Call for Applications for the Award of a Research Grant PhD Students.

IMS_BOLSA_CHOICE_2026_01

The Higher Institute of Statistics and Information Management of the Nova University of Lisbon – Information Management School (NOVA IMS) is opening a call for the award of 1 (one) research scholarships in the field of Information Management, for PhD students programme, under the Research Scholarship Regulation of NOVA University of Lisbon and The Research Fellow Statute (EBI).

The scholarship with the reference IMS_BOLSA_CHOICE_2025_02, within the scope of the project “Comprehensive Health Options and Information for Cancer Education (CHOICE)”, running at NOVA IMS, is supported by revenues from the aforementioned project, financed by the European Commission, EU4Health Programme (EU4H).

1. Researcher Profiles

Can apply for this call:

• National citizens or citizens of other member states of the European Union;
• Citizens of third States;
• Stateless persons;
• Citizens enjoying political refugee status. 

To apply for the Research Scholarship it is necessary to:

• Master’s degree in Data Science;
• Enrollment in PhD program in Information Management;
• Solid knowledge of qualitative and quantitative data analysis, including experience with surveys, experimental studies, interviews and/or focus groups;
• Solid knowledge in the field of health;
• Experience in the development of interactive digital tools or educational platforms (valued but not mandatory);
• Fluency in English (spoken and written);
• Experience in international collaborative projects.

2. Work plan and goals to achieve

The CHOICE project aims to address the significant health risks associated with breast cancer in women with mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, who face a lifetime risk of up to 72%. Despite the availability of preventive options, such as intensified screening and risk-reducing surgeries, adherence to these measures is limited by misconceptions, emotional stress and low levels of health literacy. CHOICE will address these barriers from the patients’ perspective and provide healthcare professionals with effective communication tools and educational resources, empowering women to make informed decisions.

Through collaboration between academic, clinical and support organizations from Portugal, Czechia and Greece, the project will create multilingual health literacy resources, personalized educational materials and artificial intelligence-based interactive decision-making tools tailored to the specific needs of women with BRCA mutations. The project combines qualitative and quantitative methods, public data analysis, data science and digital health to understand challenges, needs and inequalities across countries, contributing to the goals of the European Beating Cancer Plan.

The grant holder will play a central role in both scientific support and the management and coordination of the CHOICE project. Activities will include monitoring the task plan, milestones, work packages and deliverables, ensuring consistent and coordinated project progress among international partners. The grant holder will support the organization of scientific and operational meetings, preparing agendas, minutes and follow-up documents, as well as assisting in budget management, communication with partner teams and the preparation of materials required for reports, audits and periodic reviews.

In parallel, the grant holder will provide direct research support, participating in the planning and conduct of in-depth interviews with patients, healthcare professionals and other stakeholders, and contributing to the transcription, coding and qualitative analysis of data, in full compliance with ethical standards and data protection regulations.

The grant holder will also participate in the systematic mapping of digital health literacy resources, using data mining and web scraping techniques to collect and categorize content from national and international websites and educational tools. Additionally, they will support the extraction and analysis of public online interactions to identify concerns, perceptions and knowledge gaps related to BRCA mutations and hereditary breast cancer. Further activities include collaboration in the development of a multilingual health literacy dictionary and the construction of a health literacy algorithm to be integrated into an API for health platforms, as well as contributing to the design and testing of the virtual library and associated educational materials.

The grant holder will also actively participate in the scientific and institutional dissemination of the project, potentially representing CHOICE at consortium meetings, workshops and international conferences. They will support the drafting of scientific articles, white papers and policy briefs, and collaborate in the preparation of presentations and technical demonstrations aimed at healthcare professionals, policymakers and other relevant audiences. In all activities, strict compliance with ethical standards and data protection requirements must be ensured, including appropriate anonymization of analyzed content and adherence to applicable institutional procedures. Activities also include collaboration in the design and testing of a virtual library with educational content and participation in demonstration sessions and scientific dissemination events.

3. Applicable Legislation and Regulations

The call is governed by the present Opening Notice, by the FCT Research Grant Regulations, approved by Regulation No. 950/2019, published in the II Series of the Diário da República of December 16, 2019 and by the approved Research Fellow Statute by Law nº. 40/2004, of August 18, in the current wording, and by other applicable national and community legislation.  

4. Workplace

The work will be developed at the facilities of NOVA Information Management School (NOVA IMS), Campus de Campolide, 1070-312 Lisboa, Portugal, under the supervision of Professor Dr. Diego Costa Pinto.

5. Type and Duration of Scholarships

The research grant is intended to fund research and development activities at Portuguese universities.

The grant will have a duration of 12 months, with the possibility of renewal until the project's completion date, under the n.º 2 and paragraph c) of n.º 4 of article 7th of the UNL Research Grants Regulation, Order No. 950/2019.

6. Amount of monthly maintenance allowance

The amount of the scholarship corresponds to €1.550,00 according to the table of monthly maintenance allowances in the NOVA University Lisbon Research Grant Regulations.

The monthly payment will be made by bank transfer.

The scholarship may also include other components, under the terms set out in article 18 of the RBI and at the amounts provided for in its Annex II.

All scholarship holders benefit from personal accident insurance for research activities, supported by Nova Information Management School (NOVA IMS). 

All scholarship holders who are not covered by any social protection scheme can ensure that they exercise their right to social security by joining the voluntary social insurance scheme, under the terms of the Code of Contributory Schemes of the Social Security System, with NOVA IMS guaranteeing the costs resulting from the contributions under the terms and with the limits set out in article 10 of the EBI.

