1 Research Grant Announcement (M/F) Call open for applications for a research grant within the framework of project
SMARTAIR4SCHOOL - Smart optimisation of Indoor Air Quality in Schools, reference 2023.15742.PEX with DOI: funded by national funds through
FCT/MECI.
, under the following conditions: Scientific Area: Environmental Engineering Admission requirements: Candidates who cumulatively meet the following two requirements may apply for this grant: Requirement 1: - Be a student enrolled in a doctoral program in the area of Environmental Engineering, a requirement to be duly proven at the time of signing the contract.
or - Holder of an academic degree enrolled in a non-academic degree course integrated in the educational project of a higher education institution, developed in association or cooperation with one or more R&D units, a requirement to be duly proven at the time of signing the contract.
Note: In the case of masters who are enrolled in non-academic degree courses, the scholarship can only be awarded to those who do not exceed, with this scholarship contract, including possible renewals, an accumulated period of two years in that typology of the scholarship, followed or interpolated.
and Requirement 2: • Hold a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering or related field.
If the degree has been awarded by a foreign higher education institution, it must comply with the provisions of the Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of august 16th, and any formalities established there must be fulfilled until the time of signing the contract.
Activity Outline:The grant holder will support research activities within the project “SMARTAIR4SCHOOL – Smart optimisation of Indoor Air Quality in Schools”, aimed at improving Indoor Air Quality in school buildings, with a focus on data‑driven assessment and optimisation approaches.
The work will mainly take place during the implementation and demonstration phase and the pilot test and validation phase of the project, providing essential support to field monitoring campaigns in nursery and primary schools.
Activities will include the collection, pre‑processing and analysis of real‑time monitoring data in schools (indoor air quality, thermal comfort, acoustic comfort and energy‑related indicators), as well as supporting the training and testing of machine‑learning‑based optimisation models using empirical data.
In addition, the grant holder will contribute to project management and dissemination activities, namely through support to scientific publications, conference communications and other outputs arising from the project results.
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 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, in force and Regulation of Research Grants of University of Porto, in force.
Work place: The work will be developed at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), under the scientific supervision of Doctor Pedro Tiago Barbosa da Silva Branco.
Grant duration: Initial duration of 6 months, with the predicted starting date in May 2026, on an exclusive basis eventually renewable but never exceeding the project duration.
If it is not possible to ensure the duration of 6 months estimated in the previous paragraph, this duration will be adjusted according to the end date of the project, and provided that the minimum duration of 3 consecutive months is guaranteed, in accordance with paragraph 3 of article 6 of the Research Grant Regulations of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P.
The eventual renewal of the scholarship will be carried out as determined in article 6 of the Research Grants Regulation of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P.
Stipend:The grant stipend amounts to 1.359,64 € according to the table of values of the grants awarded directly by FCT, I.P.
in the Country .The payment will be made by bank transfer.
Selection procedure: The curriculum of the candidates (60%) will be evaluated based on the merit of the candidate and the following factors will be weighted: a) Academic training (Master in Environmental Engineering – 10 points;
Others Masters – 2 points) b) Research Experience in the project area, namely in Indoor Air Quality – 10 points;
in related areas – 3 points;
Other areas – 1 point The curriculum of each candidate will be evaluated in a 1-20 points scale.
Candidates with less than 15 points in the curricular evaluation will not be invited for the interview.
In the interview (40%), which will be conducted in Portuguese and English, topics related to the work plan, experience, and the candidate’s CV will be discussed with the invited candidates.
If none of the candidates achieves a minimum final score of 15 points, the scholarship will not be awarded.
Selection Jury:President: Doctor Pedro Tiago Barbosa da Silva Branco Effective member: Doctor Sofia Isabel Vieira de Sousa Effective member: Doctor Juliana Pinheiro de Sá Supplementary member: Doctor Rafael António Oliveira Nunes Supplementary member: Professor Doutor Fernando Gomes Martins 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 21/10/2026 a 03/11/2026 (until 23h59m, GMT time).
Applications must be submitted via the online application system available at , reference
FEUP-SMARTAIR4SCHOOL BOLS-FEUP-26-59, by 03 of november of 2026 and including the following pdf documents: Motivation letter, Copy of certificates evidencing academic degree (referring the classification of each separated or integrated degree), detailed Curriculum Vitae;
Declaration on honor that the candidate fulfills the requirement contained in article 6 of the Regulation for Research Grants of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P.
(model below, for student enrolled in a non-academic degree course integrated in the educational project of a higher education institution, developed in association or cooperation with one or more R&D units) and other documents considered relevant by the applicant.
In order to assure that all documents can be read, the preferred saving format is the Portable Document Format (.pdf).
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. 5 of article 6º of the Research Grants from FCT, IP - Regulation No. 950/2019, of 16 December.
Oporto, __/__/__ Signature _________________ (scholarship holder)