NOTICE OF OPENING OF AN INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR THE RECRUITMENT OF A DOCTORATE UNDER THE ARTICLE 23 OF DECREE-LAW No. 57/2016, OF AUGUST 29, WITH THE AMENDMENTS INTRODUCED BY LAW 57/2017, OF 19 JULY AND COMPLEMENTARY LEGISLATION
M-ITI Public Notice Number “FCT32474/001”
Aug 27, 2018
1. Decision: The Executive Board of Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute (M-ITI) took a decision to open an international selection competition for one doctorate position for the exercise of scientific research in the scientific area of Human-computer Interaction (HCI) in the form of an employment contract under an unspecified fixed-term work contract under the “Código do Trabalho (Labor Code), in the context of the project “LARGESCALE - Location-based Augmented Reality Gadgets and Environment-friendly Sightseeing of Cultural Attractions for Locals and Excursionists,” project no. 32474 funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), through Portuguese National Funds (PIDDAC).
2. Short description of the project: LARGESCALE is multidisciplinary project studying: (i) tourist and travel mobility on land and ocean using the sensor based data; and (ii) affective analysis of informal learning experiences. Collected data inquiries will be used to: (1) observe, predict and impact tourist’s mobility patterns; (2) create novel digital virtual tourism products as interactive, exploratory Location-based Augmented Reality Gadgets (LARGs); (3) promote local biodiversity (including marine megafauna), arts and crafts as tourism products of Madeira and Lisbon regions, (4) create impact on IoT devices used for biodiversity monitoring and awareness. LARGs will be collected through wearable/mobile applications, using geolocation and special POI sensors, and will serve to promote sustainable travel and well-being.
3. Work Plan: The selected candidate will work in close collaboration with other members of the interdisciplinary team including participants from Interaction Design, Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. Applicant should participate in the research evaluation of applied LARGs in situ, production of scientific and journal research papers, public communications and presentations, organizing workshops, as well as potential MSc and PhD thesis supervision. All applicants may find more details at the project public page found at http://largescale.m-iti.org/.
4. Candidate profile: Applicants should have next demonstrated skills and competences:
- Hold a PhD (or equivalent) in any of the main research areas;
- Excellent spoken and written English skills is mandatory;
- Strong portfolio depicting previous works in HCI, UX/UI, Interaction Design - Experienced research track and publications in HCI venues;
- Ability to participate in field-work (e.g. boat trips, POI’s surveying, system testing and shadowing during levada walks, etc.);
5. Applicable law: Decree-Law No. 57/2016, of August 29, the regulations for hiring doctorates to stimulate scientific and technological employment in all areas of knowledge (RJEC), with the amendments introduced by Law No. 57 / 2017, dated July 19, also taking into account the provisions of Regulatory Decree No. 11-A / 2017, of December 29.
“Código do Trabalho” (Labor Code), approved by Law No. 7/2009, of February 12, in its current wording.
6. Jury: In compliance with article 13 of RJEC, the jury of the competition is composed as follows:
• President - Nuno Nunes, PhD, M-ITI/IST
• Member - Valentina Nisi, PhD, UMA
• Member - Pedro Camps, PhD, M-ITI
7. Workplace: the activities will be performed at Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute in Funchal, Madeira (Portugal) and/or Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) facilities in Lisbon (Portugal).
8. Salary: In compliance with the provisions of no. 1 of article 5 of the Regulatory Decree No. 11-A/2017, of December 29, this tender is open for the remuneration level 33 of the single remuneration table (TRU), which corresponds to a gross monthly remuneration of 2 128,34 Euros. The monthly remuneration is subject to the deduction of mandatory taxes and social security and meal allowance is added. The employee is entitled to holidays and christmas bonus salaries as foreseen in “Código do Trabalho” (Labor Code).
9. Additional law constraints:
9.1 Decree Law no. 57/2016, of August 29, which approved the regulations for hiring doctorates to stimulate scientific and technological employment in all areas of knowledge (RJEC), is an enabling norm for this international selection competition.
9.2 The opening of this competition is intended for the selection of a doctorate's place for the exercise of scientific research under an unspecified fixed-term work contract under the “Código do Trabalho” (Labor Code) approved by Law No. 7 / 2009, of February 12, in its current wording, being the basis of contracting the execution of a service determined, precisely defined and non-durable, being the contracting necessarily financed regardless of its provenance.
9.3 The maximum term of the working contract is 6 (six) years.
9.4 Termination of the financing, termination of the project or completion of the tasks that are the subject of this competition shall determine the expiration of the contract that will operate with the communication referred to in article 345 (1) of the “Código do Trabalho”(Labor Code), meaning that the employer shall notify the termination of the contract to the employee, at least seven, 30 or 60 days in advance, according to whether the contract lasted up to six months, six months to two years, or per longer period."
10. Formalization of applications:
10.1 Taking into account the participation in the jury of the present competition of members that don’t speak the Portuguese language, applications must be in English and include:
• Motivation letter
• Detailed curriculum vitae, including academic habilitations and experience;
• Optional recommendation letters can contribute positively to the candidate evolution.
10.2 Applications must be sent by e-mail, with subject “FCT32474/001 position_Your_Last_Name”, to the e-mail address: [email protected]. The selected candidate must submit proof of her/his Degree within 10 days following notification of the preliminary results. More information about Diplomas recognition may be found in the Euraxess portal.
11. By decision of the President of M-ITI, candidates who do not comply with the provisions of point 10 are not admitted to the competition. Candidates who do not deliver all the documents referred to in point 10.1 or who present them unreadable, incorrectly completed, or invalid are eliminated. The jury is also entitled to require any candidate, in case of doubt and for the purposes of admission to competition, to present documentary evidence of the declarations in the submitted documents.
12. According to article 5 of RJEC, the selection is made through the evaluation of the scientific and curricular path of the candidates.
13. The evaluation of the scientific and curricular path focuses on relevance, quality and timeliness:
a) of the scientific, technological, academic, cultural or artistic production during the last five years and considered more relevant by the candidate;
b) of the applied or practice-based research activities developed over the last five years and considered as having the greatest impact by the candidate;
c) of the activities of extension and dissemination of knowledge developed during the last five years, in particular in the context of promoting the culture and scientific practices considered by the candidate to be of greater relevance;
d) of the activities of science, technology and innovation programs management or of the experience in observing and monitoring the scientific and technological system or higher education, in Portugal or abroad.
14. The period of five years referred to in the preceding paragraph may be increased by the jury, at the request of the candidate, when justified on grounds of suspension of scientific activity for socially protected reasons, namely for reasons of parental leave, prolonged serious illness, and other situations of unavailability for work legally protected.
