Call for Scientific Initiation Studentship

Ref: IA2016-17-BIC

The Centro de Investigação em Astronomia/Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (CAUP) opens a call for 1 Scientific Initiation Studentship (Bolsa de Iniciação Científica, BIC) at the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA).

The position is offered in the context of the project "Overcoming today's challenges in the quest for other Earths" with financial support provided by the FCT through national funds (refª PTDC/FIS-AST/1526/2014) and co-funded by FEDER through COMPETE2020 (refª POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016886) and POR Lisboa (refª Lisboa-01-0145-FEDER-016886).

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.

This call is open under the following conditions:

1.- Scientific area: Astronomy and Astrophysics

2.- Requirements for admission: The applicants must be students training in a scientific domain, registered for the first time in one of the following degrees in a Portuguese University:

• first cycle (first degree),
• integrated master.

3.- Work plan: Successful applicants will be developing a project at the IA, supervised by Daniel Folha and Nuno Santos, to define the structure and prepare the content of a web page for high-school students where they can learn how to derive the properties of an exoplanet from real observational data. BIC holders shall have access to IA facilities, including a work space. The student will be integrated in the Research Thematic Line ''Towards the detection of other Earths'' and in the Science Communication Group of IA.

4.- Legislation framework: The fellowship contract will comply with the ''Lei nº 40/2004 de 18 de Agosto (Estatuto do Bolseiro de Investigação) and ''Regulamento de Bolsas e Investigação da Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia'' in force (http://fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT.pdf).

5.- Place of work: The work be developed at the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço - Porto node, under the scientific guidance of Daniel Folha e Nuno Santos.

6.- Fellowship duration: The scholarship is opened for three months and will begin at the latest on 1st of March 2017, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation of Research Fellowships from the FCT. The BICs cannot be accumulated with any other grant.

7.- Monthly allowance: The fellowship amounts to €385,00/month, according to table values of the fellowships awarded directly by FCT (http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores). The fellowship will be paid monthly by bank transfer.

8.- Selection method: Candidates will be assessed by the quality of their motivation letter (10%), CV (40%) and their academic record (50%), taking particular attention to their adequacy for the proposed workplan. If judged necessary to clarify the items above, we will interview a short list of candidates.

9.- Selection committee:

• Nuno Santos (chair)
• Daniel Folha
• João Lima

10.- Publication/notification of results: The selected candidates will be notified by e-mail.

11.- Deadlines: This call for applications is open from December 20th 2016 to January 15th 2017.

12.- Application: The applications may be submitted through this webpage and should include the following information/documents:

• Short letter of motivation;
• Copy of the student's updated academic record;
• Brief curriculum vitae (1 page) with relevant additional information.

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

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

For inquires please contact Dr. Nuno Santos or Dr. Daniel Folha.

Publication Date
2 December 2016

The period for application submission has ended for this opportunity.