Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço

FCT PhD Fellowships 2017

Ref: IA2017-03-BD

The Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) will open a call for PhD fellowships, from 1st to 31st of March 2016. The positions are for up to 4 years (tuition fees are covered). The selection is done by FCT.

The Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA) welcomes pre-applications. Selected candidates will be given the supporting document form IA (a declaration form the host institution is mandatory for the FCT application).

IA is the most prominent research unit in the field of Astrophysics in Portugal, assembling more than two-thirds of all active researchers working in Space Sciences in Portugal. IA is responsible for an even greater fraction of the national productivity in international ISI journals in this area. This is the scientific area with the highest relative impact factor (1.65 times above the international average) and the field with the highest average number of citations per article for Portugal.

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.

IA activities are structured around three Research Groups:

and five Thematic Lines:

It is considered strategically important for IA to be optimally placed to contribute to the development and exploitation of large projects within the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO), besides other international initiatives.

The pre-application has to include the identification of at least one supervisor or co-supervisor among IA researchers. The pre-application is welcome to contact the leaders of the thematic lines (or directly any other researcher) to identify a (co-)supervisor and a PhD project:

     - Towards the detection and characterization of other Earths - Nuno Santos
     - Towards a comprehensive study of stars - Mário João Monteiro
     - The assembly history of galaxies resolved in space and time - José Afonso
     - Unveiling the dynamics of the Universe - Francisco Lobo
     - Space and Ground Systems and Technologies - Manuel Abreu

Pre-applications should include:

cover letter with a brief description of the candidate's motivation and an indication of the geographical location where the candidate would like to carry out the research work (either Porto, Lisbon, or any of the two), as well as the name(s) of the supervisor(s) (max. 2 pages);
curriculum vitae (up to 4 pages) and complete list of publications (if applicable);
a complete list of curricular units (for University level courses - undergraduate and graduate) completed ans respective grades;
acceptance letter form the supervisor in IA including a title for the PhD project (max. 1 page);
name and contact of up to two referees available to provide information about the candidate (to be contacted if necessary).

Each proposal will be reviewed by the selection committee. Following a positive outcome of the pre-selection the candidate may proceed with the submission of her/his application to FCT, with the support of IA. The deadline for submission of applications at the FCT web site is the 31st of March 2017, 17:00 WET (18:00 CET).

The selection committee doesn't commit to give an answer in due time for pre-applications submitted after the 15th of March.

All applications must follow the FCT regulations for research grants.

For inquires please contact coordenacao@iastro.pt.

Please use the link at the bottom of this page to submit your pre-application.

Selection Committee
José Afonso
Manuel Abreu
Alexandre Cabral
Margarida S. Cunha
João J. G. Lima
Francisco S. N. Lobo
Mário J. P. F. G. Monteiro
Polychronis Papaderos
Nuno C. Santos

Publication Date
20th of February, 2017

The period for application submission has ended for this opportunity.