Please send your application directly to the email address provided at the bottom of this job posting.
Job Information
Organisation/Company
Instituto Superior de Agronomia
Department
Núcleo de Recursos Humanos
Research Field
Agricultural sciences » Forest sciences
Biological sciences » Other
Environmental science » Earth science
Researcher Profile
First Stage Researcher (R1)
Positions
Master Positions
Application Deadline
18 Feb 2026 – 23:59 (Europe/Lisbon)
Country
Portugal
Type of Contract
Other
Type of Contract Extra Information
Notice for the Call for Applications for a Doctoral Research Fellowship (1)
Job Status
Full-time
Hours Per Week
35
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?
Not funded by a EU programme
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?
No
Offer Description
Notice for the Call for Applications for a Doctoral Research Fellowship (1)
The tender is open for a Research Grant for R&D activities to be carried out by students enrolled in a doctoral program, within the scope of the CEF programmatic project (UID/00239/2025), taking place at the CEF, of the Higher Institute of Agronomy, funded by the CEF programmatic project, in accordance with the following conditions.
1. TYPE AND DURATION OF THE FELLOWSHIP AND EXPECTED START DATE
The tender is for the awarding of a PhD Research Grant, with a planned duration of 12 months, possibly renewable up to a maximum of 48 months, with a planned start date in March 2026.
2. WORK PLAN AND WORK LOCATION
The work plan aims to evaluate how Mediterranean tree species and their provenances respond to drought, analysing water use, hydraulic characteristics, growth, phenology, and carbon reserves. The study will focus on five species (Quercus suber, Q. ilex, Ceratonia siliqua, Pinus pinaster and P. pinea) along the climatic gradient of the REINFORCE network, with special emphasis on Q. suber and on modelling cork cambium activity. The work plan involves ecophysiological measurements, functional characterization, growth assessment, and phenological monitoring using a drone and a multispectral camera. The collected data will be integrated into statistical and phenological models to identify genotypes more resilient to drought and to support adaptive management of Mediterranean forests. The work plan includes the preparation and publication of scientific articles.
The work will be carried out at the CEF of the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, under the scientific supervision of Researcher António Correia and Professor Maria Conceição.
3. APPLICATION SUBMISSION
Applications must be submitted by sending a motivation letter, with the reference “BD3-CEF2025-TREE-ADAPT-Refª-BL-06-2026”, accompanied by the following documents:
- Citizen card or passport information
- Detailed Curriculum Vitae, including previous field and/or laboratory experience in the areas relevant to the call
- Copy of academic degree certificates, mandatorily specifying the final classification
- Copy of driving license
- Motivation letter in English
If the selected candidate has a qualification awarded by a foreign higher education institution, this must be recognized by the Portuguese higher education institution by the Directorate-General for Higher Education (DGES, only in case of automatic recognition), under the terms of Decree-Law no. 341/2007, of 12 October, regulated by Notice no. 227/2017, of July 25 and updated by Decree-Law No. 66/2018, published in the Diário da República, 1st series, No. 157, of August 16, 2018. For getting more information about this, we suggest consulting the DGES portal (http://www.dges.gov.pt). It may be waived to present it during the application phase for the support in question, with this condition being verified only during the grant contracting phase.
Applications must be sent to António Correia via email: ahcorreia@isa.ulisboa.pt
The application period will run from February 4th to 18th, 2026.
4. SCHOLARSHIP RENEWAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Scholarships may be renewed for additional periods up to their maximum duration, provided that, at the renewal date, the conditions for their grant are verified, always depending on the request submitted, within 60 working days prior to the start date of the renewal, accompanied by the following documents: a) Detailed report of the work carried out, including the URL addresses of communications, publications and scientific creations resulting from the activity carried out, if any; b) Statement of the supervisor on the documents referred to in the preceding paragraph; c) Work plan for the renewal period. d) Document proving the renewal of enrollment in the cycle of studies required for granting the scholarship, in scholarships associated with cycles of studies or courses that do not confer an academic degree, except when this has already been concluded.
5. ELIGIBILITY
5.1 Required academic degree
Master’s degree in Biological Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences, Forest Engineering, Environmental Engineering, or related areas, with a minimum final classification of 14/20.
Type of fellowship: Doctoral research fellowship, intended to fund research activities leading to the PhD degree in Sustainable Land Use.
5.2 Skills/qualifications/specific requirements
Preferred requirements:
- Experience in the subject areas of the work plan
- High level of oral and written fluency in English
- Driving licence
6. FUNDING AND FELLOWSHIP COMPONENTS
The fellowship will be funded by the programmatic project of the Centre for Forestry Studies (UID/00239/2025), under the project BD3‑CEF2025‑TREE‑ADAPT.
