Ref: IA2016-01-BI

One research fellowship (Bolsa de Investigação - Mestre) in the field of galaxy formation and evolution is open at the Centro de Investigação em Astronomia/Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (CAUP), for the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA), in the context of research activities conducted by the IA Thematic Line "The assembly history of galaxies resolved in space and time".

The position is offered in the context of Research Unit Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço - FIS/04434 with financial support provided by FCT through national funds and by FEDER through COMPETE and PT2020 agreement.

The Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA) assembles more than two-thirds of all active researchers working in Space Sciences in Portugal, and is responsible for an even greater fraction of the national productivity in international ISI journals in this area. The research and development effort at the IA includes most of the topics at the forefront of research in Astrophysics and Space Sciences, complemented by work on instrumentation and systems with potential use in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

1. Scientific Area: Extragalactic Astronomy
2. Requirements for admission: The applicant must have completed a master degree. Only applications from candidates having an adequate background in Astronomy, Physics, Mathematics, or other relevant domains, will be considered. The applicant must have previous experience in evolutionary and population spectral synthesis and good knowledge on photoionization models.
3. Factors preferred:
   • good programming skills in Fortran 77/90+ and Python;
   • experience with spectral synthesis modeling of SDSS data.
4. Work plan: The successful candidate is expected to pursue research on spectral synthesis modeling of galaxy spectra.
5. Legislation framework: A fellowship contract will be celebrated according to the regulations defined by FCT Regulamento de Bolsas e Investigação da Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia' existing (http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT2015.pdf) and 'Lei nº 40/2004, de 18 de Agosto (Estatuto do Bolseiro de Investigação Científica)'.
6. Place of work: The work will be developed at the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Porto, under the scientific guidance of Dr. Jean Michel Gomes, the Thematic Line Leader (Dr. José Afonso) and Group Leader (PD Dr. Polychronis Papaderos).
7. Fellowship duration: The position is initially opened for 3 months and is expected to begin on the 1st of April 2016. The fellowship contract may be renewed up to 3 months, in accordance with the provisions of Regulations of Research Fellowships from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.
8. Monthly allowance: The fellowship amounts to € 980,00, according to table values of the fellowships awarded directly by the FCT (http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores). The fellowship will be paid monthly by bank transfer.
9. Selection method:
   Candidates will be assessed, on a first stage, by the quality of their CV, including degrees, marks and contents of curricular units completed (50%), relevance and success of previous research experience (40%) and cover letter (10%).

   A short-list of candidates will be defined based on the submitted documents and the criteria mentioned above. The short-listed applicants will be required to attend an interview for the second stage of the evaluation (by teleconference or videoconference if needed). The final grade will be obtained by averaging the result of the first stage evaluation with the interview (equal weights).

   The contracts will then be offered according to the ordering proposed by the selection committee.
10. Selection Committee: José Manuel Afonso (Chair), Polychronis Papaderos, Jean Michel Gomes, João J. G. Lima.
11. Deadlines: This call for applications is open from 25th February to 9th March, 2016.
12. Application:Applications may be submitted through this webpage and should include the following documents:
    • Cover letter with a brief description of the candidate's experience and motivation;
    • Curriculum Vitae (up to 4 pages) including, if available, a complete list of scientific publications (up to 1 additional page);
    • A complete list of academic courses (University level) previously followed, and respective grades, and scan of the diploma;
    • Name and contact details (position, email, address) of two referees, available to provide information about the candidate (to be contacted if considered necessary to clarify the information provided in the remaining documents).

Applications from persons with physical disabilities will receive equal consideration to the extent their disabilities do not prevent them from performing the defined work tasks.

The position will be granted only if suitable candidates are found.

Publication Date
10 February 2016