PUBLIC NOTICE

(Assistant Professor)

I publicly announce that, by my order issued at the date of signature of this notice, an international tender for oneposition of teaching career statute in the category of Assistant Professor in the area of Pharmaceutical Sciences– sub-area of Biology and Biochemistry, 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 Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Coimbra.

This international tender shall be conducted pursuant to the Estatuto da Carreira Docente Universitária [University Teaching Career Statute] in its latest version, hereinafter referred to as ECDU, and the Regulamento de Recrutamento e Contratação de Pessoal Docente da Universidade de Coimbra [Regulation on the Recruitment and Hiring of Teaching Staff of the University of Coimbra] hereinafter referred to as RRCPDUC, Regulation Nr. 330/2016, of 29 March, as well as further applicable legislation.

I – Reference and Place of Work:

I.1. Public tender reference: IT136-25-14967.

I.2. Place of work: University of Coimbra,Faculty of Pharmacy.

II – Admission Requirements:

II.1. Applicants shall be at least 18 years old, 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.

II.2. To be, on the date of the deadline for submitting applications, holder of a doctorate degree, in the area for which the tender is open, or in a related area that, complemented with the scientific path, show the ability to work centrally the tender is open.

III – Application 

III.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 III.2.4. and III.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 any of the works/papers submitted contains classified information, revealing 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 tender records.

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.

III.2. Mandatory documents:

III.2.1.Curriculum Vitae, duly dated and signed, in both Portuguese and English language.  Personal data, worthy of protection under the General Data Protection Regulation, must appear on a separate page from the rest of the information in the Curriculum Vitae.

The Curriculum Vitae shall include a foreword with the description, if any, of all the candidate's employment relationships with higher education institutions up to the date of the application and the respective periods, identifying the category held, the nature of the employment relationship, the subject area(s) and the higher education institutions where the candidate has worked, explaining precisely the employment relationship held at the date of the application. It must also include a reasoned synopsis demonstrating that the candidate has the appropriate expertise to the subject area and sub-area) for which the tender is open.

The candidate’s Curriculum Vitae shall be structured in order to separately respond to the different items listed below in IV.2. 

III.2.2. Career Development plan up to 10 pages, concerning the research lines in the area of Pharmaceutical Sciences, sub-area of Biology and Biochemistry, presenting the main problems to which the candidate intends to dedicate his future research, contextualizing them in the current state of knowledge in these areas with particular emphasis on the redox regulation of biological functions and their impact on health and disease, describing in a systematic and succinct way the research lines that the candidate proposes to adopt to develop his research within the framework of the mission and strategic lines and programs of the FFUC. 

III.2.3. Copy of qualification certificates. Opponents of the tender who are selected for the position(s) to be filled and hold a doctoral degree obtained abroad must present recognition or registration (as applicable) of their degree at the time of signing the contract, under the terms of Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of August 16, under penalty of exclusion. When recognition is requested from the University of Coimbra, the University of Coimbra bears the cost of recognizing or registering the candidate(s) who will be hired. (s), with the candidate(s) being exempt from paying the fee until the final ranking. More information available at: https://www.uc.pt/academicos/graus/reconhecimentos.

The failure to present the recognition of the degree at the time of contracting, under the terms of Decree-Law nr. 66/2018 of August 16th, is ground for exclusion.

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. 

III.2.4. Document in which the candidate identifies the 5 scientific results or activities that they consider to represent their most significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the disciplinary area and sub-area the tender is open to.

III.2.5. Separate copy of the documents proving the contributions referred to in the previous point (one PDF file per document).

III.2.6. Copy of other works that the candidate considers relevant.

III.2.7. Any other elements that the candidate considers relevant.

III.3. All application documents above indicated in III.2. shall be submitted in either Portuguese or English, exception made to those mentioned in III.2.6. and III.2.7., which may be submitted in a different language. If the original documents mentioned under III.2.3. and III.2.5. 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.

III.4. 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 submission of required documents or papers are submitted outside the established timeframe, the application will not be accepted.

The impossibility to comply with the language requirements defined in points III.2. and III.3. of this Public Notice, must be duly substantiated, in a separate document presented by the candidates, under the terms of point III.1. of the Notice.

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 – Selection methods and criteria

IV.1. Selection Methods: CV Assessment (50%) + Public Hearing (50%) + Approval on Absolute Merit (qualification criterion), with the assessment being given, in the Curricular Assessment and Public Hearing, on a scale of 0 to 100 points.

IV.1.1. If the Selection Committee exceptionally decides, in the first meeting, not to apply the Public Hearing, the CV Assessment shall have a weight of 100% of the score, followed by the Approval on Absolute Merit (qualification criterion).

