Notice no. 1805/2025/2

PUBLIC NOTICE REGARDING THE OPENING OF A TENDER FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SELECTION OF ONE PHD RESEARCHER UNDER THE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT “MULTIPOD: MULTILINGUAL AND MULTICULTURAL SPACES FOR POLITICAL DELIBERATION”, FINANCED BY THE HORIZON EUROPE PROGRAMME OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION UNDER GRANT AGREEMENT Nº 101178821.

Professor Luís Baptista, Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of the NOVA University of Lisbon (NOVA FCSH) makes it publicly known the opening of a tender, for the period of 15 business days, for the international selection of one PhD researcher position, through an indefinite duration contract at NOVA University of Lisbon – School of Social Sciences and Humanities, to carry out research activities in the scope of the project “MultiPoD: Multilingual and Multicultural Spaces for Political Deliberation”, financed by the Horizon Europe Programme of the European Commission under Grant Agreement Nº 101178821.

The opening of the tender and the composition of the selection panel have been authorised by decree from the Executive Administrator of NOVA FCSH, in the scope of the delegation of powers under the terms set forth in paragraph i) of no. 2 of Dispatch no. 11072/2021, of 3 November, published in the Diário da República, 2ª série, no. 219, of 11 November, as amended by Dispatch no. 2331/2023, published in the Diário da República, 2ª série,no. 34, of 16 February, of 30 December 2024 , following a favourable statement from NOVA FCSH’s Scientific Council.

1. The contract procedure of the PhD researcher is to be carried out according to the Decree-Law No. 57/2016, of 29 August, amended by Law No. 57/2017, of 19 July, which approves a contracting regime for PhD holders designed to stimulate scientific and technical employment in all areas of knowledge (RJEC). It will be entered into in accordance with the Portuguese Labour Law, approved by Law No. 7/2009, of 12 February, in its current wording and Implementing Decree No. 11-A/2017, of 29 December.

2. The PhD researcher will be contracted for an indefinite duration as lawfully established in RJEC, article 6, no. 1, paragraph b), ex vi, of no. 2 of article 18 of RJEC, only for the duration necessary to perform the tasks as defined for the project, namely as follows.

3. Description of the position:

The vacancy that is now open for tender aims to select one PhD researcher to develop a research project in philosophy: argumentation theory / reasoning. 

To be considered for the position, the candidate must:

1. Hold a PhD degree in Philosophy / Communication / Linguistics / Psychology or similar areas. 
2. Have a proven track record of research in argumentation theory (publications, presentations).

Preference will be given to candidates who:

1. are fluent in English and Portuguese.
2. have an experience of working within funded research projects, especially European projects. 
3. have training and expertise in empirical, discourse-analytic study of natural argumentation, combining qualitative and quantitative methods. 
4. demonstrate capacity for working within an interdisciplinary and multi-lingual research team environment. 

The work plan of the successful candidate will be incorporated within the activities of the MultiPod project consortium, carried out at the NOVA Institute of Philosophy of the NOVA University Lisbon, under the leadership of Prof. Marcin Lewinski, the PI of the Portuguese team, and in collaboration with other local team members and international consortium partners.

Together with the Lisbon team, the selected researcher will organise 4-5 focus group sessions with the culturally mixed local populations in Lisbon. Focus groups, each of around ten participants selected via a stratified sample representing various Lisbon communities, aim to identify what participants see as hurdles to political participation. Research will focus on the questions of: linguistic competence and linguistic bias; different communicative and argumentative styles; cultural background assumptions; broader socio-political issues (scepticism towards decision-makers generally, lack of a culture of political participation); gender biases depriving women of equal participation; fallacies and implicit premises in argumentation. 

The researcher will collect the linguistic data during the focus group sessions and apply empirical methods of argumentation studies to systematically analyse the obstacles to political deliberation. The results of the analyses are expected to lead to possible ameliorative proposals informed by recent theorising within argumentation theory / philosophy of language / social epistemology. 

Together with the project’s PI and other team members, the research will produce the planned deliverables of the project (documents, reports, scientific publications). 

The researcher will be directly involved in a day-to-day management of the project, in its scientific, administrative, and budgetary aspects. 

The researcher might be invited to (co-)supervise PhD researchers involved in the project. 

4. Under the terms of the Implementing Decree No. 11-A/2017, of 29 December, art. 2, the contract is attached to the base remuneration of 3.501,28€, corresponding to level 195 of the 1st grade of the salary scale.

5. The workplace is located at the NOVA Institute of Philosophy (IFILNOVA), at Colégio Almada Negreiros – Campus de Campolide, 1099-032 Lisbon, Portugal, and/or other locations necessary to carry out the job duties.

6. Applicants to this call may be national, foreign or stateless persons holding a PhD degree in Philosophy / Communication / Linguistics / Psychology or similar areas with a scientific and professional curriculum showing a suitable profile for the position.