15. The assessment criteria are set out in this entry, with the option mentioned in point 10 with particular emphasis on the curriculum vitae and the contributions considered to be of higher relevance by the candidate in the last 3 years:
15.1. Quality of the scientific, technological, cultural or artistic production, considered more relevant by the candidate, and relevant to the project to be developed, which was given a weighting factor of 60% considering:
(i) Scientific publications: a parameter which takes into account books, chapters of books, articles in scientific journals and international conference proceedings of which the applicant was the author or co-author, considering:
• its nature;
• its impact;
• the scientific / technological level and innovation;
• diversity and multidisciplinarity;
• international collaboration;
• the importance of contributions to the advancement of the current state of knowledge;
• the importance of the works that have been selected by the candidate as most representative, in particular as regards their contribution to the development and evolution of the scientific area for which the competition is open.
ii) Coordination and participation in scientific projects: a parameter that takes into account the participation and coordination of scientific projects by the candidate, subject to competitive bidding, considering:
• the territorial scope and its size;
• the technological level and the importance of the contributions;
• innovation and diversity.
iii) Accompaniment and orientation of students, trainees and research fellows: a parameter that takes into account the orientation of doctoral students, master's and undergraduate students, trainees and research fellows taking into account the number, quality, scope and scientific / technological impact of the resulting publications, theses, dissertations and final course papers, distinguishing especially the awarded works and the international recognition.
15.2 Activities of extension and dissemination of knowledge, particularly in the context of the promotion of culture and scientific practices, considered of greater relevance by the candidate, and relevant to the project to be developed, which was given a weighting factor of 20% considering:
i) Publications of scientific and technological outreach: parameter that takes into account the articles in magazines and national conferences and other publications of scientific and technological diffusion, taking into account their professional and social impact.
ii) Services to the scientific community and to society: a parameter that takes into account the participation and coordination of scientific and technological dissemination initiatives and taking into account the nature and results achieved by them when carried out towards:
• the scientific community, including the organization of conferences;
• the media.
15.3. In weighing the evaluation criteria listed in paragraphs 15.1 and 15.2, each jury member may consider the following additional parameters under the following conditions, with a weighting factor of 20% considering:
15.3.1.a contribution to the development and evolution of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) of the scientific area in which the competition is open
15.3.1.b contribution to the development and evolution of Augmented Reality (AR) of the scientific area in which the competition is open
15.3.1.c contribution to the development and evolution of Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI) of the scientific area in which the competition is open
15.3.1.d contribution to the development and evolution of Affective Computing (AC) of the scientific area in which the competition is open
16. The jury may decide to select up to 3 candidates who will be called to hold a session presenting the results of their investigation, following which the jury members should stimulate an open debate on its content and innovative character. This presentation session does not constitute a selection method and is not classified, aiming merely to obtain explanations or clarifications of elements contained in the candidates' curricula.
17. The Jury, when it deems it necessary, may request the candidate to present additional documents proving the candidate's statements, which are relevant to the analysis and classification of his/her application.
18. Classification of candidates
18.1. Each member of the jury assigned a classification to each of the candidates in each evaluation criterion, on a scale of 0 to 100 points, ranking the candidates according to their classification consisting on the sum of the partial classifications assigned in each evaluation criterion, and taking into account the weighting factor given to each parameter.
18.2. Candidates shall be ordered by applying the successive voting method.
18.3. The jury decides by absolute majority, and abstentions are not allowed.
18.4. The final classification of each candidate is the one corresponding to his or her ranking resulting from the application of the method referred to in point 18.2.
19. Minutes of the jury meetings are drawn up, which contain a summary of what has taken place in them, as well as the votes cast by each of the members and their reasons, being available to the candidates whenever requested.
20. The final deliberation of the jury is approved by the President of M-ITI, and it is his responsibility to establish the respective contract
21. The false statements made by the candidates will be punished according to the law.
22. The list of admitted and excluded candidates as well as the final ranking list are posted on the premises of M-ITI Human Resources Division, advertised on the website of M-ITI, and the applicants will be notified by email of the notification.
23. Prior Hearing and Deadline for Final Decision: After being notified, candidates have 10 working days to submit a formal rebuttal. Within the term of 90 days, counted from the deadline for the presentation of the candidacies, the final decisions of the jury are given.
24. This tender is exclusively intended to fill the vacancy indicated and may be terminated until the homologation of the final ranking list of candidates and expiring with the respective occupation of the working position on offer.
25. Under the terms of D.L. No. 29/2001, of February 3, a disabled candidate has a preference when in equal classification, which prevails over any other legal preference. Candidates must declare on the application form their respective degree of disability, the type of disability and the means of communication / expression to be used in the selection process, under the terms of the aforementioned diploma.
26. The selection process will be based on the principle of non-discrimination in respect of gender, age, nationality, religion, racial group, or any other possible discriminatory issue. Selection will be made only based on merit and following the European Charter for Researchers, the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (Commission Recommendation, Brussels, 11.3.2005, 2005/251/EC) and the recommendations from the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).
27. Additional notes: M-ITI is a recognized “refugee welcoming organization" by the European Commission, follows the European Charter for Researchers and welcomes applications from all qualified individuals.
28. The deadline for application may be extended at any time without previous notice having in mind the requirements for the positions under this call.
29. Application Period: From September 10th, 2018 to September 30th October 25th, 2018.
30. Contract start date is expected to be in OctoberNovember, 2018.
[New deadline for applications: 15 October 2018]
A Call for one Research fellowship with Master Degree in Design or related areas (Bolsa de BI, Mestre) is open at Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute (M-ITI) in the context of the project “LARGESCALE - Location-based Augmented Reality Gadgets and Environment-friendly Sightseeing of Cultural Attractions for Locals and Excursionists,” project no. 32474 funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), through Portuguese National Funds (PIDDAC).
Short description of the project: LARGESCALE is multidisciplinary project studying: (i) tourist and travel mobility on land and ocean using the sensor based data; and (ii) affective analysis of informal learning experiences. Collected data inquiries will be used to: (1) observe, predict and impact tourist’s mobility patterns; (2) create novel digital virtual tourism products as interactive, exploratory Location-based Augmented Reality Gadgets (LARGs); (3) promote local biodiversity (including marine megafauna), arts and crafts as tourism products of Madeira and Lisbon regions, (4) create impact on IoT devices used for biodiversity monitoring and awareness. LARGs will be collected through wearable/mobile applications, using geolocation and special POI sensors, and will serve to promote sustainable travel and well-being.
Work Plan:
The selected candidate will work in close collaboration with other members of the interdisciplinary team including participants from HCI, Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. Applicant should participate in the design and research evaluation of applied LARGs in situ. Activities will include:
• 1. Individuation of Points of Interests (POI's) and Media Gathering This activity assumes the research and gathering of existing biodiversity (involving the marine megafauna), cultural heritage, arts and local crafts in both Madeira and Lisbon regions, which may or may not be necessarily known to tourists. Diverse media will be collected (e.g. 360 camera footage, videos, images) which will serve for the creation of LARGs and for the POI marketing purposes.
• 2. UX/UI Design of LARGs Once the POI’s are identified, several routes and novel trajectories will be designed, and used for potential suggestions for tourists. This activity assumes the design of Location-based Augmented Reality Gadgets (LARGs) as 2D and 3D models which represent the local biodiversity, culture, arts and crafts. LARGs will be embedded in the mobile application user interface. They will also be adaptive to the previously sensed POI microclimate as well as to the participants’ physiological responses.
• 3. Design of the Web Interactive Front-end Goal is to design the front-end web page scalable and resizable for mobile phones, tablets and web browsers. Special attention will be on interactive information visualization dashboard which will serve to portray more information about LARGs’ location, weather and affective states of tourists. It will also provide an option to explore in further the locations from remote.