IV.2. Selection criteria for both CV Assessment and Public Hearing are scientific performance and pedagogical skills of the candidates, as well as other activities deemed relevant with regard to the mission of a global university, in accordance with the assessment of the parameters mentioned below.

IV.2.1. Scientific performance of the candidate in the disciplinary area and sub-area for which the tender is open, with an assessment of up to 80 points being awarded, considering the following assessment parameters:

IV.2.1.1.Scientific production and its impact and national and international recognition – 30 points: the relevance of the results obtained by the candidates will be considered, with great emphasis on the 5 scientific results or scientific activities indicated by the candidates as their most significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the disciplinary area and sub-area for which the tender is open, as well as recognition by the scientific community of the results obtained.

IV.2.1.2.Future scientific prospects – 10 points: the ability of the candidates to show that, in the future, they can have a very relevant scientific production in the University of Coimbra, namely based on the submitted career development plans.

IV.2.1.3.Coordination and participation in scientific projects – 20 points: previous experience of candidates and their potential for beneficially and successfully coordinating and participating in nationally and internationally funded projects in the scientific field for which the tender is open.

IV.2.1.4. Active participation in the community within and outside the university – 20 points: active participation in the community, namely through organizational and management duties in scientific activities, transfer of knowledge to society and participation in assessment tasks and, in general, all activities pursued by the candidates that demonstrate the skills to develop, with great quality, the activities of a global, extremely productive and scientifically recognised university.

IV.2.2. Pedagogical skills of the candidate, with an assessment of up to 20 points, being awarded, considering the following assessment parameters:

IV.2.2.1. Teaching activity – 10 points: if existing, previous teaching activity, as well as evidence of the skills to successfully carry out teaching. This will be based on the available pedagogical assessment tools, namely pedagogical surveys, the results of which candidates are required to include in their CV, and other relevant indicators, such as awards and other prizes.

IV.2.2.2.Pedagogical materials produced and supervision and guidance activities – 5 points: the quality and quantity of the pedagogical material produced by the candidate, the relevance and impact of pedagogical publications and the guidance, tutoring and monitoring activities of students will be assessed.

IV.2.2.3.Pedagogical projects and active participation in the community within and outsider the University – 5 points: the coordination, participation and dynamization of new pedagogical projects will be assessed (example: creation of new subject programs, participation in the creation of new courses or study programs) or reformulation and improvement of existing projects, the implementation of projects with an impact on the process of teaching/learning, as well as the intervention of candidates in the community, namely in organizational and management tasks related to pedagogical activity and dissemination of knowledge, and in general all activities of candidates that have skills to perform with quality the tasks necessary for a pedagogically very effective global university.

IV.2.3. Development, by the candidate, of other activities relevant for the mission of a global university may justifiably enhance the assessment of the parameters mentioned above under IV.2.1. and IV.2.2., whenever the scope of such activities is considered to influence the performance of the candidate in relation to those parameters and the results of these activities are considered to possess the required quality to justify this enhancement.

IV.3. Each member of the jury assigns, in each of the selection methods, Curricular Assessment and Public Hearing, to each candidate admitted and who meets the minimum requirements of absolute merit, a score in accordance with what is defined in IV.2, either for the parameters for evaluating scientific performance and pedagogical capacity.

The partial classification of each of the selection criteria (scientific performance and pedagogical capacity) results from the sum of the classifications awarded in each of the parameters indicated in IV.2.

In both the Curricular Assessment and the Public Hearing, the overall classification corresponds to the sum of the partial classifications awarded in each of the selection criteria.

The final classification that each member of the jury assigns to each candidate is the weighted average of the overall classification given in each of the selection methods (Curriculum Assessment and Public Hearing).

Candidates are then subject to approval on Absolute Merit and subsequent ordination under the terms of point VI. of this Public Notice. If there is no Public Hearing, the final classification will be that given in the Curriculum Assessment, with candidates then subject to approval on Absolute Merit and subsequent ranking in accordance with point VI. of this Public Notice.

IV.4. All candidates complying with the application requirements and who meet the minimum requirements of absolute merit are subject to the Curricular Assessment to be carried out in accordance with the criteria defined in IV.2. However, only the fivecandidates best positioned in the Curricular Assessment will be admitted to the Public Hearing, if any.

IV.5. Candidates who can contribute to the UC having a global level activity are approved on Absolute Merit, under the terms set out in article 19 of the RRCPDUC and taking into account the category and the disciplinary area and sub-area for which the tender is open, taking into account the selection criteria and evaluation parameters indicated in point IV.2., considered qualitatively, and provided that they meet the following minimum requirements: 

1 - Publication of 5 or more scientific articles*;

2 - First author of 3 or more scientific articles*;

3 - Publication of 3 or more scientific articles* in journals ranked in the first quartile (Q1), according to the journal's ranking in the year of publication or, if unavailable, the most recent ranking.

