Submissions of the applications by students – 5th September to 18th September 2023, 17h00 (Lisbon time)
Please read carefully the Terms of the Call available here.
Before applying, and if you have never registered as student in the Prototerapia website, you need to register here
Applications can only be submitted electronically through:
https://prototerapia.lip.pt/phd_programme/call/5/studentsNo other means of submission are available. Due to the existence of non-Portuguese speaking members on the evaluation panel, applications should be submitted in English in order to ensure an accurate assessment of all the elements. Students may only submit one single application.
Once the topic has been selected by a candidate in agreement with the supervisor, the candidate formalizes his application by filling the Candidate Application form (provided on-line) and uploading the following documents (mandatory):
• One CV file in PDF format, clearly and succinctly identifying the most relevant elements of your academic and professional career, such as academic and complementary training, scientific publications, communications at conferences, participation and organization of events, awards and other situations considered relevant for the CV assessment;
• One Motivation Letter file in PDF format, explaining the reasons for her/his application, presenting her/his academic/professional career path and how it is related to the work plan, if applicable; in this field the choice of the most representative document should also be mentioned and justified;
• The most representative document of the applicant’s scientific/professional path as, for example, a scientific publication, conference communication, scientific report or master thesis; proof of scientific or professional achievement, performances or artistic creations. Academic degree certificates, CVs or documents describing the applicant’s career path should not be submitted in this field;
• One PDF file containing certificates of all the academic degrees obtained, (Bachelor and Master), with the final average grade and marks in all subjects. The minimum grade of zero (A1 = 0) will be scored to sub-criterion A1 when no certificate is submitted, in the application form;
• One PDF file containing the academic degree recognition and conversion of the final grade to the Portuguese grading scale or the presentation of the recognition/equivalence, registered by a public higher education institution. The minimum grade of zero (A1 = 0) will be scored to sub-criterion A1 when no certificate is submitted, in the application form;
• Timeline, showing the scheduling of the tasks proposed in the work plan, as well as the main milestones to be achieved, including the thesis submission (or the scientific work leading to the doctoral degree) at the university;
• Two contacts (names and e-mail addresses) for reference letters, excluding letters from supervisors.
(The reference letters will be directly uploaded by the referees. Applicants will not have access to the letters but they will be able to check if and when they have been uploaded. The referees will receive an e-mail with the name of the applicant and with a link for uploading their letters. The Referees can upload the letters during the whole period of the Call).
Optional PDF file containing other documents that the candidate may consider relevant for the assessment of the merit mentioned in the CV;
Besides of other factors, the final locking and submission of the application depends on the association of the supervisor and co-supervisor(s) (when applicable) to the application. The supervisors can only associate each thesis proposal with a single student.
Click “Associate Supervisors”. An e-mail will be sent to the applicant and to the supervisor, as well as to the co-supervisors (when applicable). Applicants must then be confirmed by the supervisor and co-supervisors (when applicable). They will need to fill the supervisor form (provided by LIP on-line), describing their personal judgment as regards to the student´s CV and his adequacy to the PhD subject.
After the supervisor and co-supervisors have locked their association to the application, applicants should click "Submit and Lock". At this point, the entire application will be validated and, if there is no error, locked. No further modification will be allowed.
Important Notes – Academic degrees
Applicants with academic degrees obtained in Portugal must comply with the following, depending on their specific status:
• For post-Bologna academic degrees, applicants should specify the final grades obtained in the 1st and/or 2nd study cycles, as well as the corresponding ECTS;
• In case of integrated master degrees, for which the institutions do not provide separate final grades for the 1st and 2nd cycle of study, just the final grade and the total number of ECTS should be specified;
• For pre-Bologna academic degrees, applicants should indicate the grades obtained for the graduate and/or master degrees.
For each of your academic degrees, you should click on the “Add Academic Degree” button, then select the respective option from the drop list and fill in the respective mandatory fields.
Important notice for national and foreign candidates
Only candidates who have completed the cycle of studies leading to a Bachelor's or Master's degree by the end of the application period will be admitted. Candidates who do not yet have their degree certificate may present a declaration of honor, stating that they have completed the necessary qualifications for the purposes of the call by the end of the application deadline.
In order to comply with the foreseen applicable Portuguese legislation regarding the recognition of foreign qualifications, all the rights inherent to academic degrees granted by foreign higher education institutions is duly recognised to the holders of these degrees. This recognition is subject to the presentation of the academic degrees recognition and conversion of the final grade to the Portuguese grading scale, requested to the Dean of a public Portuguese University, the Head of a Public Polytechnic Institute or the Director-General for Higher Education; or by the presentation of the recognition/equivalence, registered by a public higher education institution.
The granting of the scholarship will depend on the presentation of all the documents. For candidates with diplomas issued by foreign institutions the academic degrees recognition and conversion of the final grade to the Portuguese grading scale or the presentation of the recognition/equivalence will be required for the granting of the scholarship.
Nevertheless, the presentation of the degree certificates in the application form is determinant for evaluation purposes, namely to calculate the score of A1, a sub-criterion of the Merit of the Applicant. In case of academic degrees obtained abroad, only degrees with the respective records of recognition/equivalence and conversion to the Portuguese grading scale will be considered to calculate the score of A1 sub-criterion.
The minimum grade of zero (A1 = 0) will be scored to sub-criterion A1 in the following cases (See table 1 in the Terms of the Call):
a) When no certificate is submitted, in the application form, neither graduate nor master’s degree certificates (national or foreign);
b) When both national graduate and master certificates do not state the respective final grade (neither quantitative nor qualitative);
c) When both foreign graduate and master certificates are not recognized, nor the final grades converted to the Portuguese grading scale.
The members of the panel will only assess the degrees duly recognized at the date of the application submission.
The legal regime applicable to the recognition procedures is approved by the Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of 16 August, if requested after 1 January 2019. For requests submitted before 1 January 2019, the applicable legal procedure is ratified by Decree-Law 341/2007, of 12 October, and regulated by Decree no. 227/2017, of 25 July, or, alternatively, for equivalence processes, the request is governed by the Decree-Law no. 283/83, of 21 June.
For further information, applicants are advised to carefully read Decree-Law 66/2018, of 16 August, and to visit the website of the Directorate General for Higher Education (Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior, DGES): https://www.dges.gov.pt/en/pagina/degree-and-diploma-recognition?plid=1536
Applicants with foreign academic degrees should:
- Indicate that the academic degree was completed abroad;
- Upload the recognition/equivalence of the academic degree and the final grade conversion to the Portuguese grading scale, issued by a Portuguese public higher education institution or by the Directorate General for Higher Education (DGES).
Types of Grants:
The grants may be “national” or “mixed” grants, depending on whether the work program is carried out totally or partially at national institutions. In the case of national grants, it is mandatory to include in the work program a minimum period of a 6-month internship at an internationally renowned institution. In the case of mixed grants, the period of the work program that takes place in a foreign institution cannot exceed 24 months. When applying for a mixed grant, applicants should specify the starting date and length(s) of the period(s) to be spent abroad, and indicate the foreign institution where the research work will take place.
In the case of mixed grants, all candidates (national or foreign citizens) must be able to produce proof of their usual or permanent residence in Portugal at the starting date of the working plan abroad.