• 4. Design of the Mobile Application GUI Mobile application graphical user interfaces should accommodate: (i) interactive LARGs within the perimeter of the POIs; (ii) interactive information visualization dashboard with statistics providing the collected LARGs, carbon footprint, burned calories, walked distance, etc; (iii) ability for sharing the LARGs and (iv) adaptive LARGs to be tailored to the obtained microclimate data from the weather stations.
Candidate profile:
Applicants should have next demonstrated skills and competences:
• Hold a MSc (or equivalent) in any of the main research areas
• Excellent spoken and written English skills is mandatory
• Strong portfolio depicting previous works in HCI, UX/UI, Interaction Design
• Experience in 2D vector and raster graphics and software (e.g. Inkscape, Adobe Creative Suite, Corel, etc)
• Experience in 3D modelling (e.g. 3D Max, Fusion 360, Maya, etc)
• Experience in animation (e.g. After Effects) and sound editing (e.g. Audacity)
Legislation and applicable regulations: The scholarships are directed to applicants under the law no. 40/2004 of August 18th (Research Grant Holder Statute) and the current conditions established on the FCT regulations: http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT.pdf
Duration: The Fellowship will have the duration of 12 months, with the possibility of renewal for additional periods for a period never after to the project's end which is expected to be 30/09/2021.
Monthly Stipend: The monthly stipend will be 980,00 Euros, tax free, as determined by FCT, I.P. Scientific Fellowships regulations for Portugal (www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores) to be paid by bank transfer.
Workplace: the activities will be performed at Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute in Funchal | Madeira – Portugal and/or Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) facilities in Lisbon (Portugal).
Application process:
Applications must be in English and include:
- Motivation letter
- CV, including research experience, academic qualifications and final grades. - Link to online portfolio or related website
- Optional recommendation letters can contribute positively to the candidate evolution
Applications must be sent by e-mail, with subject ““FCT32474/002 BI position_Your_Last_Name””, to the e-mail address: [email protected].
The selected candidate must submit proof of her/his Degree within 10 days following notification of the preliminary results. More information about Diplomas recognition may be found in the Euraxess portal.
Methods of selection:
Selection methods shall be as follows:
- Educational background and graduation (CV) (60%)
- Technology related skills relevant for the work plan (CV and motivation letter) (40%)
Evaluation based on the scale: Excellent (4), Good (3) Satisfactory (2), and Poor (0). In case of equally qualified candidates, interviews will be conducted and recommendations from previous supervisors will be considered, as well as a candidate’s perceived fit and potential contribution to the project.
Jury Selection:
- Nuno Nunes, PhD, IST-ID/M-ITI
- Valentina Nisi, PhD, M-ITI/UMa
- Pedro Campos, PhD, M-ITI
Scientific Orientation: Dr. Valentina Nisi
Notification of Results: The highest scoring candidate will be notified by email as well as all other candidates. After being notified, candidates have 10 work days to present a claim by email. If no claim is received by M-ITI, the jury’s decision will become definitive.
Application Period: From September 10 to September 30 October 15, 2018.
Contract start date is expected to be in October November 2018
Notes:
• Under the terms of D.L. No. 29/2001, of February 3, a disabled candidate has a preference when in equal classification, which prevails over any other legal preference. Candidates must declare on the application form their respective degree of disability, the type of disability and the means of communication / expression to be used in the selection process, under the terms of the aforementioned diploma.
- The selection process will be based on the principle of non-discrimination in respect of gender, age, nationality, religion, racial group, or any other possible discriminatory issue. Selection will be made only based on merit and following the European Charter for Researchers, the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (Commission Recommendation, Brussels, 11.3.2005, 2005/251/EC) and the recommendations from the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).
- M-ITI is a recognized “refugee welcoming organization" by the European Commission, follows the European Charter for Researchers and welcomes applications from all qualified individuals.
A Call for one Research fellowship with Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering or related areas (Bolsa de BI, Mestre) is open at Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute (M-ITI) in the context of the project “LARGESCALE - Location-based Augmented Reality Gadgets and Environment-friendly Sightseeing of Cultural Attractions for Locals and Excursionists,” project no. 32474 funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), through Portuguese National Funds (PIDDAC)
Short description of the project: LARGESCALE is multidisciplinary project studying: (i) tourist and travel mobility on land and ocean using the sensor based data; and (ii) affective analysis of informal learning experiences. Collected data inquiries will be used to: (1) observe, predict and impact tourist’s mobility patterns; (2) create novel digital virtual tourism products as interactive, exploratory Location-based Augmented Reality Gadgets (LARGs); (3) promote local biodiversity (including marine megafauna), arts and crafts as tourism products of Madeira and Lisbon regions, (4) create impact on IoT devices used for biodiversity monitoring and awareness. LARGs will be collected through wearable/mobile applications, using geolocation and special POI sensors, and will serve to promote sustainable travel and well-being.
Work Plan:
The selected candidate will work in close collaboration with other members of the interdisciplinary team including participants from HCI, Interaction Design, Computer Engineering. Applicant should participate in deployment, maintenance and research evaluation of applied LARGs in situ. Activities will include:
• 1. Development of IoT Hardware for Sensing POI Weather Conditions This activity involves the design and the production of the microclimate sensing stations with all necessary electrical circuits and IoT modules (e.g. temp, humidity, rain, CO2, GPS, etc), which will be deployed at the pre identified POI LARG locations. These stations should be weatherproof devices capable of sharing the weather data to the mobile applications used by the tourists as well as to communicate to the local LARG database using LoRa protocol. Additional support will be for pilot in-situ hardware deployment and testing.
2. Development of IoT Hardware for Sensing User Engagement Special attention will be given to the creation of the electrical equipment capable of gathering the physiological data (e.g. Galvanic Skin Response, Blood Volume Pulse, Temperature, etc). This additional hardware may be part of the weather station or of the mobile phone used by the tourists. In further, safety, data collection and protection will play a crucial role.
Candidate profile:
Applicants should have next demonstrated skills and competences:
• Hold a MSc (or equivalent) in any of the main research areas
• Excellent spoken and written English skills is mandatory
• Proven experience in capability of crafting the sustainable electrical systems
• Experience in the creation and programming of electronic devices based on Arduino, XBee, Raspberry Pi, etc.
• Experience in single and double layer PCB design and fabrication
• Experience in autonomous remote sensing
• Experience in 3D printing and fabrication
• Experience in programming (e.g. C, C++, Java, Python) and 3D design (e.g. MAX, Fusion 360)
• Supporting the production of scientific publications and interest in future PhD thesis (ideal, but not compulsory).
Legislation and applicable regulations: The scholarships are directed to applicants under the law no. 40/2004 of August 18th (Research Grant Holder Statute) and the current conditions established on the FCT regulations: http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT.pdf
Duration: The Fellowship will have the duration of 12 months, with the possibility of renewal for additional periods for a period never after to the project's end which is expected to be 30/09/2021.
Monthly Stipend: The monthly stipend will be 980,00 Euros, tax free, as determined by FCT, I.P. Scientific Fellowships regulations for Portugal (www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores) to be paid by bank transfer.
Workplace: the activities will be performed at Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute in Funchal | Madeira – Portugal and/or Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) facilities in Lisbon (Portugal).
