ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

Research Fellowship (1 vacancy)

CEB-BI-50-2026

A call for applications is now open for the attribution of 1 research grant within the scope of the R&D project, ASCLEPIUS: “Advancing phage Therapy to tackle respiratory infections”, HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ACCESS-02-01, (Project ID: 101159555), which is being developed at the Centre of Biological Engineering – University of Minho, financed by the European Commission under the Horizon European Twinning Programme - HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ACCESS-02, under the following conditions:

Scientific Area: Biomedical Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Biochemistry or related areas. 

Recipient category:

The open position is intended for candidates holding a master’s degree who, on the date of their hiring, prove their enrolment in one of the following courses:

- PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering

Requirement for granting the fellowship:

• The applicants may apply without prior registration in the course for which the fellowship is open. The requirement to enrol in a degree course will be verified on the date of contracting the fellowship;
• Only fellowships whose selected applicants present a valid proof of enrolment in a degree course, issued by a Higher Education Institution will be contracted, according to the type of the fellowship, indicating the academic year.

Applicants eligibility: Candidates who meet the conditions set out in Article 8 of the University of Minho's Scientific Research Grant Regulations are eligible.

Nationals or citizens of other European Union member states, third-country nationals, stateless persons, and citizens with political refugee status are eligible to apply for this competition.

Candidate admissibility requirements:

Mandatory requirements:

• Have a master’s degree in Biotechnology, Microbiology, Biological Engineering, Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering or related areas; 

Preferential factors:

• Experience in bacteriophage biotechnology and  bacteriophage engineering 

Workplan and objectives to be achieved: Establish a platform for the genetic manipulation of bacteriophages aiming at improving phage´s  antibiofilm properties.

Applicable legislation and regulations: Research Grant Holder Statute (EBI), approved by Law nº. 40/2004 of August 18, in its current wording, and the University of Minho Scientific Research Grant Regulations (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations (RBIC)), approved by Order nº. 4998/2025, published in the Official Gazette, 2nd series, nº. 81, of April 28, rectified and republished through Rectification Statement nº. 634/2025/2, published in the Official Gazette, 2nd series, nº. 132, of July 11.

Host/Contracting institution and scientific supervision: The workplan will be carried out in the Centre of Biological Engineering of University of Minho, located in the University of Minho, Campus of Gualtar, in Braga, under the direction of Doctor Nuno Miguel Dias Cerca, coordinator of the host entity, and whose scientific guidance will be the responsibility of the Professor/Doctor Joana Azeredo.

Fellowship duration: The grant will take place for a period of 4 months, with a provisional starting date in November 2026. 

The fellowship grant will not be renewed.

Amount of the research grant: The amount of the grant corresponds to 1359,64 €/month, according to the table of values of the Research scholarship of the University of Minho, updated annually, as decided by the Management Board.

Payment is made on the 23rd of each month, through bank transfer to the Bank Identification Number of the fellow identified in the contracting process.

Exclusivity regime: The grantee will perform the activities under exclusivity, as foreseen in article 5º of the Research Fellow Statutes. 

Selection panel:  

President:

Joana Azeredo Cecília Valente de Rodrigues Azeredo, Full Professor at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Minho;

Effective members: 

Diana Priscila Penso Pires, Assistant Researcher at the Centre of Biological Engineering at the University of Minho and 

Sílvio Roberto Branco Santos, Assistant Researcher at the Centre of Biological Engineering at the University of Minho

Substitute members:

Hugo Alexandre Mendes Oliveira, Assistant Researcher at the Centre of Biological Engineering at the University of Minho and

Ana Cristina Afonso Oliveira, Assistant Researcher at the Centre of Biological Engineering at the University of Minho

The first effective member or the second effective member in the event of the first member’s inability, will substitute the President of the selection panel in case of impediment, with these members being replaced by the designated substitute members.

Criteria and procedures for applications assessment and selection: The applications assessment will focus on the candidate's Merit, following evaluation criteria, valued on a scale of 0 to 5 values.

Applicant Merit - AM (100%):

A1 - Academic path (considering the classifications of academic degrees), with a weighting of 50%,

A2 - Personal curriculum (considering professional and scientific background), with a weighting of 40%

A3 - Motivation letter, with a weighting of 10%.

The final classification of the applicant’s merit with the achieved through the following formula:

AM = (A1 x 0,50) + (A2 x 0,40) + (A3 x 0,1)

Note: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 grade of the graduation and/or master course. Candidates will be evaluated on the remaining parameters.

Application deadline and submission: The call for applications is open for a minimum period of 10 working days after the notice publication on the European Scientific Mobility Portal Euraxess.

Applications must be submitted, mandatorily, by email to bolsas@ceb.uminho.pt, indicating the reference number of the competition CEB-BI-50-2026 in the subject line. Only applications submitted within the established deadline and accompanied by the following documents will be accepted:

a) Candidate’s updated curriculum vitae;

b) Certificates of the academic degrees obtained or if applicable, the candidate's declaration of honor that he/she has completed the degrees required in the notice by the application deadline (Annex I);

For degrees obtained abroad, the record of recognition of the academic degrees and record of the conversion of the respective final classification to the Portuguese classification scale must be presented, or, alternatively, a declaration of honour from the candidate.

