Admission requirements: Candidates will be admitted to the call when demonstrating: (i) a Graduation Degree in Bio-physical Engineering; (ii) a Master degree in Geographic Information Systems and Science; (iii) a solid record of scientific publication in impacted international journals.

Preferential factors for admission:

·         Research experience in landscape change assessment, and related drivers and effects;

·         Research experience with GIS and spatial modeling, at multiple scales (European, national, regional and local scales);

·         Knowledge on statistical modelling;

·         Proved experience in GIS and RS applications applied to complex landscape patterns in the Mediterranean region, including silvo-pastoral systems.

·         Broad experience in different themes of application and in collaboration with different disciplines.

Training and or experience with the use of R software tools for statistical modeling, spatial analysis and geographic modeling, and satellite image processing is required. Fluency in English and Portuguese is an advantage.  

Work Plan:  PEGASUS aim at develop innovative, practical ways of making Public Goods (PG) and Ecosystem Services (ESS) concepts accessible and operational: it will identify how, where and when cost-effective mechanisms and tools for policy, business and practice can most effectively be applied, increasing the sustainability of primary production (more information on: http://pegasus.ieep.eu/). The Master Research scholar will be mainly focused of the Work Packages 2, 3 and 4, particularly to support the case study application in Portugal. PEGASUS will consider ways to prevent damaging practices, maintain existing good practice and introduce practices to enhance environmental and social goods and services, taking account of diverse conditions within Europe and the different scales (both spatial and temporal) of provision. At the heart of the project and key to developing the thinking are 32 participatory case studies (WP4) in ten different EU countries which will be conducted in the second year of the project. The conceptual framework, together with other preliminary research components in relation to mapping public goods and ecosystem services of interest at the EU and more local level (WP2) and the socio-political, economic and institutional drivers affecting environmentally and socially beneficial outcomes provision (WP3), support the knowledge and evidence base needed for the case studies. The goals of WP4 are:

•    to achieve a detailed understanding of the functional inter and intra-relationships between farming and forestry management and the quantity and quality of PG/ESS associated with these activities, to identify how these relationships respond to different drivers or initiatives in policy and markets.

•    to assess the societal demand and appreciation of PG/ESS in these contexts and to link measurements of appreciation to different groups (e.g. producers, food and agri-business, tourism operators, community, users, wider society)

•    to identify the key motivational, institutional and socio-economic factors which are needed to enable transformative practice at the ground level, in respect of the mainstreaming of PG/ESS provision within farming and forestry of different levels of intensity.

•    to identify approaches and methods to increase the awareness, appreciation and provision of PG/ESS from agriculture and forestry.

The Master researcher will be collecting the needed data for WP4 application and putting in practice the participatory approach defined within the project. It is also expected to establish links with WP3 and the WP2. The researcher should lead one scientific publication issuing from the WP4 results, and to participate in others. The research is to be developed in the University of Evora, ICAAM (Institute for Mediterranean Agrarian and Environmental Sciences), within the research group “Landscape Dynamics and Social Processes”.

Relevant legislation and regulation: This scholarship will be carried on the basis of a signed  contract between the University of Évora and the scholarship recipient, under the terms of the Research Scholarship Regulations of the University of Évora (Ordem de Serviço n.º 1/2011), the Scientific Research Grant Holder Statute  (Law n.º 40/2004 of the 18 of August and Decree-Law n.º 202/2012 of the 27 of August) and according to the Regulations and legislation for advanced training and qualifications for human resources of the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).

Place of work: The work is to be developed at the ICAAM, Pólo da Mitra of the University of Évora.

Length of the scholarship: One year, beginning on June 2016, renewable for a maximum of one year.

Payment: According to the scholarship values applied by the Portuguese Research Foundation (http://alfa.fct.mctes.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores): the monthly payment is of 980 Euros, not subject to taxes, and the contribution to the national social-medical insurance is paid by the project. The payment is done by bank check or bank transfer on a monthly basis.

Selection: The selection is done based on the documentation sent, mainly on the analysis of the CV. An interview may be required. The interview will be used to select between the equally ranked candidates. When the candidates are not available to come to Évora, the interview may be undertaken using skype.

Selection Comitee: Professor Maria Teresa Amado Pinto Correia; Professor Gottlieb Basch; Professor Maria Paula Duarte Simões;  Professor Nuno Manuel Cabral de Almeida Ribeiro; Professor Fátima de Jesus Folgôa Baptista

Announcement of results:  The results will be published through a ranked listed and disposed at the entrance of Colégio de Regentes Agrícolas do Núcleo da Mitra da Universidade de Évora. The candidates receive the information by e-mail.

Period for the call and presentation of application: The call is open in between the 21th April and the 5th May 2016, and the results will be announced until the 8th  May 2016.

The submissions may be done through a motivation letter, a CV, relevant certificates, sent to Prof.ª Doutora Teresa Pinto Correia - mtpc@uevora.pt