Application process:
Applications must be in English and include:
- Motivation letter
- CV, including research experience, academic qualifications and final grades.
- Link to online portfolio or related website
Optional recommendation letters can contribute positively to the candidate evolution
Applications must be sent by e-mail, with subject ““FCT32474/003 BI position_Your_Last_Name””, to the e-mail address: [email protected].
The selected candidate must submit proof of her/his Degree within 10 days following notification of the preliminary results. More information about Diplomas recognition may be found in the Euraxess portal.
Methods of selection:
Selection methods shall be as follows: - Educational background and graduation (CV) (60%)
- Technology related skills relevant for the work plan (CV and motivation letter) (40%)
Evaluation based on the scale: Excellent (4), Good (3) Satisfactory (2), and Poor (0). In case of equally qualified candidates, interviews will be conducted and recommendations from previous supervisors will be considered, as well as a candidate’s perceived fit and potential contribution to the project.
Jury Selection:
- Nuno Nunes, PhD, IST-ID/M-ITI
- Valentina Nisi, PhD, M-ITI/UMa
- Pedro Campos, PhD, M-ITI/UMa
Scientific Orientation: Dr. Valentina Nisi
Notification of Results: The highest scoring candidate will be notified by email as well as all other candidates. After being notified, candidates have 10 work days to present a claim by email. If no claim is received by M-ITI, the jury’s decision will become definitive.
Application Period: From September 10 to September 30, 2018.
Contract start date is expected to be in October 2018
Notes: - Under the terms of D.L. No. 29/2001, of February 3, a disabled candidate has a preference when in equal classification, which prevails over any other legal preference. Candidates must declare on the application form their respective degree of disability, the type of disability and the means of communication / expression to be used in the selection process, under the terms of the aforementioned diploma.
- The selection process will be based on the principle of non-discrimination in respect of gender, age, nationality, religion, racial group, or any other possible discriminatory issue. Selection will be made only based on merit and following the European Charter for Researchers, the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (Commission Recommendation, Brussels, 11.3.2005, 2005/251/EC) and the recommendations from the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).
- M-ITI is a recognized “refugee welcoming organization" by the European Commission, follows the European Charter for Researchers and welcomes applications from all qualified individuals.
- The deadline for application may be extended at any time without previous notice having in mind the requirements for the positions under this call.
Evaluation Process
Candidates will be evaluated and ranked based on:
Selection committee: Prof. Dr. Maurizio Teli, Prof. Dr. Simone Ashby, and Prof. Dr. Chris Csikszentmihalyi.
Notification of results: All candidates will receive notification via email. The final results will be published in the form of a ranked list of final evaluation scores that will be posted in a visible and public place at Madeira-ITI.
Candidacy term and applications form
Applications will be open from 20 July to 20 August 2018. Applications should be sent by email to [email protected] with the reference “GW/780890/2018-6”.
Applications should be in English and must include:
Applications without the above-mentioned items will not be assessed.
General inquiries regarding the application process should be directed to Sadia Hussain at [email protected]. Informal inquiries about suitability for the position are welcome and should be directed to Dr. Maurizio Teli at [email protected]. The selection committee will begin reviewing applicants on 20 August 2018.
About Grassroots Radio
The Grassroots Radio team is creating a game-changing network of inclusive digital platforms for citizen engagement, community deliberation, and the free flow of information within, into, and out of geographic communities by piloting solutions for connected, inexpensive, community owned and operated radio across Europe. Building on the success of the existing RootIO platform (www.rootio.org) – with its proven commons-oriented technology and catalytic capacities for promoting collective awareness and action, participatory innovation, community resilience, and media pluralism – we are deploying and testing a network of low-power community radio stations in Ireland, Portugal, and Romania as part of the Horizon 2020 Grassroot Wavelengths project (nº 780890), funded by the European Commission.
We are currently looking to expand our team to include a person with an interdisciplinary background, mixing the social sciences and design, to be involved in the activities of participatory innovation and iterative evaluation of the project.
The Opportunity
The Grassroots Radio team, led by the Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute (Madeira-ITI), seeks a post-doctoral researcher with an interest in the participatory design of the interfaces for community governance of networked radio stations, with a particular focus on commons-based forms of governance and cooperative management. The hired person will be collaborating with the international partners of the consortium on the identified tasks, and will have the opportunity to produce original collaborative research and joint publications with other members of the network, as well as being afforded funding for travel to partner sites, and for attending conferences and workshops. While the emphasis of this work is on the participatory design of the governance of radio stations, a candidate with strong interdisciplinary skills would be able to learn many of the domain-specific approaches on the job.
Legislation and regulations: The fellowships are directed to applicants under the Research Grant Holder Statute nº40/2004 (18 August), with current conditions established in the regulations by Portugal’s National Science and Technology Foundation at http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT.pdf.
Workplace and contract duration: The work will be conducted at Madeira-ITI, in Funchal, Portugal. The successful candidate is expected to join Madeira-ITI by 1 October 2018 (or as soon thereafter as possible). The initial contract will be for a period of 12 months, for potential renewable up to a maximum of 24 months, or until the end of the project if fewer than 24 months remain before the official project deadline.
Monthly stipend:
The monthly stipend will be 980€ for a candidate with a Master degree and 1495€ for a candidate with a PhD degree, tax free.
The stipends are in accordance with the amounts established by Portugal’s National Science and Technology Foundation, the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) at https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores.phtml.en. The social security is paid by the hiring entity.
The social security is paid by the hiring entity and is for researchers to access the public health system in case of sickness, for retirement, to support in case of paternity, invalidity or professional disease.
About Madeira-ITI
Madeira-ITI is an innovation institute and non-profit R&D organization that operates in the interdisciplinary domain of human-computer interaction (HCI) for addressing and engaging in important scientific and technological challenges that have societal relevance and impact. Madeira-ITI is one of the top HCI centers in Europe, recently evaluated as "Excellent" by Portugal’s National Science and Technology Foundation (FCT). Madeira is a small semi-autonomous island, located off the coast of Morocco, with a quarter of a million people, an awe-inspiring landscape, and an average year-round temperature of 21ºC.
Work Plan
With the support of other members of the team, in particular in collaboration with Prof. Maurizio Teli, you will be responsible for the construction of conceptual models of community governance and cooperative management, together with mock-ups and low-fidelity wireframes of the corresponding possible technological options. Moreover, a strong involvement in the general activities of participatory innovation and design undertaken by the whole consortium, as well as in the activities of iterative evaluation of the deployment and reception of the radio technologies promoted by the project and the innovative practices that emerge around the technologies themselves.
Requirements
Desirables
Selection Process:
The curricular selection process will be based on:
- Educational background and graduation (50%)
- Technology related skills relevant for the work plan execution (40%)
- Communication and presentation skills, assessed from the CV or from optional interview (10%)
Selection Panel:
Nuno Nunes, PhD, IST, M-ITI
Valentina Nisi, PhD, UMa, M-ITI
Pedro Campos, PhD, UMA, M-ITI
Notification of results:
An email message with the result of the recruitment process will be sent to each applicant.
Candidates must send an email to [email protected] no later than 31-08-2018. The subject of the email should be: SMILE-MITI-RH-RA-8.