This declaration must attest to facts that occurred prior to the application. In the event of a discrepancy between the information contained in the declaration and the documentation submitted for the purposes of contracting the scholarship, only the information contained in the latter will be considered. If it is found that the documents proving the academic degree and diploma, or their recognition under the terms of Decree-Law n. º 66/2018, of August 16, do not correspond to the classifications awarded in the assessment of the academic career and may consequently alter the candidate's ranking, the scholarship will not be contracted;

c) Statement proving that meets the conditions for the grant typology, according to the application requirements (annex II);

d) Motivation letter;

Form of publication/notification of results: The results of the evaluation are published in a single list (in alphabetical order or by final score obtained), published on the website of the Centre for Biological Engineering at UMinho (https://empregoceb.wordpress.com/) or posted in a visible and public place in the host unit, as well as by email to all candidates, attaching, for this purpose, the minutes of the jury's deliberations, within a maximum period of 60 working days from the deadline for submission of applications.

Candidates are informed, at a preliminary hearing, in accordance with Articles 121 and 122 of the Administrative Procedure Code, of the likely outcome of the final decision, and may comment within 10 working days of this notification.

An appeal may be lodged against the final decision within 15 working days, or an appeal may be made to the Rector within 30 days, both after the respective notification.

Within 10 working days of notification of the grant award, the applicant must declare their acceptance in writing. In case of non-acceptance, the next highest ranked applicant will be notified immediately.

Fellowship contractualization: The scholarship is awarded through the signing of a contract between the University of Minho and the scholarship recipient, in accordance with the draft contract in Annex II of the University of Minho Regulations (RBIC).

The contract can only be signed after receipt of all the documentation required for the type of scholarship, which must occur within a maximum period of 6 months, including proof of academic degrees or diplomas, as well as enrolment in non-degree study cycles or courses, as applicable.

Once all the documentation has been received, the contracting entity has 60 working days to sign the scholarship contract, in accordance with nº3 of the Article 14º the University of Minho Regulations (RBIC).

Term and cancellation of fellowship contracts: Without prejudice to the other grounds laid down in the University of Minho's Scientific Research Scholarship Regulation and in the Research Fellow Statute, the scholarship will cease on completion of the contracted work plan, as well as on expiry of the period for which it was granted or renewed.

The final report must be submitted to the scientific advisor, in accordance with the defined objectives and evaluation criteria, no later than 60 working days after the end of the scholarship and must be drawn up in accordance with Annex I of the Regulations of the University of Minho.

Non-discrimination and equal access policy: UMinho promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access, whereby no candidate may be privileged, benefited, harmed or deprived of any right or exempt from any duty due to, in particular, of ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family situation, economic situation, education, origin or social condition, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin or race, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions and union membership.

ANNEX I

Declaration of Honour

Academic habilitations

I XXXXXX (Full name), applicant to the research fellowship vacancy under the R&D project XXXXXX (project designation according to notice), published on the Euraxess portal, with the reference CEB-BI-50-2026, declare on my honour to have completed the academic degree of XXXXX(academic degree), qualifying for the type of scholarship in the competition, namely the course XXXXXXX (name of the course), concluded in the University of XXXX, on the XX/XX/XXXX (conclusion date), with the final grade of XX values on the YY scale.

As it is not possible for me to present proof of qualifications until the end of the competition, I declare that I undertake to present the aforementioned certificate until the date of the contracting phase of the fellowship contract, in the event that I am selected for the vacancy in the competition.

As this is true, this declaration will be dated and signed by me.

(Place), (date).

__________________________

(Full name)
 

ANNEX II

Declaration of Honor

History of Research Grants

I, XXXXXXX (Full name), bearer of identification document number XXXXXXX, applicant to the research fellowship vacancy under the R&D project XXXXXXX (project designation according to notice), published in the Euraxess portal with the reference CEB-BI-50-2026, hereby declare that until now have never received any research grant under the Research Fellow Statute.

Or

have received the following research grants under the research fellowship statutes.

(fill in as appropriate):

University

Financing Entity

Project

Type of fellowship /Reference

Duration (Months)

Start

Term

As this is true, this declaration will be dated and signed by me.

(Place), (date).

__________________________

(Full name)

1. ^

     DGES (Foreign Degrees and Diplomas): https://www.dges.gov.pt/en/pagina/degree-and-diploma-recognition?plid=1…; Universidade do Minho: Reconhecimento de graus e diplomas estrangeiros: https://www.uminho.pt/EN/education/Pages/recognition-of-foreign-qualifi…

2. ^

    The declaration can only certify facts that occurred on a date prior to the application.

      In situations of discrepancy between the information contained in the declaration and the documentation submitted for the purpose of contracting the fellowship, only the information contained in the latter will be considered.