ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE OPENING OF AN INTERNATIONAL CALL TO HIRE ONE POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER UNDER DECREE-LAW Nº 57/2016, ALTERED BY LAW Nº 57/2017

Ref: IA2026-14-CTTI

The Centro de Investigação em Astronomia/Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (CAUP), by decision of the Board of Directors, opens an international call to hire a postdoctoral researcher, as part of the activities held at Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA), in the area of Astronomy/Astrophysics - field of Extragalactic Astronomy, under an unfixed-term contract (contrato de trabalho a termo incerto).

The position is offered within the framework of Portugal’s participation in the ESA F-class mission ARRAKIHS (Analysis of Resolved Remnants of Accreted Galaxies as a Key Instrument for Halo Surveys), funded through PRODEX. The successful candidate will serve as the Instrument Operations and Science Data Centre (IOSDC) Scientist.

The position is expected to start as soon as possible, subject to the entry into force of the contract with ESA/PRODEX, with a preferred starting date of October 2026. Funding is currently secured until December 2028, with an extension until December 2030 anticipated, subject to approval of continued funding.

Work plan:
The responsibilities of the position offered under this call, for the period of contract identified above, will include the task of being the main point of contact for Science Ground Segment (SGS) science implementation matters, reporting to the IOSDC Coordinator and Deputy Coordinator.

The selected candidate will act as the primary interface between the ARRAKIHS Science Committee (ASC) and IOSDC, between the ARRAKIHS Science Working Team (SWT) and IOSDC, and the ARRAKIHS Science Team and the ESA ARRAKIHS Science team (EAST), while also providing community support within the IOSDC, supplying expert input, documentation, tools and guidance to the Science Operations Centre (SOC) so that the scientific community receives timely, complete assistance.

In addition, the person to be hired is responsible for the final validation of IOSDC scientific data products and advises the IOSDC Coordinator on the scientific aspects of the observation verification report, and for the coordination of observations and data analysis related to ARRAKIHS on-ground demonstrator (OGD) at the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre (OAJ, Spain). In the framework of the latter responsibility on-site observations and visits to OAJ may be needed.

The selected person is expected to be appointed as IOSDC Scientist, within the ARRAKIHS mission, a key leadership role within the ARRAKIHS mission.

1. Applicable legislation:
     a)    Decree-Law nº 57/2016, of 29th August, altered by Law nº 57/2017, of 19th July, which approved the doctorate hiring regime destined to stimulate scientific and technological employment for all knowledge areas (RJEC);
     b)    Portuguese Labor Code (Código do Trabalho), approved by the Law n.º 7/2009, of 12th February, in its current version;
     c)    Regulatory Decree nº 11-A/2017, of 29th December.

2. Members of the Jury: According to article nº 13 from RJEC, the jury is composed of:
     -  Polychronis Papaderos (President)
     -  Manuel Abreu
     -  Rafael Guzmán
     -  Catarina Lobo (alternate)
     -  Sérgio Sousa (alternate)

3. Work place: The work place shall be at CAUP, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto.

4. Monthly remuneration: The gross monthly remuneration is 2408.11 EUR, corresponding to level 33 of the Single Salary Table (Tabela Remuneratória Única), approved by Ministerial Order nº 1553-C/2008 of 31st December modified by Decree-Law nº 84-F/2022, of 16 of December and by Decree-Law nº 26-B/2023 of 18 April, category of Junior Researcher.

5. Profile of candidate: Any national, foreign and stateless candidate who holds a doctoral degree in Astronomy/Astrophysics or related scientific area and a scientific and professional curriculum whose profile is suited for the activity to be performed can submit his/her application.

In the event that the doctorate degree was awarded by a foreign higher education institution, that degree must comply with the provisions of Decree-Law nº 86/2023 of 10th of October which changes the Decree-Law nº 66/2018 of 16th August, and Ministerial Order nº 43/2020 of 14th February which changes the Ministerial Order nº 33/2019 of 25th January (approves the legal regime for the recognition of foreign higher academic degrees), and all formalities established therein must be complied with up to the date of signing the contract.

Applicants are advised to check the website of the Directorate-General for Higher Education (DGES) for further information: https://www.dges.gov.pt/en/pagina/degree-and-diploma-recognition. They can also check information on the website of the University of Porto: https://sigarra.up.pt/up/en/WEB_BASE.GERA_PAGINA?p_pagina=1005819.