The following elements should be included in the email:
- Updated Curriculum Vitae including (mandatory)
- Motivation letter (mandatory)
- Optional recommendation letters can contribute positively to the candidate evaluation
Vacancies: 1
Closing date: 31-08-2018
Type of contract: full time
Start date: 01-10-2018 (expected)
Duration: 12 months, eventually renewable, up to 24 months
Monthly stipend: 980 Euros + Voluntary Social Security (SSV), paid by wire transfer, according to the Portuguese directives from the ministry of science and education: www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores.
The fellowship will be paid monthly by bank transfer.
Job country: Portugal
Job city: Funchal
Job company/institute: M-ITI / LARSYS
Workplace: M-ITI / LARSYS under the supervision of Prof. Nuno Nunes (Madeira-ITI, IST)
Job summary:
In the scope of project ““SMILE: SMart IsLand Energy systems (grant nº 731249) from Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute (M-ITI), with the funding support by the EU/EC Horizon 2020 framework, it is now open a call for 1 (one) fully funded RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP at the Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute / LARSYS (Madeira-ITI, http://m-iti.org).
Main research field: Smart Energy Systems – Smart Charging of Electric Vehicles – Environmental Technology
Job Description:
SMILE is an Horizon 2020 funded project with the goal of testing and demonstrating smart grid technologies, as well as business models, within large scale projects. SMILE involves three large scale pilot projects in three Island locations in Europe (Madeira in PT, Samsø in DK and Orkneys in the UK). The objective is to test solutions while establishing mutual learning processes and providing best practice guidance for replication in other regions of Europe.
The three pilots will test different combinations of technological solutions according to local specificities and conditions and the existing infrastructure and will involve all value chain actors needed to efficiently implement projects system-wide. Moreover, cross-cutting activities among the pilots will be devoted to solve common technical, organizational, legal, regulatory and market-related issues as well as to evaluate the solutions from the economic and business points of view.
The technological solutions are varied and include battery integration, heating, water storage, electric vehicles, power storage on boats and dynamic tariffs. These technologies will be applied to real pilots in the three islands, anticipating their impact and entering the market through the direct involvement of citizens. In Portugal (Island of Madeira), the pilot project will have a particular emphasis on the integration of micro-production of electric energy.
Workplan:
The selected candidate will work in close collaboration with the Madeira partners in the deployment, maintenance and evaluation of the three pilot projects. To state more concretely, some of the duties include:
1) Organize studies and apply UX methods, interpret data and run experiments;
2) Aggregate data and apply suitable user research methods;
3) Assist in the production of scientific papers and technical reports.
Legislation and regulations: The scholarships are directed to applicants under the law n.º40/2004 of August 18th (Research Grant Holder Statute) and the current conditions established on the FCT regulations
http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT.pdf
Notes:
The selection process will be based on the principle of non-discrimination in respect of gender, age, nationality, religion, racial group, or any other possible discriminatory issue. Selection will be made only based on merit and following the European Charter for Researchers, the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (Commission Recommendation, Brussels, 11.3.2005, 2005/251/EC) and the recommendations from the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).
M-ITI is a recognized “refugee welcoming organization" by the European Commission, follows the European Charter for Researchers and welcomes applications from all qualified individuals.
The deadline for application may be extended at any time without previous notice having in mind the requirements for the positions under this call.
Candidates should have the following requirements, skills and competences:
● Hold a MSc (or equivalent) in any of the main research areas
● Excellent spoken and written English skills is mandatory
● Knowledge about user-centered design research methods
● Experience in one or more of the following disciplines: Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Design Thinking, and Social Computing
● Practical experience in the field of usability, user testing or user experience
● Designing, conducting and analysing human participant studies
● Practical experience with qualitative and quantitative research methods
● Experience with electric vehicles and smart-charging technologies are a plus
Evaluation & Selection:
The selection criteria is as follows
Curriculum Vitae (maximum 15 points);
Scientific/technological trajectory (maximum 15 points)
Letter of motivation (maximum 15 points)
Proffessional recommendations (maximum 15 points)
Interview* (phone/online) (maximum 40 points)
*Candidates that do not fulfill basic requirements will not be selected for interview
Selection Panel:
- Prof. Dr. Chris Csíkszentmihályi (M-ITI)
- Prof. Dr. Simone Ashby (M-ITI, UMa)
- Prof. Dr. Maurizio Teli (M-ITI)
An internal evaluation committee - including Prof. Dr. Chris Csíkszentmihályi, Prof. Dr. Simone Ashby and Prof. Dr. Maurizio Teli - will rank-order the applications and make a final decision on the selected applicant. The jury may decide to not award the grant if no suitable candidate is found.
Application
Interested candidates should send their applications by email (in English) to [email protected] by 31 July 2018, being sure to include:
A motivation letter, detailing the candidate’s reasons for applying, relevant experience, qualifications, and value proposition related to the vacancy
A curriculum vitae, detailing the candidate’s personal, academic, and professional background, skills, and qualifications
The names and contact details (e-mail addresses and phone numbers) of two professional references
Include Ref GW/780890/2018-6 in the subject heading
Grassroot Wavelengths - Horizon 2020 Project Nº780890
Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute (M-ITI)
The Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute (M-ITI) seeks an experienced and highly skilled Project Manager to be responsible for the overall administration and management support of the Horizon 2020 Grassroot Wavelengths project (nº780890), funded by the European Commission. If possible the project manager would have a research background in one of the scholarly fields covered in the project, and could potentially contribute to the project in both research and administrative capacities.
The successful candidate will work under the supervision of European Research Area Chair Professor Chris Csikszentmihályi and will be an integrated member of the core Project Coordination Team at M-ITI. The position is suited to candidates with project management experience, involving the coordination of multiple partners in international EU funded collaborative projects, as well as knowledge of EU Framework Program funding. The candidate must be comfortable working on complex projects with evolving objectives. S/he will be expected to be a proactive, independent problem solver and innovator, and facilitate collaboration within a broad network of partners across disciplines and for engagement with the wider international Grassroot Wavelengths community.
Responsibilities include:
Providing coordination support for the management and day-to-day running of the project: Maintaining the project plan, tracking progress against Gantt charts, and ensuring conformance with proposed deliverables and milestones; maintaining accurate project records and ensure full compliance with EC regulations amongst the consortium.
Communicating regularly with project partners, EC Project Officers and M-ITI administration team; ensuring EC reporting requirements are met within specified deadlines; managing peer review processes, and working proactively with all partners to make sure deliverables are produced on time and to a high standard; planning and organizing weekly, monthly, and annual progress meetings, workshops and conferences.
Financial management of the project: maintaining a central project budget and spending plan; overseeing overall resource distribution and associated expenditure, completing and submitting EC financial reports; Processing mission planning and mission reports, liaising with Researchers and Principal Investigators, as well as M-ITI’s board.
Support liaison, networking, project web page, social media presence, and other communication; keeping the project’s dissemination and blogging efforts up-to-date (website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube).