7. The selection of the PhD to be hired is carried out through the evaluation of the scientific and curricular background of the candidates in the competition.

The evaluation of the scientific and curricular background, taking into account the appropriate profile for the activity to be developed, focuses on the relevance, quality and up-to-dateness of: a) The scientific, cultural and artistic production of the last five years, considered most relevant by the candidate and properly identified in the CV, associated with the tender; b) The activities carried out in the last five years, associated with the scope specified for the tender; c) The development plan (objectives, lines of action, concrete actions, funding and timeline) to achieve the objectives associated with the performance of the job.

8. The period of five years mentioned in the previous paragraph may be increased by the selection panel, at the request of the candidate, when based on the suspension of the candidate’s scientific activity for socially protected reasons, particularly reasons, namely parental leave, long-term serious illness, and other situations of unavailability for work that are legally protected.

9. The evaluation and ranking criteria are expressed on a scale from 0 to 100 points. Selection will be based on the Curriculum Assessment (CA) which is worth 90 points and the Interview (I), which is equivalent to 10 points of the assessment. 

10. The criteria for the evaluation of the candidates in the CA are as follows:

a. Scientific production considered most relevant by the candidate for the position being applied for, namely books, book chapters, scientific articles in journals with peer review, the intrinsic quality of the respective content being assessed (0-35 points);

b. Research activities considered to have the greatest impact by the candidate for the position being applied for, such as participation in research projects evaluated by national or international organisations; communications presented at scientific meetings; scientific refereeing activities; participation in networks and partnerships; and a letter of motivation (two pages maximum) which makes explicit the articulation of the candidate's research activities with the project and with the scientific research tasks defined in the notice (0–40 points);

c. Dissemination activities considered to have the greatest impact by the candidate for the position being applied for, including the organisation of scientific meetings; the preparation of opinions, studies, reports for public and private sector organisations and civil society agents; the dissemination of knowledge to wide audiences; the presentation of research results in the media (0–15 points).

Candidates who obtain a minimum of 75 points will proceed to the Interview.

11. The evaluation criteria for candidates in I are as follows:

a. Motivation for the development of the proposed project (0 — 5 points);

b. Adaptation and teamwork experience (0 — 5 points).

12. The composition of the selection panel is as follows: 

Chairperson: 

Dr. Marcin Lewinski, Associate Professor with Habilitation, IFILNOVA/NOVA FCSH

Jury Members:

Dr. Raquel Amaro, Assistant Professor, CLUNL/NOVA FCSH

Dr. Gabriele de Angelis, Appointed Research Fellow, IFILNOVA/NOVA FCSH 

Substitute Members:

Dr. Giulia Terzian, Appointed Research Fellow, IFILNOVA/NOVA FCSH 

Dr. Pedro Abreu, Appointed Research Fellow, IFILNOVA/NOVA FCSH

13. The application process must be fulfilled, under penalty of exclusion, by submitting all the following documents: 

1. Application Form (available at modelo) clearly stating the procedure at hand;
2. Copy of the PhD certificate and/or, having the doctoral degree been obtained abroad, a declaration of honour (available at https://fcsh.unl.pt/faculdade/concursos_para_investigadores/);
3. Curriculum vitae of the candidate, organized according to the guidelines in paragraph 7 above
4. A copy of the two publications considered most relevant by the candidate, associated with the position;

5. Motivation letter, including work plan (max. 2 pages).

   
   

14. The application, complete with the documents abovementioned, should be emailed to drhrecrutamento@fcsh.unl.pt within strictly 15 business days counting from the day following the publication of the present Public Notice in the Portuguese Government Diary - Diário da República. The subject of the email must indicate the reference of this Notice and the required documents should be preferably in PDF format. 

If necessary, the selection board may require from the candidate additional documents in support of statements offered.

False declarations will be disciplined in accordance with Law.

Candidates who formalise their application incorrectly or who fail to meet the requirements stated for this tender will be excluded. 

15. The candidate to be hired must have obtained a minimum score of 80 points.

16. In case the PhD degree of the successful candidate has been conferred by a foreign higher education institution, the degree recognition must comply with the Decree-Law No. 66/2018, of 16 August. The conditions of which must be fully met by the date assigned to the celebration of the contract.

In the event that the PhD degree is not recognised after the above-mentioned formalities have been met, the candidate ranked second will be invited for the position under consideration.

17. Non-discrimination and equal access policy: NOVA University Lisbon actively promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access, so that no candidate can be privileged, benefited, disadvantaged or deprived of any right or exemption from any duty owing, in particular, to ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, economic situation, education, social origin or condition, genetic heritage, reduced working capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin or race, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological beliefs and trade union membership. 

December 30, 2024 — Executive Administrator of NOVA FCSH, Joana Pires