Research Grant: 1 position (GRANT-FFCUL-UNCERTAINTIES-2011)
CIRCLE-2 Joint Initiative on “Dealing with and communicating uncertainties in support of climate change policy development”, funded by the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (FCG)
The Fundação da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa (FFCUL) announces a Research Grant position for the Project “Dealing with and communicating uncertainties in support of climate change policy development”, funded by the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (FCG), with the following conditions:
1. Scientific Area: Graduated ("Licenciado" pre-Bologna) or MSc (post-Bologna) in any scientific area; Higher degrees will not be turned down, but remuneration will not be adjusted; Preference will be given to a natural sciences background but does not exclude social sciences and humanities.
2. Admission Requirements:
· Previous knowledge and working experience with climate change data (at theory or practical level) is mandatory and will be highly valorised*;
· Excellent English communication skills (written and spoken) is mandatory; Knowledge of other languages may be valorised*;
· Previous experience in event organisation (meeting/conference level) and group moderation skills is mandatory and will be highly valorised*;
· Dynamic and proactive personality;
· Intermediate-level ITC skills required.
*Mandatory requirements (exclusion criteria)
3. Work Plan: Dealing with uncertainties in climate knowledge has been acknowledged as a key challenge for adaptation decision-making at all levels. Providing guidance to users that need to incorporate those uncertainties into their policy and/or decision-making process (e.g. planning cycles) is a challenging issue that requires a specific framing of the different available approaches. CIRCLE-2 (www.circle-era.eu) identified this issue in its research agenda and in accordance with its objectives has been developing several activities aimed at advancing and sharing scientific knowledge on this topic. One of the proposed outcomes of these activities is a Joint Initiative on “Climate Uncertainty Guidance”.
This Joint Initiative will deliver guidance on how to deal with uncertainties in climate adaptation policy and decision-making by providing concrete case-study examples where such need has been successfully accounted for (or identified but failed).
The CIRCLE-2 coordination at the CCIAM group (www.sim.ul.pt) is seeking a successful candidate for a Special Research Grant that will support this joint initiative in:
- Establishing a network of renowned excellence, capable of advancing the scientific knowledge production on the topic of Climate Knowledge Uncertainties;
- Developing and publishing these advances in the form of Guidance to policy- and decision-makers.
4. Applicable legislation: Law Nº. 40/2004, of August 18th (Estatuto do Bolseiro de Investigação Científica); and Regulamento da Formação Avançada e Qualificação de Recursos Humanos 2010.
5. Work place: The work will be carried on the Laboratory for Systems, Instrumentation and Modeling in Science and Technology for Space and the Environment (SIM) of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, under the scientific coordination of Professor Filipe Duarte Santos and Aux. Investigator Tiago Capela Lourenço.
6. Grant Duration: 26 months (6 months internship + 20 months grant). The grant will start on the 1st of October 2011.
7. Remuneration level: 1000 Euros/month + Portuguese Volunteer Social Security level 1 (Decreto-Lei n. º 40/89, de 1 de Fevereiro); This Grant will be paid monthly by bank transference.
8. Job description and other offers: Grant-hold researcher at FFCUL; Integration in a dynamic and growing CCIVA research group (SIM/CCIAM), with good perspectives of future employment and/or continuation of academic development.
9. Selection Criteria: Applications will be evaluated by review of expert curricula and a personal interview of the top raked applicants. Selection criteria will take into consideration the mandatory requirements (exclusion criteria) depicted in point 2.
10. Jury Composition: Prof. Filipe Duarte Santos (president), Maria João Cruz (member), Gil Penha-Lopes (member) and Tiago Capela Lourenço (member).
11. Publication and Divulgation of the Results: Final ranking will be made available to all applicants by email.
12. Application period: This announcement is open from 24th August until 21st September 2011 (16.00h GMT).
13. Applications: Applications must be sent by email to Ms. Angela Antunes (
amantunes@fc.ul.pt); Please indicate the following subject (GRANT-FFCUL-UNCERTAINTIES-2011); Other communication means will not be considered;
Full application includes (lack of any of this documents will deem application invalid)*:
a. Updated and signed Curriculum Vitae (max. 6 pages);
b. Proof (declaration) of academic degree;
c. Letter of interest (max 1 page).
*Applications must be written in English. Preferred format is PDF.
14. Timeline:
Deadline for applications: 21 September 2011
Review of curricula: 21-23 September 2011
Interviews: 26-28 September 2011
Communication of results: 29 September 2011
Start of Grant: 01 October 2011
15. Other issues: Gender and equality criteria will be applied to this Grant attribution.
16. Contact regarding this announcement: Ms Angela Antunes, email:
amantunes@fc.ul.pt.