Project Description
The Grassroot Wavelengths project will create a game changing network of inclusive digital platforms for citizen engagement, community deliberation, and the free flow of information within, into, and out of discrete geographic communities by piloting solutions for connected, inexpensive, community owned and operated radio across Europe. Our approach Civic Media, born and developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and now based in Madeira, includes community-based participatory design methods for setting up stations and services and understanding the processes in which they will be used and appropriated, along with an emphasis on synthetic speech to support the curation of audio content, thus turning data into media. Building on the success of the existing RootIO platform – with its proven commons-oriented technology and catalytic capacities for promoting/enabling collective awareness and action, participatory innovation, community resilience, and media pluralism – we will: deploy and test a network of low-power community radio stations in Ireland, Portugal, and Romania; work with community groups, journalists, and public good experts to develop a robust platform for expansion across Europe; enhance use and accessibility of networked community radio through text-to-speech, community oriented programming applications, and other community-supported modes for contributing and managing content); and work within the EU framework to establish a public support infrastructure for local ownership and revenue generation. Together, these four actions combine to form a robust and tested platform with a clear path to scaling and exploitation in Europe and beyond.
Contract and Remuneration
The initial contract will be for a period of 12 months, for potential renewable up to a maximum of 24 months, or until the end of the project if fewer than 24 months remain before the official project deadline.
Monthly stipend:
The monthly stipend will be 1230€ for a candidate with a Master degree and 1745€ for a candidate with a PhD degree, tax free.
The stipends are in accordance with the amounts established by Portugal’s National Science and Technology Foundation, the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) at https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores.phtml.en. The social security is paid by the hiring entity.
About Madeira-ITI
Madeira-ITI is an innovation institute and non-profit R&D organization that operates in the interdisciplinary domain of human-computer interaction (HCI) for addressing and engaging in important scientific and technological challenges that have societal relevance and impact. Madeira-ITI is one of the top HCI centers in Europe, recently evaluated as "Excellent" by Portugal’s national science foundation (FCT). Madeira itself is a small semi-autonomous island, located off the coast of Morocco with a quarter of a million people, an awe-inspiring landscape, and an average year-round temperature of 21º degrees.
Required
Masters or PhD in Communication Science, Information Technology, or a related field
At least two years experience in project management
Knowledge of EU funding programs (especially Horizon 2020)
Proven experience managing a European project
Ability to work independently, with excellent attention to detail and accuracy
Strong organization and time management skills, ability to multi-task, prioritize effectively, and work within deadline constraints
Strong communication skills, both oral and written (English)
Evidence of contributing to progress reporting and documentation within research projects
Ability to work as an integral part of an international, multi-disciplinary team
Ability to organise events, e.g. training events, public engagement events and arrange meetings
Financial management skills, e.g. spending planning and budget management
Ability to use spreadsheets, databases and IT presentation packages (i.e. PowerPoint, Microsoft Office/Outlook)
Preferred
- Proven experience in the management and coordination of H2020 projects
- Evidence of experience in conducting research in a related area
Legislation and regulations: The scholarships are directed to applicants under the law n.º40/2004 of August 18th (Research Grant Holder Statute) and the current conditions established on the FCT regulations http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT.pdf
Evaluation & Selection:
- Educational background and progress (25%)
- Interview (40%)*
- Skills and competences related to the project topics and workplan (35%)
*Candidates that do not fulfill basic requirements will not be selected for interview
Selection Panel:
- Prof. Dr. Chris Csíkszentmihályi (M-ITI)
- Prof. Dr. Simone Ashby (M-ITI, UMa)
- Prof. Dr. Maurizio Teli (M-ITI)
An internal evaluation committee - including Prof. Dr. Chris Csíkszentmihályi, Prof. Dr. Simone Ashby and Prof. Dr. Maurizio Teli - will rank-order the applications and make a final decision on the selected applicant. The jury may decide to not award the grant if no suitable candidate is found.
Interested candidates should send a CV, letter of interest, and a list of three references and their contact information by e-mail to [email protected], [email protected] until the 31st of July 2018. Informal inquiries about suitability for the position are welcome.
The subject of the email should be: ALERT4YOU MAC/3.5b/154.
Job summary:
Madeira-ITI is an innovation institute and non-profit R&D organization that operates in the interdisciplinary domain of human-computer interaction (HCI) for addressing and engaging in important scientific and technological challenges that have societal relevance and impact. Madeira-ITI is one of the top HCI centers in Europe, recently evaluated as "Excellent" by Portugal’s national science foundation (FCT). Madeira itself is a small semi-autonomous island, located off the coast of Morocco with a quarter of a million people, an awe-inspiring landscape, and an average year-round temperature of 21º degrees.
Madeira-ITI seeks a researchers with a background in ethnography, anthropology, sociology, sociolinguistics, civic media, information systems, community organizing, or similar, to assume a key role in helping to lead and fulfill the objectives of the Civic Media for Island Autonomy and Resilience component of the Alert4You project (P16.01_MAC1420), funded by the Macaronesian (MAC) Transnational Cooperation INTERREG initiative.
Project Description:
Communities need both autonomy and connectivity; islands even more so. Communities should have the resources for resilience, sustainability, and self-reliance. These resources should be locally owned and operated, accessible by as many people as possible, and most importantly they should be trusted and respected. Information is a resource that amplifies all other resources and can serve as a scaffold to self-reliance and sustainable growth. Our approach, Civic Media, born and developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and now based in Madeira, is to create peer-oriented, software-enabled platforms for the creation and exploitation of information for community resilience in the Macaronesian region. This project focuses on bottom-up, inexpensive, and sustainable approaches to geographic information systems (GIS) and documentation, communication and discourse within communities, and evidence gathering and decision making. Through a program of tactical interventions in the knowledge ecosystems of islands - involving field research, community outreach and engagement, education, citizen science, and grassroots mapping actions - this project aims to bring existing ideas and efforts into new configurations for civic knowledge generation in Cape Verde and Madeira.
Main research field: Ethnography, anthropology, sociology, sociolinguistics, civic media, information systems, community organizing.
Job Description:
The responsibilities of this research position include: oversight of project aims and the continuity of R&D, community engagement and outreach actions; data management; managing communications with international research partners and target community groups and other civic entities; conducting independent and collaborative research focused on the creation and exploitation of information in remote, rural and coastal communities; contributing to the development of resources, tools, and other sociotechnical interventions aimed at civic knowledge generation; facilitating and leading deployment efforts and community-based critique analyses in the field; and special projects, as assigned.
The researcher will work under the supervision of ERA Chair Prof. Dr. Chris Csíkszentmihályi and other M-ITI faculty. S/he will produce original research and have to option to contribute to grant writing if interested. The ideal candidate will possess strong written and verbal communication skills to facilitate collaboration within a broad network of colleagues across disciplines and for engagement with the wider Alert4You/MAC community.
Workplan:
a. Securing and establishing community radio licenses, stations and partnerships
b. Community mapping
c. Supply chain exploration and innovation
This grant will be supervised by Prof. Dr. Chris Csíkszentmihályi (M-ITI) and Prof. Dr. Simone Ashby (M-ITI and UMa).
Workplace: Cabo Verde.
The successful candidate will have proven field research and project management abilities, demonstrated communication skills, and a strong interest in promoting field work and peer-to-peer communications systems in Cape Verde, and advancing the autonomy, connectivity, and resilience of communities through education, engagement and providing access to existing knowledge. Fluency in English and Kabuverdianu is essential. Strong knowledge of the islands of Santo Antão and Sao Nicolau a plus.
