The Centre for Marine Sciences (CCMAR) opens one (01) Research Fellowship (BI) for a person with a Master Degree (Bolsa de Investigação não conducente à obtenção de grau académico para mestre), of any nationality, including stateless candidates, and holders of political refugee statute, in the scientific field of Biological Sciences within the research project: HealthyBi4Namibe—Development of technological tools to improve and reduce health risks for bivalve consumption in Angola funded by the Aga Khan, Network for Development and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P/MCTES under the following conditions:

This fellowship is intended for master’s degree holders that are enrolled in a non-academic degree course, integrated in the educational project of a higher education institution, and developed in association or cooperation with one or more R&D units at the starting date of the fellowship.

Work Plan, Tasks to perform and objectives:

The HealthyBi4Namibe project aims to study and characterize the impact of environmental threats (pathogens, toxic blooms, and environmental pollutants) on marine bivalves to develop and implement technologies to assess and ameliorate their quality and safety risk for human consumption in Namibe (Angola).

Specifically, the fellowship holder will be involved in the following tasks and objectives:

Participation in sampling campaigns for collection of environmental samples and bivalves in Faro and Namibe

1. Development of molecular techniques for pathogen detection and gene expression analysis
2. Development of microbiological and biochemical techniques to isolate and characterize marine pathogenic bacteria from water and bivalve samples
3. Environmental sample handling for molecular biology and chemical analysis
4. Planning and experimental design in the context of the project objectives
5. Activities of technology/knowledge transfer and outreach and scientific paper writing in the context of the project objectives
6. Contribute to the general maintenance of the host laboratory

Workplace:

The workplace is CCMAR (Gambelas Campus of the Algarve University, Faro, Portugal), with possible trip to Angola.

Requirements for the application:

Applicants must meet all the conditions stated below:

1. Master’s degree in Biotechnology, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Biology or related fields
2. Good knowledge of written and spoken English
3. Availability to travel to, and work for short periods (up to 2 months) in Angola
4. This fellowship will only be granted to those who do not exceed, with the conclusion of the present fellowship contract, an accumulated period of two years in this type of fellowship, consecutive or otherwise, and the required information should be explicit in the candidate’s CV

Non-compliance justifies exclusion from the procedure.

It is considered as an advantage:

Preference will be given to applicants with previous experience in a scientific research laboratory and with demonstrated expertise in the following activities: molecular biology techniques (Genomic DNA extraction and PCR); microbiology/biochemical methods applied to the isolation and characterization of marine bacteria from environmental samples.

In the event of a tie between candidates during the selection process, this argument may be used for selection.

Evaluation criteria:

Through the analysis of the application documents the evaluation criteria for the applications and their relative weight for ranking are as follows:

• Master academic degree grade—35%
• Proven experience in molecular biology techniques for nucleic acid analysis extraction and amplification—15%
• Proven experience in microbiology and biochemical methods for marine pathogenic bacteria—20%
• Previous work experience in research in the area of molecular microbiology—25%
• Published scientific articles or scientific presentations in the field of knowledge—5%

Fellowship conditions:

The fellowship will have a duration of 9 months, eventually renewed for additional periods until the maximum 12 months with a provisional start date of February 2024. The fellowship must be carried out full-time (exclusive regime), according to the FCT Fellowship Rules (RBI) and the CCMAR fellowship rules (see here), which are based on the Portuguese law 40/2004, of 18 of August (Scientific Research Fellowship holder statutes) amended by the Decree-Law 123/2019 of 28 of August. A maintenance allowance of €1199.64 will be paid monthly, through bank transfer, and will be updated as stipulated by the Foundation for Science and Technology (see here https://bit.ly/2ZcxUGJ).

Application deadline: January 2, 2024

Learn more about this opportunity and how to apply.