*Scientific articles with DOI, impact factor, and peer review, as per the Journal Citation Reports (JCR, by Clarivate) or Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR).

Hired candidates that do not master Portuguese and English will be required to learn the language up to CEFR level C1, which allows them to teach in Portuguese and in English, in order to maintain their contract after the probationary period.

V – Selection Process

V.1.Preliminary meeting 

In the first meeting, which is always preparatory, the jury decides on the admission of applications and on whether or not to hold a Public Hearing, in the latter case justifying its decision in accordance with paragraph 2 of article 27 of the RRCPDUC.

Even at the first meeting, the jury checks whether all admitted candidates meet the minimum requirements of absolute merit.

If any of the admitted candidates do not meet the minimum requirements of absolute merit, the jury decides to exclude them, refraining from submitting them to the Curricular Assessment. 

If the decision is to hold a Public Hearing the Jury must then apply the CV Assessment selection method to all candidates admitted to the tender and who meet the minimum requirements for absolute merit and will rank them in accordance with the terms set out in the following point.

In the event of non-compliance, or partial compliance, with any of the requirements defined in point III of the Public Notice, the jury decides whether this insufficiency prevents the application from being considered, or whether, having no relevant impact on the evaluation process, the application may nevertheless be admitted.

V.1.1. On the CV Assessment the merit of the candidates will only be assessed based on their experience in the disciplinary area and sub-area for which the tender is open, according to the selection criteria and evaluation parameters described in this Public Notice (IV.2.). The candidates’ background in other areas shall not therefore be taken into consideration by the Selection Committee. The ranking of the candidates shall be based on the methods described below in section VI, up to the number of the approved candidates according to the terms above herein IV.4. All candidates falling outside this number shall be deemed excluded.

V.1.2. Candidates both excluded and admitted to the Public Hearing shall be notified by Public Notice, under the terms mentioned below in section VII.

V.2. Assessment meeting and final ranking of the candidates

V.2.1. In the second meeting, the Selection Committee proceeds to apply the selection criteria, followed by the candidates’ ranking and the drafting of the final deliberation.

If the Public Hearing is to take place, the Selection Committee shall conduct it by assessing the candidates based on the selection criteria and evaluation parameters mentioned above herein IV.2., with regard to their merit only and relevant research background in the disciplinary area and sub-area for which the tender is open. The Public Hearing of each candidate shall have the maximum duration of one hour. However, the Chairman of the Selection Committee may decide to extend it further for a period of 30 minutes. The Public Hearing is conducted by the Chairman of the Selection Committee, without prejudice to other members of the Selection Committee also interacting with the candidate upon decision of the Chairman. This hearing shall be held in Portuguese, unless the candidate or any members of the Selection Committee are not proficient in that language. In this case, it may be conducted in English, upon decision of the Chairman. Failing to attend the Public Hearing shall result in the exclusion of the procedure. Similarly, candidates failing to attend a duly scheduled conference call shall also be deemed excluded.

If the decision is not to hold the Public Hearing, the jury applies the CV Assessment selection method to the candidates, based on the selection criteria and evaluation parameters mentioned above herein IV.2. At this stage, the merit of the candidates will only be assessed based on their experience in the disciplinary area and sub-area for which the tender is open, according to the selection criteria and evaluation parameters described in this public notice. The candidates’ background in other areas shall not therefore be taken into consideration by the Selection Committee. The ranking of the candidates shall be based on the methods described below in section VI.

V.2.2. In view of the final score of the candidates given by each member of the jury, obtained in accordance with point IV.3. of this Public Notice, the jury carries out an overall qualitative assessment of the absolute merit of the candidates admitted to this phase of the selection process.

V.2.3. Candidates are approved on absolute merit if, based on reasons, the majority of the jury members present at the meeting consider that they can contribute to the UC having a global level activity, under the terms set out in article 19 of the RRCPDUC taking this assessment also taking into account the selection criteria and evaluation parameters indicated in point IV.2., considered qualitatively.

V.2.4. The Selection Committee finally ranks the candidates approved on absolute merit, based on the methodology described under VI, proceeding to the drafting of the final deliberation. 

V.2.5. The position will not be filled if the Selection Committee decides that none of the candidates fulfils the requirements established in this Public Notice.

V.2.6. Candidates will be notified of the draft final decision, which contains the list with the proposed ranking of successful candidates, as well as the list of unsuccessful candidates, in accordance with point VII of this notice.