Educational background and progress (25%)
Interview (40%)*
Skills and competences related to the project topics and workplan (35%)
*Candidates that do not fulfill basic requirements will not be selected for interview.
Selection Panel:
- Prof. Dr. Chris Csíkszentmihályi (M-ITI)
- Prof. Dr. Simone Ashby (M-ITI, UMa)
- Jude Mukundane (M-ITI)
An internal evaluation committee - including Prof. Dr. Chris Csíkszentmihályi, Prof. Dr. Simone Ashby and Jude Mukundane - will rank-order the applications and make a final decision on the selected applicant. The jury may decide to not award the grant if no suitable candidate is found.
Notification of results:
An email message with the result of the recruitment process will be sent to each applicant.
Interested candidates should send a CV, letter of interest and their contact information by e-mail to [email protected] until the 31st of July 2018.
The subject of the email should be: ALERT4YOU MAC/3.5b/154.
Madeira-ITI is an innovation institute and non-profit R&D organization that operates in the interdisciplinary domain of human-computer interaction (HCI) for addressing and engaging in important scientific and technological challenges that have societal relevance and impact. Madeira-ITI is one of the top HCI centers in Europe, recently evaluated as "Excellent" by Portugal’s national science foundation (FCT). Madeira itself is a small semi-autonomous island, located off the coast of Morocco with a quarter of a million people, an awe-inspiring landscape, and an average year-round temperature of 21º degrees.
Madeira-ITI seeks one research technician with a background in CAD/CAM and light manufacture to assume a key role in helping to lead and fulfill the objectives of the Civic Media for Island Autonomy and Resilience component of the Alert4You project, funded by the Macaronesian (MAC) Transnational Cooperation INTERREG initiative.
Project Description:
Communities need both autonomy and connectivity; islands even more so. Communities should have the resources for resilience, sustainability, and self-reliance. These resources should be locally owned and operated, accessible by as many people as possible, and most importantly they should be trusted and respected. Information is a resource that amplifies all other resources and can serve as a scaffold to self-reliance and sustainable growth. Our approach, Civic Media, born and developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and now based in Madeira, is to create peer-oriented, software-enabled platforms for the creation and exploitation of information for community resilience in the Macaronesian region. This project focuses on bottom-up, inexpensive, and sustainable approaches to geographic information systems (GIS) and documentation, communication and discourse within communities, and evidence gathering and decision making. Through a program of tactical interventions in the knowledge ecosystems of islands - involving field research, community outreach and engagement, education, citizen science, and grassroots mapping actions - this project aims to bring existing ideas and efforts into new configurations for civic knowledge generation in Cape Verde and Madeira.
Job Description:
The responsibilities of this research position include: oversight of project aims and the continuity of R&D, community engagement and outreach actions; data management; managing communications with international research partners and target community groups and other civic entities; conducting independent and collaborative research focused on the creation and exploitation of information in remote, rural and coastal communities; contributing to the development of resources, tools, and other sociotechnical interventions aimed at civic knowledge generation; facilitating and leading deployment efforts and community-based critique analyses in the field; and special projects, as assigned.
The researcher will work under the supervision of ERA Chair Prof. Dr. Chris Csíkszentmihályi and other M-ITI faculty. S/he will produce original research and have to option to contribute to grant writing if interested. The ideal candidate will possess strong written and verbal communication skills to facilitate collaboration within a broad network of colleagues across disciplines and for engagement with the wider Alert4You/MAC community.
The successful candidate will have significant experience in CAD, CAM, with Haas, T-Rex, and related mills, lathes, and general shop experience. They should have worked in a mixed-discipline environment and be prepared to work largely without guidance.
Legislation and regulations: The scholarships are directed to applicants under the law n.º40/2004 of August 18th (Research Grant Holder Statute) and the current conditions established on the FCT regulations http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT.pdf
Evaluation Process
Candidates will be evaluated and ranked based on:
Curriculum Vitae (maximum 15 points)
Scientific/technological trajectory (maximum 15 points)
Motivation letter (maximum 15 points)
Professional recommendations (maximum 15 points)
The five best ranked candidates will be invited for an interview via telephone or an online call (maximum 40 points)
Selection committee: Prof. Dr. Simone Ashby, Prof. Dr. Chris Csikszentmihalyi, and Dr. David Braude.
Notification of results: All candidates will receive notification via email. The final results will be published in the form of a ranked list of final evaluation scores that will be posted in a visible and public place at Madeira-ITI.
Candidacy term and applications form:
Applications will be open from 4 June to 4 July Applications should be sent by email to [email protected] with the reference “GW/780890/2018-5”. Applications should be in English and must include:
A motivation letter, including a cogent argument describing relevant aspects of your career trajectory, and how your knowledge and skill set are well suited to the position
A full CV, including your name, address, phone number, e-mail, previous and present employment, and academic background
The names of two professional references (e-mail addresses and phone numbers)
Applications without the above-mentioned items will not be assessed.
General inquiries regarding the application process should be directed to Sadia Hussain at [email protected]. Informal inquiries about suitability for the position are welcome and should be directed to Dr. Simone Ashby at [email protected]. The selection committee will begin reviewing applicants on 12 July 2018.
About Grassroots Radio
The Grassroots Radio team is creating a game-changing network of inclusive digital platforms for citizen engagement, community deliberation, and the free flow of information within, into, and out of geographic communities by piloting solutions for connected, inexpensive, community owned and operated radio across Europe. Building on the success of the existing RootIO platform (www.rootio.org) – with its proven commons-oriented technology and catalytic capacities for promoting collective awareness and action, participatory innovation, community resilience, and media pluralism – we are deploying and testing a network of low-power community radio stations in Ireland, Portugal, and Romania as part of the Horizon 2020 Grassroot Wavelengths project (nº 780890), funded by the European Commission.
We are currently looking to expand our team to enhance station platforms with localized text-to-speech (TTS) voices for the target regions, enabling community-owned stations to transform data (online weather RSS feeds, municipal Facebook events, local buy and sell ads, etc.) into media, along with tasks that support the development of community-oriented programming applications for contributing and managing content.
The Opportunity
The Grassroots Radio team, led by the Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute (Madeira-ITI), seeks a Research Assistant with a background in computational linguistics, speech processing, network and/or information systems, software engineering, data science, or similar. You are a creative and highly motivated individual with a keen interest in growing your skillset in an exciting and multidisciplinary international consortium, with the potential for real-world impact on isolated geographic communities. You will be part of a team that is creating high-quality, open-source TTS voices, and performing quality control measures via an online crowd-building platform, among other development initiatives. You will also have the opportunity to produce original collaborative research and joint publications with other members of the network, as well as being afforded generous funding for travel to partner sites, and for attending conferences and workshops. While the emphasis of this work is on speech technology, a candidate with strong general technical skills would be able to learn many of the domain-specific approaches on the job.
