Organisation/Company Universidade de Coimbra Department SGRH - DRGC Research Field Other Researcher Profile Leading Researcher (R4) Positions PhD Positions Country Portugal Application Deadline 22 Sep 2025 - 23:59 (Europe/Lisbon) Type of Contract Permanent Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 35 Offer Starting Date 11 Aug 2025 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? European Union / Next Generation EU Reference Number IT074-25-15205 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No
Offer Description
PUBLIC NOTICE
I publicly announce that, by the Rector of the University of Coimbra, Professor Amílcar Falcão, order of 14/03/2025, an
international tender to fulfill one vacancy for the position of Principal Researcher in the scientific area of Health Sciences
| subarea of Neurobiology of Social Behavior is hereby open for 30 working days following the publication of the present
notice in Diário da República [Official Journal of the Portuguese Republic]. The stated position will be held under a public
service employment contract of unspecified duration at the CIBB of the University of Coimbra.
This international tender shall be conducted pursuant to the Estatuto da Carreira de Investigação Científica [Career of
Scientific Research Statute] in its latest version, hereinafter referred to as ECIC, and Regulamento de Recrutamento,
Contratação e Prestação de Serviço de Pessoal de Investigação Científica da Universidade de Coimbra [Regulation on the
Recruitment, Hiring and Service Providing of Scientific Staff of the University of Coimbra], Regulation Nr. 810/2021, of
30 august, hereinafter referred to as RRCPSPICUC, as well as further applicable legislation.
I – Reference and Place of Work:
I.1. Public tender reference: IT074-25-15205
I.2. Place of Work: CIBB, University of Coimbra
I.3. Salary: 3 950, 17€, corresponds to the rank and index referred in the table in Annex 3 to Decree-Law nr. 408/89, of
November 18, in its current version, without prejudice to legally imposed restrictions.
II - Functional content:
The functional content is that corresponding to the stipulations in article 5 paragraph 2 and 4 of the ECIC, and article 7,
paragraph 2 and 4 of the RRCPSPICUC.
III – Admission Requirements:
III.1. General requirements: Applicants shall be at least 18 years of age or older, not be inhibited to holding a job in the
public sector nor forbidden to perform the intended position; applicants shall also be in good health and possess the
psychological profile required for the job and shall meet the compulsory vaccination requirements.
III.2. At the time of application, applicants shall fulfill, the special admission requirements set forth in article 11,
paragraph 1 of the ECIC and article 25, paragraph 2 of the RRCPSPICUC:
Applications shall be accepted from assistant researchers from the same or other institution in the scientific area of the
tender, or, also, those who, although from a different area, have a relevant scientific curriculum in those areas and, in
either case, have a minimum of three years of effective service in that category or have been approved in public
qualification or aggregation exams, as well as; Principal researchers from another institution in the scientific area of the call or in a scientific area considered by the
scientific council as being related to that for which the tender is open or those who, although from a different area, have
a relevant scientific curriculum in these areas, as well as.
Individuals who hold a PhD degree in the scientific area of the call or, also, those who, although holding a PhD in a
different area, have a relevant scientific curriculum in those areas and, in either case, have a minimum of three years of
professional experience in those areas after obtaining the PhD or have been approved in public qualification or aggregation
exams.
III.3. If the candidate's PhD is not in the scientific area(s) of the tender, the candidate is admitted if he/she presents
proof that requested from the Scientific Council of the CIBB of the University of Coimbra a document certifying:
- That the scientific area in which he/she has an academic qualification is also considered as a similar area to the one put
up for tender procedure; or
- That the scientific area in which the candidate provided services is considered to be a related area of the one put up for
tender procedure.
IV – Application:
IV.1. Submission: candidates must access and register on the electronic platform apply.uc.pt, to submit the application,
selecting the procedure to which they intend to apply.
The documents included in the application are exclusively in digital portable document format (pdf), with the exception
of the documents referred in IV.2.4. and IV.2.6., which can be delivered in other digital formats.
The application submission is carried out by completing the sections available on the Apply UC electronic platform, under
“My application”.
