Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HR4SR)

HR Excellence in Research award

 

The current FMUL's strategic vision is to create an environment that promotes quality research and teaching, which starts with people. Recognising that excellent research depends not only on the researchers, but on the working environment that surrounds them, FMUL aims to welcome its researchers and provide them with the necessary and appropriate conditions to support high-quality research in Medicine and Biomedical sciences. 

FMUL endorsed the European Charter of Researchers enforcing the commitment of adopting its 40 principles, and use them as a guide to continuous improvement of researchers’ working conditions, through the development of a Human Resources Strategy for Researchers. 

Check here our open positions

FMUL OTM-R policy (EN)

Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa (FMUL) is a centenary public university devoted to the training and research in medicine and health, recognised as one of the leading Portuguese institutions in the field. To maintain these high-level results, FMUL acknowledges the need of providing an excellent working environment by adopting the best practices and strategies from the recruitment to the retaining of its researchers and teaching staff. FMUL endorsed the 40 principles of the European Charter of Researchers.

 

Open, transparent and merit- based recruitment

All recruitment procedures at FMUL follow the principles of openness, transparency, and merit-based evaluation aligned with the European Charter of Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers

FMUL adopts a policy of equality of opportunities and non-discrimination, in all of its procedures, encouraging all people regardless of ancestry, age, sexual orientation, marital status, family situation, economic situation, education, origin or condition social, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic or racial origin, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions and union membership to apply for its open positions. 

All candidates to FMUL open positions benefit from a merit based assessment comprising a global evaluation of the candidate’s profile, based not only on their CV, but also in the diversity and quality of their experience and its relevance for the open position.

Recognition of qualifications obtained in foreign countries is regulated by law, and should be requested before applying for a call (Decree-Law no.66/2018  and Portaria no. 33/2019  altered by Portaria no. 43/2020). 

To ensure transparency, all recruitment procedures are published online, always disclosing the candidate’s evaluation criteria in the recruitment notice. Final results are also made publicly available. In all recruitment procedures claiming mechanisms are in place and referred to in the announcement.

The FMUL recruitment policy is compliant with the national regulatory and legal framework, namely Statutes of Higher Education Careers (Decree-Law n .º205/2009 de 31 de agosto) and Statuses of Scientific Research Career (Decree-Law n.º124/99  de 21 de abril). If the open position is funded by external scientific funding agencies, the rules should be adopted to be compliant with agencies’ rules, which do not commit the application of the open, transparent and merit-based recruitment principles established in this policy.

 

Organise a call

Researchers could be hired through two different routes: tenure-track and ad hoc. Recruitment for researcher’s tenure-track positions is open by decision of the Dean and are strictly ruled by Decree-Law n.º124/99 de 21 de abril.

In ad hoc positions, usually in the scope of research projects, the recruitment procedures follow the workflow below.

Workflow Infographic (ver Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HR4SR) | Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa (ulisboa.pt)

The Human Resources department is responsible for providing a pre-fulfilled template to be completed with the candidate’s profile, clear selection criteria and the purpose of the call, by the Principal Researcher or the department hosting a research project.

 

Announcement of open position 

All of our positions are published at least at the FMUL website and EURAXESS.

The public announcement provides information not only regarding the open position, but also the legislation that regulates the process. The announcement contains all relevant information about the open position, as well as the legislation that regulates the process. 

All announcements shall mention: 1) reference and date of publication 2) Contracting entity; 3) legal framework applicable legislation 4) name of open position 5)  number of available positions 6) researcher’s category 7) skills required 8) evaluation criteria 9) evaluation methodology 10) application of recognition of qualifications 11) selection jury (name, institutional affiliation, academic category); 12) workplace 13) labor rights (salary, other benefits, etc.) 14) type and duration of the contract, 15) application deadline 16) complaint period and procedures 17) reference to the institution’s equal opportunities policy and to the OTM-R policy.

 

Application Assessment  

The selection jury uses the same assessment following the criteria mentioned in the open position announcement. 

Candidates who incorrectly formalize their application or who do not meet the requirements in the announcement will be excluded from the recruitment procedure. The candidates will be notified of the admission result, having 10 days to claim the decision.