6. The call admission requirements are:
     a)    General: PhD degree
     b)    Specific: Demonstrated expertise in Extragalactic Astronomy
     c)    Applicants must demonstrate expertise in a minimum of three of the following items:
          1) Telescope operations, including the acquisition, analysis and scientific interpretation of extragalactic datasets; 
          2) User and community support for astronomical observations; 
          3) Technical and scientific activities related to the operation of an IOSDC or equivalent scientific data management structures; 
          4) Calibration, quality control, and validation of astronomical data products; 
          5) Development of software for astronomical observations or data processing, including programming experience in Python and C; 
          6) Use of GNU Astronomy Utilities (Gnuastro) and related data-processing tools.
     d)    Additional requirement: Category B driving licence

7. Following article nº 5 of RJEC, selection is to be made based on scientific and curricular career evaluation.

8. The scientific and curricular career evaluation focuses on relevance, quality and being up-to-date in the area of the call:

     a)    on the scientific and  technological production in the last five years, deemed most relevant by the candidate;
     b)    on the research activities, applied or based on practical work, developed in the last five years, deemed most impactful by the candidate;
     c)    of activities of dissemination of knowledge developed in the last five years, namely under the scope of the promotion of culture and scientific practices, deemed most relevant by the candidate.

9. The five-year period mentioned above can be extended by the jury, if requested by the candidate, whenever the suspension of scientific activities is justified on socially protected grounds like parental leave, long-term serious illness, or other legal situations of unavailability to work.

10. Application formalization: The call is open from the 14 of September to 19 of October 2026. Candidates shall submit their application through the form available below, including all supporting documentation according to sections 6 and 8 of the announcement, namely:

     a)    cover letter (maximum of 1 page);
     b)    certificate or PhD diploma copy;
     c)    Curriculum Vitae, detailed and structured according to section 8 of this announcement (maximum of 6 pages, with at least 10pt font size);
     d)    other documentation relevant for the evaluation of qualifications in a related scientific area;
     e)    brief description of the most relevant scientific and technological activities (maximum of 2 pages, with at least 10pt font size), according to article 5, nº 2, of RJEC and section 8 of this announcement;
     f)    name and contact details (position, email, address) of up two referees, available to provide information about the candidate (these will be contacted at the jury's discretion).

11. All candidates who formalize their applications in an improper way or fail to prove that they satisfy the requirements imposed by this call are excluded from admission. In case of doubt, the jury is entitled to request any candidate to present further documentation supporting their statements.

12. False statements provided by the candidates shall be punished by law.

13. Evaluation criteria: The admitted applications will be evaluated taking into account the quality, state-of-the-art and relevance of the candidate's scientific and technical background, including their scientific production and research experience, experience in operating astronomical observing facilities and providing user support, as well as their academic background, and how well all this fits the area of research of this call, namely:

     -    C1: (10%)  presentation letter;
     -    C2: (20%)  CV, including degrees completed;
     -    C3: (70%)  relevance and success/impact of previous research experience, in particular in areas relevant to the project referred above, judged based on evidence exhibited in the CV and possible clarifications provided by the indicated referees (item f of point 10).

14. The candidate final classification system shall be given based on a scale 0-100.

15. After application of the selection criteria indicated in item 13, the jury shall prepare a sorted list of admitted candidates and their respective classification. Only candidates with a final classification above 75% will be considered for the position. All candidates below this cut-off will be automatically excluded from the list of approved candidates.

16. The final decision of the jury shall be validated by the Board of Directors of CAUP, who is also in charge of deciding about the hiring.

17. Results: The list of both admitted and excluded candidates and the final classification list shall be posted at CAUP, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, and the candidates will be notified by email.

18. Preliminary hearing and final decision deadline: After publication of the results, all candidates have 10 working days to respond. The final decisions of the jury will be pronounced within a period of 90 days counted from the deadline of application.

19. This call is exclusively destined to fill this specific vacancy and can be terminated at any time until the approval of the final list of ordered candidates, and expires with the respective occupation of that vacancy.
 
20. Non-discrimination and equal access policy: CAUP promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access, thus no applicant may be privileged, benefited, undermined or deprived of any right or exempted from any duty, namely, due to ancestry, age, gender, sexual orientation, civil status, family situation, economic situation, origin or social condition, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic disease, nationality, ethnicity or race, country or territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological beliefs, or trade union affiliation.

21. Following Decree-Law nº 29/2001, of 3rd February, disabled candidates in a situation of equal classification shall be preferred and this supersedes any legal preference. Candidates must declare on their application form, on their honour, their respective disability degree, type of disability and communication/expression means to be used during the selection period, under the regulations mentioned above.

Publication date: 18 September 2026

The period for application submission starts on 21 September 2026.
The application form will be available during the submission period.The period for application submission has ended for this opportunity.