If the Scientific project or any of the works/papers submitted contains classified information, reveal trade or industrial
secrets or literary, artistic or scientific property secrets, candidates must select that option, available on the platform for
each document; otherwise, those works/papers can be freely accessed by any of the other applicants when consulting
the file.
Candidates can highlight in their CV periods of suspension of professional activity for socially protected reasons, namely,
for reasons of parental leave, prolonged serious illness, and other legally protected situations of unavailability for work,
always attaching supporting documents, and the jury must ensure that their evaluative judgment is not influenced by
these pauses.
IV.2 Mandatory documents to be delivered:
IV.2.1. Curriculum Vitae duly dated and signed
The Curriculum Vitae shall include a foreword with the candidate’s full professional background in higher education
institutions, when applicable, with reference to category, field or scientific area, identification of the higher education
institution in which the candidate has exercised functions, type and length of the contract, specifying the position and type of contract held at the time of application. The foreword shall also include a summary clearly demonstrating that the
candidate specialises in the scientific area(s) and subarea(s) for which this tender is open.
The candidate’s Curriculum Vitae shall be structured in order to separately respond to the different items listed below in
section V and respective subparagraph.
IV.2.2. Copy of qualification certificates. Opponents selected for the position(s) to be filled who hold a foreign doctoral
degree must present the recognition or registration (as applicable) of their degree at the time of contract signing, in
accordance with Decree-Law No. 66/2018, dated August 16th, under penalty of exclusion. If the recognition is requested
at the University of Coimbra, it will cover the costs of the recognition or registry for the candidate(s) who will be hired,
and the candidate(s) are exempt from paying the fee until the final ranking. You can find more information at the following
link: https://www.uc.pt/academicos/graus/reconhecimentos
The candidates who hold a public service employment contract with the University of Coimbra may be exempt from the
qualification certificates submission. To this end, they must select this option on the platform, stating that they are already
in their individual process.
IV.2.3. Separate copy of the 5 to 8 of the candidate's most relevant works/papers that have contributed to the
development of the scientific area(s) and subarea(s) for which this tender is open, and justified, in a separate document,
the reasons for this choice.
IV.2.4. Copy of all works/papers mentioned in the Curriculum Vitae.
IV.2.5. Scientific project for the next 5 years, with a limit of 5 pages, related to the research lines in the scientific area(s)
and subarea(s) for which this tender is open to which the candidate proposes to dedicate himself in the UC, obeying the
following requirements: Presentation of the main problems to which the candidate intend to dedicate the future research,
contextualizing them in the current state of the art in these field; Systematic and succinct description of the research
strategies that the candidate proposes to adopt in order to develop his research and solve or contribute to the resolution
of the problems he has mentioned; Explanation of the reasons and motivations for his choices.
IV.2.6. Any other information considered relevant by the candidate.
IV.2.7. Document mentioned in point III.3., if applicable.
IV.2.8. Report of the activities developed by the candidates.
IV.2.9. Copy of the certificate of approval in public examinations of qualification or academic title – Agregação - when
applicable under the terms of point III.2
IV.3. All application documents above indicated in IV.2 shall be submitted in Portuguese or English, exception made to
those mentioned in IV.1.2.4 and IV.2.6, which may be submitted in a different language. If the original documents
mentioned under IV.2.2 and IV.2.3 are written in a language other than Portuguese or English, candidates are required
to include a version in one of those languages. Exception is made to Diplomas, when written in Latin, in which case no
translation is required.IV.4. Applicants, who are non-native speakers of either Portuguese or English, shall attest their proficiency at level C1 of
the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in, at least, one of those languages.
IV.5. Applications that do not comply with the instructions or that fail to meet the tender’s formal requirements, pursuant
to the applicable laws and to this Public Notice, shall not be accepted. In the same way, if the required documents or
papers are submitted outside the established timeframe, the application shall not be accepted.
IV.6. The present tender ceases with the occupation of the position, or, when the position cannot be totally occupied,
due to the inexistence or insufficiency of candidates to continue this tender.
V – Selection methods and criteria:
V.1. The selection methods to be used are approval in absolute merit and evaluation of the candidates' scientific and
curricular background.