The best-ranked candidates may be called for an interview, to clarify any aspect related to the application. In tenure-track positions the interview shall only be used to clarify application items that are not clear in the documents previously submitted.

All the stages of the recruitment procedures, particularly the Jury’s assessment and decision, have to be reported in Jury’s minutes.

 

Approval Notice 

The jury’s decision will be published on FMUL website. A notification will be sent to all applicants.

Following the principle of transparency, established in the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers, all candidates receive a notification at the end of each phase of the recruitment process that they have been selected, justifying the strengths and weaknesses of the application.

The jury’s decision is followed by their approval by the Scientific Council, who is also responsible for the final decision on hiring.

After the publication of results, all candidates have 10 working days to request an assessment of their application from the jury, as well as clarification regarding the final classification. The candidates could claim the decision in 10 working days.

 

Selection jury

The selection jury is composed of 3 to 9 members. In tenure-track positions the jury must be composed of at least 5 members and up to a maximum of 9 members.

Gender balance shall be ensured in all selection juries. In the case of this clause, could not be attended to, it should be reported and clearly justified.

In all cases, jury members should have academic qualifications in the discipline or related scientific areas to the discipline to which the recruitment procedure is opened.

The selection panel shall observe the rules in the current policy in their evaluation. The selection jury is responsible for evaluating the candidates according to the national rules and the current policy, which includes the use of assessment grids and clear communication of the recruitment procedure’s results.

 

Supporting documents

Application form

 

Designing a Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) implied to first of all getting to know the researchers needs. This mapping was done through an iterative participatory process, which has combined a survey, interviews, participatory discussions, and world café approach to cover perspectives from different stakeholders, from researchers to administrative staff.

See the full report here

The survey has collected 85 responses among researchers, teaching staff, and PhD students as represented below:

Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) in numbers

After identifying the major strengths and weaknesses, the working group has designed an action plan that was approved by FMUL board..

Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) process

ACTION PLAN
Action Plan

 

GAP ANALYSIS
Gap Analysis

 

 

Steering Committee

Ana Abreu, Assistant Professor (R2), Scientific Council Member
Antónia Ferreira, Technical Coordinator of Advanced Training Institute  
Brígida Riso, Assistant Professor (R2), Institute of Preventive Medicine and Public Health 
Cristina Jacinto, Executive Director
Dulce Brito, Assistant Professor (R2), University Clinic of Cardiology 
Luís Graça
, Full Professor (R4), Vice-dean
Nuno Santos, Associate Professor with habilitation (R3), Principal Investigator Principal / Institute of Biochemistry 

 

Working group

Ana Catarina Silva, Technical Team, Head of Scientific Projects Unit
Ana Pronto Laborinho, Assistant Researcher (R2), Institute of Physiology 
Carlos Ramos
, PhD Student (R1) 
Diogo Ayres de Campos, Full Professor (R4), Head of University Clinic of Gynaecology and Obstetrics  
Edgar Gomes, Full Professor (R4)
, Head of Institute of Histology and biology of development
Gabriela Fernandes, Technical team, CIIND- Committee for Gender equality, inclusion and non-discrimination 
Hélia Neves, Assistant Professor (R2), Institute of Histology and biology of development 
Leonor Rodrigues, PhD Student (R1)
Maria José Diógenes, Associate Professor with Habilitation (R3), Institute of Pharmacology and Neurosciences
Mariana Linãn Pinto, Researcher (R1), Nutrition Lab 
Michelle da Rosa, Assistant Researcher (R2), CCUL (Cardiovascular centre of University of Lisbon)
Rui Gomes, Technical Coordinator, Head of Human Resources Department
Sandra Chaveiro, Technical Coordinator, Head of Finantial Department
Sara Xapelli, Assistant Professor (R2), Institute of Pharmacology and Neurosciences 
Sónia Abreu
, Assistant Researcher (R2), Institute of Biochemistry 
Telma Nogueira, PhD Student (R1), Nutrition Lab
Vera Neves, Assistant researcher (R2), Institute of Biochemistry