V.3. If any of the candidates exercises their right to be heard, the Selection Committee shall hold a third meeting, in order to analyze the request, and the candidates will be notified of its deliberations, under the terms of section VII.

V.3.1. If the Selection Committee finds such allegations well founded, it shall proceed according to its deliberations, thereby notifying the candidates under the terms of VII.3.

V.3.2. If the Selection Committee finds such allegations unfounded, following the candidates’ notification under the terms of V.II.3. herein, the procedure shall then be submitted to the Rector’s approval.

V.4. All candidates will be notified regarding the approval decision under the terms of section VII. herein. 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.

VI – Ranking and voting methods:

VI.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 selection criteria and evaluation parameters stated in this Public Notice. Throughout the various vote rounds, each member of the Selection Committee must respect their proposed rankings.

VI.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 Chair 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.

VI.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.

VI.4. During the voting of the Selection Committee abstentions are not allowed.

VII — Notification of candidates

VII.1. All acts of the procedure are published on the Apply UC electronic platform during the course of the procedure. The candidates are notified by public notice of the following acts: the list of approved and excluded candidates; in the event of Public Hearing, the time, place and identification of the candidates admitted to this selection method, as well as, among these, the identification of the candidates to whom the President of the Jury has approved the provision of evidence via teleconference; the draft final decision of the tender; decisions regarding possible allegations made by candidates; the final result of the tender, after approval. The Public Hearing, to be held, will take place on April 16th, 2025.

VII.2. If the Public Hearing date stated in the previous point cannot be met, the new date will be published in the notice confirming that it will take place and indicating the list of candidates admitted and excluded to the Public Hearing.

VII.3. Notifications by notice provided for in point VII.1. are made by publication on the Apply UC electronic platform, in accordance with paragraph d) of number 1 of article 112 of the CPA and article 63 of the RRCPDUC, producing their effects in accordance with article 113 of the CPA.

VII.4. Candidates may, if they so wish, within 10 working days, appeal the decision of the Committee, in due respect for their right to a fair hearing, under the terms of article 121 of the Code of Administrative Procedure (CPA). The time limit begins on the day following notification of the candidates, under the terms of article 87 of the CPA.

VII.5. The entire tender records may be consulted by candidates, upon previous appointment, requested by e-mail sent to the Human Resources Management Service's e-mail address: sgrh@uc.pt. 

VIII – Selection Committee:

Chairman: 

Fernando Jorge dos Ramos, Associate Professor with title of "Agregação" and Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra

Committee members:

- Maria da Graça Tavares Rebelo de Soveral Rodrigues, Full Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon;

- Maria Alexandra de Oliveira Silva Braga Pedreira de Brito, Full Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon; 

- Félix Dias Carvalho, Full Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto;

- Victor Armando Pereira de Freitas, Full Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto;

- Carlos Manuel Marques Palmeira, Full Professor, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra;

- João António Nave Laranjinha, Full Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra.

In the event of absences or impediments of the Chairman he/she shall be replaced by  Luís José Proença de Figueiredo Neves, Vice Rector and Full Professor of University of Coimbra  whom shall be replaced, likewise, by the Committee member  João António Nave Laranjinha, Full Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra . 

This Public Notice will be published in Portuguese in Diário da República, 2nd Series, and on the website Bolsa de Emprego Público (Governmental Public Employment Portal), as well as in both Portuguese and English at Apply UC (apply.uc.pt) and on the EURAXESS Portugal Portal, at https://www.euraxess.pt/. 

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 competitive procedure corresponds to the application to the FCT-Tenure program approved with the reference 2023.15623.TENURE.149, in the scientific domain Medical and Health Sciences, in the scientific area Health Sciences, scientific sub-area Health Sciences - Other, and aims to recruit a candidate to develop work in the area Interdisciplinary: cell biology, molecular biology, structural biology, developmental biology, biochemistry or bioinformatics or human molecular genetics, at Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB).

Therefore, in order for the selected candidate to be able to dedicate him/herself to developing the work plan presented in the approved application, of the FCT-Tenure program, he/she must be assigned the research profile, provided for in article 41 of Regulation no. 262/2017 - Service Provision Regulation for Teachers at the University of Coimbra, and, consequently, teaching service is assigned for a maximum of 4 hours per week, provided that the candidate meets the eligibility conditions under the aforementioned program, and for the time corresponding to the respective funding.

To the current tender shall apply PhD researchers who perform or have performed functions in the University of Coimbra in the scientific area(s) of this tender and are covered by the transitional regime provided in Decree-Law nr. 57/2016, of 29th august, in its latest version, as well as further applicable legislation. 

Paço das Escolas,  

The Rector, Amilcar Falcão