V.2. Evaluation of Absolute Merit
V.2.1. Approval on Absolut Merit will be given to candidates who hold a curriculum vitae that the jury considers adequate
for the position to be filled, namely the merit of their scientific and technical work, as well as their professional experience
and training, compatible with the category and scientific area(s) and subarea(s) for which the tender is open, always
taking into account, for this evaluation, the following reference criteria:
i. Have participated in the design, development and execution of research projects and/or lines of research of R&D units
of the national scientific system or others;
ii. Have been responsible for guiding work within the scope of projects under your responsibility;
iii. Have participated in the development of training actions within the scope of research and development methodology;
iv. To be the author or co-author of books, book chapters, articles in journals indexed in or others of relevant national and
international scientific interest, related to the disciplinary area and subarea for which the competition is open;
v. Have created and/or participated in laboratory infrastructures to support research;
vi. Have proven experience in science and technology management, namely research and innovation development and
interdisciplinary construction of projects and services.
V.2.2. The Jury shall decide on admission or exclusion on absolute merit by roll-call vote, based on compliance or noncompliance
with the requirements set out in paragraph V.2.1, and by an absolute majority of votes in favour from among
the members present at the meeting.
V.3. Assessment of the scientific and curricular background
For the assessment of the scientific and curricular background of the candidates, the following evaluation criteria should
be considered: the quality of the candidates' scientific and technical work, professional experience, professional training,
contribution to scientific guidance activities, participation in teaching activities and management bodies, community
service and the quality of the scientific project, according to the following weighting.V.3.1. Quality of the scientific and technical work, with a weighting of 40%, considering the candidate's
contribution to the dissemination of knowledge in the scientific area(s) and sub-area(s) for which the tender is open, as
well as the candidate's ability to have a very relevant scientific production at the University of Coimbra in the future,
namely through the publication/participation in books, book chapters, scientific journal articles and international
conference proceedings of which the candidate was author or co-author, considering their nature, impact factor and
number of citations, scientific/technological level and innovation, diversity and multidisciplinarity, international
collaboration, the importance of the contributions to the advancement of the current state of knowledge, the importance
of the works that were selected by the candidate as most representative and the scientific project presented, the
candidate's potential and previous experience in participating and coordinating projects subject to competition on a
competitive basis, as well as in research teams, in the area(s) and/or subarea(s) for which the tender is open, namely
taking into account the territorial scope and its dimension, the technological level, the interdisciplinary dimension, and
the importance of contributions, innovation and diversity; the participation by the candidate in the creation or
reinforcement of laboratory infrastructures of an experimental and/or computational nature to support research, and in
national and international research networks, scientific dissemination initiatives, namely through the organisation of
international scientific events in the area(s) and/or sub-area(s) for which the tender is open; the recognition by the
international scientific community of the results obtained by candidates in the area(s) and/or sub-area(s) for which the
tender is open taking into account, in particular, awards from scientific societies, editorial activities in scientific journals,
participation in editorial boards of scientific journals, coordination and participation in programme committees of scientific
events, guest lectures at scientific meetings or other institutions, membership of scientific societies with competitive
admission and other similar distinctions.
V.3.2. Professional experience and training, with a weighting of 5%, considering the level and adequacy of
academic degrees and diplomas or professional qualifications, in the area(s) and subarea(s) for which the tender is open;
the professional experience of the candidate to carry out duties as an Assistant Researcher in the area(s) and/or subarea(
s) for which the tender is open; the supervision, development or participation in training programmes and/or training
sessions within the scope of the area and/or sub-area for which the tender is open.
V.3.3. Involvement in scientific advisory activities and participation in teaching activities, with a weighting
of 10%, considering activities of follow-up and advising of research work developed by scholarship holders, research
interns and research assistants, participating in their training, as well as of supervision of students' theses, namely
undergraduate, postgraduate, master's and doctoral students; collaboration in professional training sessions, namely
participation and coordination of training sessions aimed at the public and private sectors, according to their characteristics
and the results achieved; the publications, computer applications and experimental prototypes of a pedagogical nature
that the candidate has produced or participated in, and their impact on the national and international community should
be considered; the courses units that the candidate has coordinated and taught, considering the diversity, the pedagogical
practice and the students' background.
