition of clinical and statistical validation strategies for models predicting hospital admission, emergency department use and mortality, and the evaluation of their performance using appropriate metrics, including AUC and F1-score, in coordination with the data‑science team and the clinical component of the project. In Activity 4 — Simulation Models with Virtual Patients, the scholarship holder will support the definition and statistical validation of the profiles used in the virtual populations, as well as the analysis of the results of simulations of disease progression and different therapeutic scenarios. All activities will be carried out 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, up to a maximum total of 20 months within the operation, and may 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 + 0.35 BE + 0.25 DS + 0.10 VM + 0.10 PC, where: HA — academic qualifications and suitability of the academic background for the scholarship profile (20%); BE — documented experience in Biostatistics, Epidemiology and statistical modelling (35%); DS — documented experience in the preparation and quantitative analysis of health data (25%); VM — documented experience in the validation and evaluation of predictive models (10%); PC — participation in projects, publications, scientific communications or other relevant scientific/technical outputs (10%). 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, interpretation 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, BE and DS 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:

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 from 29 october 2026 to 30 November 2026. And the selection results will be published by december 4 , 2026