2 Research Initiation Grants (M/F)

Call open for applications for two Research Initiation Grant within the framework of the project “Introduction to Research on Machine Learning”, financed by the Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, under the following conditions:

Scientific Area: Machine Learning and Software Engineering

Admission requirements: 

• Be a student enrolled in a higher technical professional course, a bachelor's degree, an integrated master's degree, or a master's in Artificial Intelligence/Data Science, or similar areas,a requirement to be duly proven when signing the contract.

Note: The Research Initiation Grant cannot be awarded to those who have already benefited from a research scholarship awarded under the terms of the EBI, according to no. 3 of article 9º of the Research Grants from University of Porto - Regulation No. 184/2021, of 03 March

Activity Outline:

Grant holders will work on one of the following topics, selected by agreement between each of them and the supervisor:

• Development of an extension for a database management system with machine learning functionalities.
• Development of python packages for machine learning methods developed by researchesr of the Center for Responsible AI.

The work plan will be:

• Requirements analysis
• Software development
• Documentation

Legislation and regulations: Law Nº. 40/2004, of 18th August, in its current wording (Statutes of Scientific Research Fellow) and Regulation of Research Grants of the University of Porto.

Workplace: The work will be developed at the Department of Informatics Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and Fraunhofer AICOS Portugal, under the scientific supervision of Carlos Manuel Milheiro de Oliveira Pinto Soares e Zafeiris Kokkinogenis 

Grant duration: Initial duration of 3 months, with the predicted starting date in November 2024, on an exclusive basis eventually renewable but never exceeding the project duration.

If the contracting procedures do not allow the scholarship to have the minimum duration of 1 consecutive month, in accordance with paragraph 2 of article 9 of the Regulation of Research Grants of University of Porto, the grant will not be awarded.

Stipend: The grant stipend amounts to 601,12 € according to the table of values of the Regulation of Research Grants of the University of Porto.  The payment will be made by bank transfer.

Selection procedure: 

Curricular evaluation will focus on the merit of the candidate and the following criteria will be valued:

1. Area and year of registration: Informatics Engineering/Computer Science  (3rd year of B.Sc. degree or 1st/2nd year of M.Sc. degree) - 5 points; Informatics Engineering/Computer Science  (2nd year of B.Sc. degree) or Artificial Intelligence/Data Science (3rd year of B.Sc. degree) - 4 points; Informatics Engineering/Computer Science (1st year of B.Sc. degree) - 2 points; related areas/other courses – 1 point; other areas – 0 points.
2. Classification of academic training at the time of the application: average equal to or greater than 14/20 values – 5 points; average less than 14/20 and equal or greater than 12/20 values – 4 points; average less than 12/20 and equal or greater than 12/20 - 2 points; others – 0 points;
3. Laboratory experience related to the research topics and the admission requirements – up to 5 points; laboratory experience in other areas – 2 points; no laboratory experience – 0 points;

The five best-ranked candidates, according to the above criteria, will be called for an interview. This will have an additional score of up to 5 points.

If the minimum score of 10 points is not reached by any of the candidates, the scholarship may not be awarded.

Selection Jury: 

President: Dr. André Monteiro de Oliveira Restivo

Effective member: Dr. Vítor Manuel Araújo Cerqueira 

Effective member: Dr. Moisés Rocha dos Santos

Supplementary member:  Dr. Carlos Manuel Milheiro de Oliveira Pinto Soares

Supplementary member:  Dr. Zafeiris Kokkinogenis

Advertisement of final decision: The results of the evaluation will be released to the candidates

by email to the email address indicated in the application process.

Deadline for applications and form of presentation of the applications: 

The call is open from 21-10-2024 to 04-11-2024 (until 23h59m, GMT time).

Applications must be formalized by email to csoares@fe.up.pt and to recursoshumanos@fe.up.pt, clearly stating the reference FEUP-IRML-07-08 and including the following pdf documents: Motivation letter, Copy of certificates evidencing academic degree detailed Curriculum Vitae, Declaration on honor that the candidate fulfills the requirement contained in the no. 3 of Article 9 of the Regulation for Research Grants of the University of Porto (model below) and other documents considered relevant by the applicant. 

Declaration on honour

I, (identification of the scholarship holder), holder of the Citizen Card / Visa / Residence Permit no. valid until _____, declare under honour, to be in the conditions of no. 3 of article 9º 

 of the Research Grants from the University of Porto - Regulation No. 184/2021, of 03 March.

Oporto, __/__/__

Signature

_________________

(scholarship holder)