V.3.4. Participation in management bodies, with a weighting of 5%, considering holding positions or duties in
bodies of Higher Education Institutions, and in Research Units, taking into consideration their nature, duration and
responsibility; holding temporary positions and tasks, namely editorial activities in international journals, evaluation in scientific programmes, juries of academic tests, juries of competitions and others that have been assigned by the
competent management bodies; performance in other positions, namely those legally considered equivalent to the
effective exercise of researching activities and those carried out in national and international scientific organizations.
V.3.5. Community service, with a weighting of 20%, considering the provision of services and consultancy
integrated within the mission of the University of Coimbra, namely participation in and implementation of projects, as well
as provision of specialized services, with other institutions or companies dimension, taking into account diversity,
scientific-technological level and innovation; authorship and co-authorship of patents, models, trademarks or industrial
designs, considering their nature, territorial scope, scientific and technological level and the results obtained; the
participation in the preparation of draft legislation and regulations considering their nature, territorial scope and
technological level; active participation in obtaining competitive funding for research and development activities;
promotion and/or participation in studies and debates within society with the aim of diagnosing problems, studying
alternatives and defining improvement paths.
V.3.6. Quality of the scientific project in the area and sub-area(s) for which the tender is open, with a
weighting of 20%.
VI– Selection process
VI.1. Preliminary meeting
VI.1.1. In the preliminary meeting the Jury will verify the requirements for admission of the applications, prepare the list
of admitted and excluded candidates.
VI.1.2. If there are no excluded candidates, at the preliminary meeting the jury also evaluates the candidates.
VI.1.3. The list of admitted and excluded candidates shall be notified to the candidates for the purposes of a hearing of
interested parties in accordance with the provisions of Article 121 et seq. of the CPA.
VI.1.4. If any allegations are made by the candidates, the Jury will meet to discuss them, and the interested parties will
be notified of the Jury's decision.
VI.1.5. The list of admitted and excluded candidates shall be approved by the Rector after the conclusion of the
preliminary meeting or after the conclusion of the assessment and allegations if these take place. The candidates may
appeal against the ratification decision under the terms of the general law.
VI.2. Evaluation meeting
VI.2.1. If, at the preliminary meeting, the jury decides to exclude some candidates, the evaluation meeting is held after
the period for the hearing of interested parties and approval of the list of admitted and excluded candidates.
VI.2.2. In the evaluation meeting, the jury starts by deciding on the approval of candidates on absolute merit, under the
terms of point V.2. It then proceeds to evaluate the candidates admitted on absolute merit and prepares the final ranking
list.
VI.3. The assessment of the scientific and curricular background may be complemented by an interview for all candidates, whenever the jury so decides. The interview does not constitute a selection method and is not graded. It is intended solely
to obtain clarification or explanation of elements contained in the candidates' CVs.
VII – Ranking and voting methods:
VII.1. After the debate on the candidates towards establishing a final deliberation about the ranking, each member of
the Selection Committee will present a written document, which will be attached to the meeting minutes with their
individual ranking proposal, based on the assessment criteria stated in this Public Notice. Throughout the various vote
rounds, each member of the Selection Committee must respect their proposed rankings.
VII.2. The first vote round is intended to select the candidate to be ranked in the first place. If a candidate obtains more
than half of the votes, they shall be placed in the first position. If this is not the case, candidates with no votes shall be
eliminated, as well as the candidate with the least votes, provided the latter obtained at least one vote. In the event of
more than one candidate being placed in the last position with only one vote, there shall be a vote to decide whom to
eliminate. In this vote round, committee members shall vote on the candidate who had the lowest score according to their
individual ranking, and the candidate who obtains the most votes shall be eliminated. If a tie persists between two or
more candidates, the Selection Committee Chairman shall decide which candidate should be eliminated.
After this process, the Selection Committee shall vote on the ranking of the remaining candidates. This process is repeated
until one of the candidates obtains more than half of the votes for the first place.
VII.3. The candidate placed in the first position shall then be excluded from the next vote round, which shall decide the
second place. This process shall be consecutively repeated until all approved candidates are ranked.
VII.4. During the voting of the Selection Committee abstentions are not allowed.
VIII. – Final Report
The Jury draws up a Final Report, signed by all its members, which contains the results of the tender.