Work Plan
With the support of other members of the team, you will be responsible for: using web extraction techniques to scrape data from the web; running scripts in Festival, and other preparatory actions essential in the building of TTS voices; casting and recording voice talent; managing a voice talent recording database; using Idlak tools to build DNN acoustic models; contributing to the development of an online crowd-building platform for evaluating TTS output and analyzing errors; helping to develop new ICT resources in cooperation with the project’s community actions/participatory design effort; and communicating and reporting within and outside the project. You will also be responsible for helping to manage short-term radio broadcasting events on the island, in cooperation with our technical and community partners.
Requirements
Master’s degree in Computational Linguistics, Network/Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Data/Communications Science, or a related discipline
Comfort with command-line tools, and experience using Bash, Python, or similar
Experience working with speech and/or text data
Experience with web data extraction (scraping)
Experience with data preparation, database structures and management
Knowledge of client/server architectures and web development
Strong communication skills (including proficient written and spoken English)
Proactive technological self-starter
Positive team player attitude
Willingness to relocate to Madeira, with ability to travel within Europe
Desirable
Experience using Festvox/Festival
Experience using Idlak or Kaldi
Experience implementing deep neural networks and other machine learning techniques
Experience delivering on large-scale technological development projects
Knowledge of popular version control tools (git, mercurial)
Experience working effectively with software engineering teams
Published research in a relevant area
Interest in audio interfaces, languages, podcasts, or radio
Familiarity with Irish Gaelic, Portuguese, or Romanian is a plus
Legislation and regulations: The fellowships are directed to applicants under the Research Grant Holder Statute nº40/2004 (18 August), with current conditions established in the regulations by Portugal’s National Science and Technology Foundation at http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT.pdf.
Work place and contract duration: The work will be conducted at Madeira-ITI, in Funchal, Portugal. The successful candidate is expected to join Madeira-ITI by 4 August 2018 (or as soon thereafter as possible). The initial contract will be for a period of 12 months, for potential renewable up to a maximum of 24 months, or until the end of the project if fewer than 24 months remain before the official project deadline.
Monthly stipend: The monthly stipend will be €980/month, tax free, in accordance with the amount established by the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) at https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores.phtml.en for BI (Bolsas de Investigação) candidates in possession of a Master’s degree. The social security is paid by the hiring entity.
Evaluation Process:
Candidates will be evaluated and ranked based on:
Curriculum Vitae (maximum 15 points)
Scientific/technological trajectory (maximum 15 points)
Motivation letter (maximum 15 points)
Professional recommendations (maximum 15 points)
The five best ranked candidates will be invited for an interview via telephone or an online call (maximum 40 points)
Selection committee: Prof. Dr. Simone Ashby, Prof. Dr. Chris Csikszentmihalyi, and Dr. David Braude.
Notification of results:
All candidates will receive notification via email. The final results will be published in the form of a ranked list of final evaluation scores that will be posted in a visible and public place at Madeira-ITI.
Candidacy term and applications form:
Applications will be open from 4 June to 11 July.
Applications should be sent by email to [email protected] with the reference
“GW/780890/2018-4”:
Applications should be in English and must include:
A motivation letter, including a cogent argument describing relevant aspects of your career trajectory, and how your knowledge and skill set are well suited to the position
A full CV, including your name, address, phone number, e-mail, previous and present employment, and academic background
The names of two professional references (e-mail addresses and phone numbers)
Applications without the above-mentioned items will not be assessed
General inquiries regarding the application process should be directed to Sadia Hussain at [email protected]. Informal inquiries about suitability for the position are welcome and should be directed to Dr. Simone Ashby at [email protected]. The selection committee will begin reviewing applicants on 12 July 2018
About Grassroots Radio
The Grassroots Radio team is creating a game-changing network of inclusive digital platforms for citizen engagement, community deliberation, and the free flow of information within, into, and out of geographic communities by piloting solutions for connected, inexpensive, community owned and operated radio across Europe. Building on the success of the existing RootIO platform (www.rootio.org) – with its proven commons-oriented technology and catalytic capacities for promoting collective awareness and action, participatory innovation, community resilience, and media pluralism – we are deploying and testing a network of low-power community radio stations in Ireland, Portugal, and Romania as part of the Horizon 2020 Grassroot Wavelengths project (nº 780890), funded by the European Commission.
We are currently looking to expand our team to enhance station platforms with localized text-to-speech (TTS) voices for the target regions, enabling community-owned stations to transform data (online weather RSS feeds, municipal Facebook events, local buy and sell ads, etc.) into media, along with tasks that support the development of community-oriented programming applications for contributing and managing content.
The Opportunity
The Grassroots Radio team, led by the Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute (Madeira-ITI), seeks an experienced researcher with a background in computational linguistics, speech processing, network and/or information systems, software engineering, data science, or similar. You are a creative and highly motivated individual with a keen interest in growing your skillset in an exciting and multidisciplinary international consortium, with the potential for real-world impact on isolated geographic communities. You will be part of a team that is creating high-quality, open-source TTS voices, and performing quality control measures via an online crowd-building platform, among other development initiatives. You will also have the opportunity to produce original collaborative research and joint publications with other members of the network, as well as being afforded generous funding for travel to partner sites, and for attending conferences and workshops. While the emphasis of this work is on speech technology, a candidate with strong general technical skills would be able to learn many of the domain-specific approaches on the job.
Brief description of the work plan
With the support of other members of the team, you will be responsible for: using web extraction techniques to scrape data from the web; running scripts in Festival, and other preparatory actions essential in the building of TTS voices; casting and recording voice talent; using Idlak tools to build DNN acoustic models; contributing to the development of an online crowd-building platform for evaluating TTS output and analyzing errors; helping to develop new ICT resources in cooperation with the project’s community actions/participatory design effort; and communicating and reporting within and outside the project.
Requirements
PhD in Computational Linguistics, Network/Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Data/Communications Science, or a related discipline
Comfort with command-line tools, and experience using Bash, Python, or similar
Experience working with speech and/or text data
Experience with web data extraction (scraping)
Experience with data preparation, database structures and management
Knowledge of client/server architectures and web development
Experience working effectively with software engineering teams
Excellent communication skills (including proficient written and spoken English)
Published research in a relevant area
Proactive technological self-starter
Positive team player attitude
Willingness to relocate to Madeira, with ability to travel within Europe
Desirable
Experience using Festvox/Festival
Experience using Idlak or Kaldi
Experience implementing deep neural networks and other machine learning techniques
Experience delivering on large-scale technological development projects
Knowledge of popular version control tools (git, mercurial)
Interest in audio interfaces, languages, podcasts, or radio
Familiarity with Irish Gaelic, Portuguese, or Romanian is a plus
Legislation and regulations: The fellowships are directed to applicants under the law nº40/2004 of August 18th (Research Grant Holder Statute) and the current conditions established on the FCT regulations http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT.pdf.
Work place and Fellowship duration: The work will be conducted at Madeira-ITI, in Funchal, Portugal. The successful candidate is expected to join Madeira-ITI by 4 August 2018 (or as soon thereafter as possible). The initial contract will be for a period of 12 months, for potential renewable up to a maximum of 24 months, or until the end of the project if fewer than 24 months remain before the official project deadline.
Monthly stipend: The monthly stipend will be €1495/month, tax free, according to the amounts established by Portugal’s National Science and Technology Foundation, the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) at https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores.phtml.en. The social security is paid by the hiring entity.
