Students interested in carrying out a PhD thesis on the Amazon River Basin with a background in the Environmental Humanities or other relevant fields are welcome to apply. The successful applicant will sign a six-month contract starting in September 2023 and renewable for up to 3 years.

For details please see:
https://ces.uc.pt/pt/agenda-noticias/emprego-bolsas-estagios

A. Project Description

This interdisciplinary project, coordinated by Dr. Danielle Viegas (Germany), together with Dr. Antoine Acker (Switzerland) and Dr. Patrícia Vieira (Portugal), aims to bring to light the so-called ‘lost cities’ in the Brazilian Amazon by analyzing and comparing their existence and perception during the twentieth century up until the present time. The key argument is directed toward the ambiguity of the notions of lost and cityconfronting different assumptions of those meanings among the actors that were affected by developmentalist policies.

The main goal of the project is to analyze the perceptions of the abandonment of so-called lost cities in the Amazon and assess this perception against the dynamism of their socio-environmental resilience both from a human and non-human perspectives.

B. Scientific Field

Environmental Humanities, Urban Studies.

C. Requirements

1. To have an M.A.; or to have completed a B.A. in a relevant area of the Environmental Humanities by May 31, 2023.
2. Applicants are required to be PhD candidates. They must enroll or already be enrolled in one of the PhD programs offered by the University of Coimbra and/or by the Centre for Social Studies, in the current
academic year (2022-23). If, at the time of application, the applicant is not enrolled in a relevant academic program, they must include a declaration of honor in which they confirm that they will enroll in an academic program by the time they sign the fellowship contract. Such program will be chosen in collaboration withthe supervisor.
3. Applicants with an academic degree and diploma issued by a foreign Higher Education Institution must present proof of recognition of the academic degree by the Portuguese Higher Education System (lawDL66/2018). Any candidate without the recognition of their degree will be admitted to the competition. Should that candidate be selected, she/he will need to provide proof of the recognition of her/his academic degree by the Portuguese authorities before signing the contract. The selected candidate will have to deliver the recognition of the degree within 30 days after the communication of the application results. After 30 days, the jury may decide to:
1. extend the deadline for the candidate to prove the recognition;
2. assign the fellowship to the second placed candidate;
3. or not award the fellowship.

D. Selected Fellow’s Responsibilities

The selected fellow will have the following responsibilities:
a) Carry out research leading to a doctoral thesis within the framework of the Resilient Forest Cities project;
b) Actively contribute to the intellectual life of the project, including, but not limited to: participation in reading groups; participation in internal meetings;
c) Contribute to the planning of Lost Cities’ fieldwork; carry out fieldwork in the Amazon; gather, analyze and organize data;
d) Participate in academic conferences to disseminate research results and publish research results in academic journals and books;
f) Contribute to the organization of academic conferences and other events sponsored by the project;
g) Contribute to the project’s public outreach activities, including, but not limited to: maintaining the project’s website; publication of op-eds in the media; publication of podcasts and video logs in the project’s website; the production of a documentary film;
h) Contribute to drafting the project’s reports to be handed in to the Gerda Henkel foundation;
i) Contribute to the project’s daily management tasks;
j) Write reports on all activities undertaken, according to the work plan set in the Description of Action, and a calendar set with the supervisor.

E. Applicable Legislation and Regulations:
Portuguese Law no 40/2004, of 18 August (Scientific Research Fellow Statute) and following amendments; FCT’s (National Agency for Science and Technology) Regulations for Advanced Training and Qualification of Human Resources, and Regulations for Fellowships at the Centre for Social Studies.

F. Workplace

Research will be performed at the Centre for Social Studies facilities in Coimbra, Portugal. Researchers will occasionally need to travel to Brazil to perform research tasks. The successful candidate will have to move to Coimbra, Portugal, for the duration of the project. A research-stay with the duration of 6 (six) months is also planned to take place in Jena, Germany, where the PhD candidate will carry out the research in cooperation with isoTROPIC permanent research group at Max-Planck Institute of Geoanthropology.

G. Duration of the Fellowship Contract

The fellowship contract, expected to start on September 1, 2023, will last six months and is renewable for a maximum period of three years. The fellowship may be extended for equal or different time periods, until its maximum legal duration of four years, depending on the scientific needs of the project, its financial provisions, and on the supervisor’s assessment of the fellow’s performance.

H. Monthly Allowance

The monthly stipend is 1.250,00 euros (net) according to the Regulations for Fellowships of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. In addition, the payment of a Voluntary Social Insurance, a Personal Accident Insurance and the PhD tuition fees (max. 3 years) are covered by CES. The fellow will be covered under Portugal’s national health insurance plan.

I. Selection Process

Applicants will be assessed based on their scientific merit and curricular path. In case of equivalent curricular evaluations, the best-positioned applicants will be short-listed for an interview, meant to assess each applicant’s potential contribution to the development of the project. The two stages of evaluation (the curricular merit assessment and the interview) will weigh 50% each in the final score. The scale applied to each criterion is 0 to 20.

The jury reserves the right to not select any applicant for the position, if applications do not meet the necessary standards and/or profiles in terms of absolute merit.

J. Selection Criteria

Selection criteria are the following:
1. Academic background in the area of the Environmental Humanities or other relevant fields, with research experience on the Amazon; M.A. in hand is desirable (45%);
2. Demonstrated academic promise and interest in carrying out research on lost cities in the Amazon (20%);
3. Excellent language skills in both oral and written English and Portuguese, including ability to independently write in these languages; intermediate knowledge of at least Spanish (20%);
4. Experience in research management and dissemination (including social media and website editing); previous experience in other projects will be valued (10%);
5. Experience in Brazilian archives (desirable) (5%).

The jury reserves the right not to select any candidate.

K. Selection Panel

- Patrícia Vieira (President, Universidade de Coimbra)
- Danielle Viegas (Max-Planck of Geoanthropology)
- Antoine Acker (University of Geneva)
- Patrick Roberts (Max-Planck of Geoanthropology)
- Karen Shiratori (substitute)
- Emanuele Fabiano (substitute)

L. Communication of Results

All candidates will receive the results of the selection process by email. The meeting minutes of the selection panel will become publicly available.

M. Application Deadline:

Call opens on: May 16, 2023
Call closes on: June 7, 2023
After June 7 applications will not be considered for evaluation.

N. Application Documents

Applications must include:
a) Motivation letter including a brief proposal of the topic of a PhD thesis (max. 3 pages);
b) Curriculum Vitae of max. 5 pages, highlighting the items most relevant to the topic of the call;
c) Copy of qualification certificates and other relevant documents for eligibility purposes (recommendation letters (2), proof or declaration of honor regarding their enrolment in a post-graduate academic degree, etc.);
d) A sample of academic work authored by the applicant in English (preferably) or in Portuguese or Spanish, of up to 8000 words. Samples may include an article in an academic journal or conference proceeding, a book chapter or a chapter of the Master’s dissertation; if the sample is co-authored the candidate must clarify their contribution.

Applications should be sent by email as a one-file PDF document to concursos@ces.uc.pt until the final deadline. Applications must include a clear indication of the reference of this call (CES/08/2023-BI-ForestCities).

CES abides by Portuguese national law that regulates the prevention, prohibition and fight against discrimination on the grounds of racial and ethnic identity, color, nationality, family background, and territory of origin (Law no 93/2017, 23 August).