7. Application Admissibility Requirements

It is essential, under penalty of non-admission to the Call, to attach the following documents to the application:

• Curriculum Vitae;
• Motivation Letter (maximum of 1,000 words);
• Master’s degree certificate;
• If applicable, proof of recognition of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions and a record of conversion of the respective final grade to the Portuguese grading scale, or, alternatively, a sworn statement by the applicant confirming that they have obtained recognition of the foreign degree equivalent to a master’s degree by the application deadline
• Proof of enrollment in a PhD programme in Information Management.

The following should be noted for the above‐mentioned admissibility requirements: 

• In the case of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions, and to ensure the application of the principle of equal treatment to candidates who hold foreign and national academic degrees, it is mandatory to recognize those degrees and convert their final grade to the Portuguese grading scale. Recognition of academic degrees and foreign diplomas, as well as the conversion of the final grades to the Portuguese grading scale, may be required in any public higher education institution, or the Directorate‐General for Higher Education (DGES, just in the case of automatic recognition). In this regard, it is suggested that the DGES portal be consulted at the following address: http://www.dges.gov.pt.
• Only candidates who have completed the course of study leading to a master’s degree will be admitted until the end of the application period. If they do not yet have the certificate of completion of the course, a declaration of honor will be accepted by the candidates, in which they have completed the necessary qualifications for the competition by the end of the application deadline. The granting of the scholarship is always dependent on the presentation of evidence of the ownership of the academic qualifications necessary for the granting of the scholarship.

Candidates who do not present the elements of the candidacy that are considered mandatory will be excluded from public competition.

8. Deadline for application

The submission is open between the 23 of March 2026 and 20h00 (Lisbon time) on the 7 of April 2026.

Applications and supporting documents must be submitted by email to rh@novaims.unl.pt, indicating the reference IMS_BOLSA_CHOICE_2026_01 in the subject line.

Each candidate may submit only one (1) application, failing which all applications submitted will be cancelled.

The evaluation takes into account the merits of the applicant.

The candidate must be the author of the submitted application. False declarations or plagiarism by candidates is a reason for excluding the application, without prejudice to the adoption of other sanctioning measures.

9. Evaluation Criteria

Applications considered admissible will be scored on a scale of 0 to 100 on each of the following evaluation criteria:

Criterion A - Curricular evaluation and other documents presented, weighting 100%:

• A1 - Academic performance and its relevance to the areas or project, weighting 50%.
  • A2 - Professional experience and its relevance to the areas of the project, weighting 50%.

If the Jury deems it necessary, an interview may be held with the candidates placed in the first three positions according to the order resulting from the previous criteria. In this case, the final score will include the curriculum assessment (as described above), valued at 60%, and the interview, valued at 40%. If none of the candidates has the appropriate profile (overall assessment below 50%), the scholarship will not be awarded.

Important notes for candidates with diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions:

• Candidates with diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions can apply and will be evaluated using the same criteria as candidates with diplomas issued by Portuguese institutions, provided that they present, in their application, proof of recognition of academic degrees and the conversion of final classification for the Portuguese classification scale under the terms of the applicable legislation.
• Candidates with foreign degrees who do not show proof of conversion from the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale will be evaluated with the minimum classification (0 points) in sub-criterion A1.
• In any case, scholarship contracts with candidates with diplomas issued by foreign institutions will only be concluded upon presentation of proof of recognition of academic degrees and conversion of the final classification, as stated above.
• Candidates whose application is assessed with a final rating of less than 50 points are not eligible for the scholarship.

NOVA IMS reserves the right not to award the proposed scholarship if candidates do not meet the requirements indicated in this notice.

10. Selection Jury Composition

The assessment panel of the candidates consists of the following elements: 

• President:

  • Professor Dr. Diego Costa Pinto NOVA IMS, NOVA University of Lisbon (Coordinator);

     

• Effective Vowals:
  • Professor Doutor Leonardo Vanneschi, NOVA IMS, NOVA University of Lisbon;
  • Professora Doutora Simoni Rohden, NOVA IMS, NOVA University of Lisbon.

The selection panel will assess applications in accordance with the evaluation criteria contained in this Call for Proposals, considering the elements of evaluation.

All the members of the jury, including the Chair, make a commitment to respect a set of responsibilities essential to the evaluation process, such as the duties of impartiality, the declaration of any potential conflict of interest situations, and confidentiality. At all times during the evaluation process, confidentiality is fully protected and ensured in order to guarantee the independence of all opinions produced.

11. Form of publicity/notification of results

The results of the evaluation are communicated via e-mail to the e-mail address used by the applicant for the application.

12. Deadlines and procedures for prior hearing, complaint, and appeal

After communicating the provisional list of the results of the evaluation, the candidates have a period of 10 working days to, willingly, express themselves in the pre-hearing of interested parties, in accordance with Articles 121 and following of the Code of Administrative Procedure. 

The final decision shall be given after the analysis of the statements presented at the prior hearing of interested parties. A claim may be lodged within 15 working days or, alternatively, an appeal may be lodged within 30 working days, both counted from their notification. Applicants who choose to submit a complaint must address their statement to the members of the Selection Jury. Applicants who choose to appeal must address the appeal to the Selection Jury.

13. Non-Discrimination and Equal Access Policy

The Higher Institute of Statistics and Information Management of the Nova University of Lisbon – Information Management School (NOVA IMS) promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access, so that no candidate can be privileged, benefited, harmed or deprived of any right or exempt from any duty due, namely, to ancestry, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, economic status, education, origin or social status, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic or race origin, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological beliefs and affiliation union.