IX. Notification of the candidates:
IX.1. The candidate(s) will be notified of the list of admitted and excluded candidates and its approval, of the Draft Final
Ranking List, of the Final Report and of the act of approval of the Final Report, by registered letter and by email or by
electronic notification automatically generated by a system incorporated into an electronic site belonging to the UC, on
the electronic platform for the management of competitive procedures of the University of Coimbra, Apply UC, with the
prior consent of the notifying party, under the terms of Article 26 paragraph 5 and Article 27, paragraph 3 of the ECIC,
and Article 27, paragraph 4 and Article 29, paragraph 3 of the RRCPSPICUC.
Candidates may, if they wish, within 10 working days appeal against the list of admitted and excluded candidates and the
final ranking list draft, under the terms set forth in article 121 of the Portuguese Code of Administrative Procedure (CPA).
The time limit begins on the day following notification, under the terms of article 87 of the CPA.
IX.2. The administrative records of the tender may be consulted by the candidates, upon previous appointment, requested
by e-mail sent to the Human Resources Management Service's e-mail address: sgrh@uc.pt. X. Selection Committee:
According to Notice nr. 8616/2025/2, published in Diário da República, II Série, nr. 64, 01/04/2025, the Selection
Committee is constituted as follows:
Chairman:
João Ramalho de Sousa Santos, Vice-Rector and Full Professor at the University of Coimbra
Committee members:
Ana Maria Sebastião, Full Professor at the University of Lisboa
Carmen Sandi, Full Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL)
Christian Keysers, Full Professor at the University of Amesterdam
João António Nave Laranjinha, Full Professor at the University of Coimbra
Carlos Bandeira Duarte, Full Professor at the University of Coimbra
In the event of absences or impediments of the Chairman he shall be replaced by Luís José Proença de Figueiredo Neves,
Vice-Rector and Full Professor at the University of Coimbra whom shall be replaced, likewise, by the Committee member
João António Nave Laranjinha, Full Professor at the University of Coimbra
This Public Notice will be published in Portuguese in Diário da República, 2nd Series, on the website Bolsa de Emprego
Público (Governmental Public Employment Portal) and in two daily newspapers with national circulation, as well as in both
Portuguese and English at Apply UC (apply.uc.pt) and on the EURAXESS Portugal Portal, at http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/ .
Pursuant to subparagraph h) of Article 9 of the Portuguese Constitution, the University of Coimbra, as employer, actively
promotes a policy of equal opportunities between men and women in access to employment and professional development
and takes action to prevent each and every kind of discrimination, and encouraging underrepresented minorities in each
area to apply.
Therefore, no one can be privileged, benefited, harmed or deprived of any right or immune from any duty on account of,
in particular, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, family, economic situation, education, origin or
social condition, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic or racial origin,
territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological beliefs and trade union membership.
The University of Coimbra also promotes measures to facilitate worklife balance, recognizing the efforts of workers and
promoting motivation.
This procedure is financed under the terms of article 137 of Law nr. 82/2023, of 29th december, which approved the 2024
State Budget, within the scope of the Alliance program.
This tender procedure corresponds to an application to the FCT-Tenure program with the reference
2023.15623.TENURE.119, in the scientific domain of Medical and Health Sciences, in the scientific area of Basic Medicine,
scientific sub-area of Neurosciences, and aims to recruit a candidate to work in the area of Social Neuroscience, whose goal, in short, is the development at CIBB-Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology of work in Social
Neuroscience that is an interdisciplinary field devoted to understanding the relationship between social experiences and
biological systems. Therefore, if the selected candidate is awarded teaching service, under the terms of Article 7(4)(b) of
Regulation on the Recruitment, Hiring and Service Providing of Scientific Staff of the University of Coimbra, Regulation
Nr. 810/2021, the assignment will have a maximum limit of 4 hours per week, so that he/she can dedicate himself/herself
to the development of the work plan presented in the approved application, of the FCT-Tenure program, and provided
that he/she meets the conditions of eligibility under that program, for the time corresponding to the respective funding.
University of Coimbra, 31/07/2025
The Chairman,
Scientific area of Health Sciences, subarea of Neurobiology of Social Behavior
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