The amount of the monthly allowance is 1.309,64 € plus the reimbursement of voluntary social insurance (applicable to scholarships lasting six months or more), according to the table of values of monthly allowances, set out in Annex I of Regulation No. 950/2019 (https://www.fct.pt/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Tabela_valores_SMM_2025.p…).
The payment will be made via bank transfer.
7. EVALUATION CRITERIA
Selection methods: Evaluation is based on the merit of the candidate.
Applications meeting all the following absolute merit criteria will be admitted:
- Proven experience in forest ecology and/or ecophysiology
- Knowledge of R and geographic information systems (e.g., QGIS)
Admissible applications will be scored from 0 to 5 in the following weighted criteria:
- Criterion A – Academic qualifications (30%)
- Criterion B – Research experience (e.g., publications, research projects) and/or relevant professional experience (30%)
- Criterion C – Adequacy of the candidate’s profile to the work plan, including knowledge in ecology, ecophysiology, statistics/modelling in R, and GIS (40%)
Formula:
C1 = (0.2 × A + 0.2 × B + 0.2 × C + 0.4 × D)
If deemed necessary, the evaluation panel may invite the top 3 candidates to a second phase consisting of an interview scored from 1 to 5 (C2). In that case, the final score is:
Final classification = (0.7 × C1) + (0.3 × C2)
If only one phase is used, Final classification = C1.
Candidates with a final classification below 3 are not eligible.
8. EVALUATION PANEL
Chair: Maria da Conceição Caldeira (Associate Professor, ISA)
Member: António Correia (Junior Researcher)
Member: Miguel Bugalho (Associate Professor, ISA)
Alternate Members: Juan Guerra (Assistant Researcher) and João Neves Silva (Assistant Professor)
9. DISCLOSURE OF RESULTS
Form of advertising/notification of results: The final results of the evaluation will be publicized, through a list ordered, alphabetically, by final grade, posted in a visible and public place of the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, with the candidate being approved notified via email.
10. TERMS AND PROCEDURES FOR PRIOR HEARING, CLAIM AND APPEAL
After communicating the provisional list of the evaluation results, the candidates with a project of decision unfavorable to the granting of the scholarship, have a period of 10 working days to, if they wish, do their statements in the preliminary hearing of interested parties, pursuant to articles 121 and following of the Code of Administrative Procedure. The final decision will be rendered after the analysis of the statements presented during a prior hearing of interested parties.
In the event that a scholarship holder terminates his scholarship in advance, the evaluation of the contest in question may be used to contract a new scholarship with the candidate who was in the position immediately after. The recruitment reserve is valid for a period of 18 months from the date of approval of the final ranking list, pursuant to article 25 of Ordinance 233/2022, of 9 September.
11. SCHOLARSHIP AGREEMENT MODEL AND FINAL REPORTS
11.1 – The scholarship contract must include:
a) The identification of the scholarship holder and the scientific advisor or coordinator;
b) The identification of the host and financial entities;
c) The applicable legislation, Regulation No. 950/2019;
d) The plan of activities to be developed by the scholarship holder;
e) Indication of the duration and start date of the grant.
11. 2 – The scholarship contract will be made in writing and a copy will be sent to the Foundation for Science and Technology, IP for inclusion in the national register of scholarship holders.
11. 3 – The Scholarship Holder Status is automatically granted with the signing of the contract, always referring to the start date of the scholarship.
11.4 – The scholarship holder must submit to ISA, within 60 working days after the end of the scholarship, in electronic format, a final report of their activities containing the activities developed and results obtained, including communications, publications and scientific creations resulting from the developed activity, and respective URL addresses, accompanied by the opinion of the supervisors.
12. NON‑DISCRIMINATION AND EQUAL ACCESS POLICY
No candidate may be privileged, benefited, harmed or deprived of any right or exempt from any duty due, in particular, to ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family situation, economic situation, education, origin or social condition, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin or race, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions and union membership.
13. APPLICABLE LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS
Statute of the Scientific Research Fellow, approved by Law no. 40/2004, published in Diário da República no. 194/2004, Series I-A, 2004‐08‐18, in the wording given by Decree-Law no. 123/2019, of August 28 and FCT Scholarship Regulation – Regulation No. 950/2019, of December 16, 2019 (https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/regulamentos.phtml.pt).
Authorized on January 23, 2026 by President of the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Professor António Guerreiro de Brito.
Where to apply
ahcorreia@isa.ulisboa.pt
Requirements
Research Field
Agricultural sciences » Forest sciences
Education Level
Master Degree or equivalent
Additional Information
Work Location(s)
Number of offers available
1
Company/Institute
Instituto Superior de agronomia
Country and city
Portugal, Lisboa
Website
https://www.isa.ulisboa.pt/daf/nrh/concursos/bolseiros/bolsa-de-investigacao-159