Within the topic of Ocean Accounting (OA) and decision support models for oceans management and the Sustainable Development Goals, the research plan is focused on the development of novel frameworks for the integration of environmental, economic and social data for Ocean Accounts, based on remote and in-situ observations as well as on historical data. The objective is to identify and tackle information gaps, establish priorities for data retrieval, analyse the level of maturity of current methodologies, and assess the multi-dimensional / multi-context /multicultural nature of the problem. Additionally, contributions to the current systems will be pursued based on Geostatistical Simulation. The PhD candidate, who will spend his first year at IB-S / University of Minho, will collaborate on the design and implementation of a pilot project for Atlantic Islands, with particular focus on Macaronesia and Sao Tome and Principe. Exchange periods in other institutions and locations, including the potential participants of the pilot project, are also expected. This pilot project, which would be the first in the Atlantic region, is of great interest for both regional and global authorities and scientific communities involved in the topic.
Notice of the call
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Candidates
AIR Centre PhD grants are aimed at applicants enrolled or that comply with the requirements to enroll for PhD related studies and who wish to carry out research towards this degree. Candidates with a bachelor’s or master’s degree with a particularly relevant academic or scientific curriculum that is recognized as certifying the ability to undertake the PhD may apply.
Summary of work plan
The detailed work programme will consist of a group of activities to be developed during the entire PhD period. The work programme and the contents of each activity will be further detailed at the beginning of the first year, under the guidance of the tutor. Other supervisors will be considered for involvement in the project at this stage, while the pilot architecture is matured and materialized.
The overall contents of each of the planned activities may be summarized as follows:
- Activity 1: Materialize the pilot project architecture, including the geographies and partners to involve, as well as variables and contexts to analyse;
- Activity 2: Establish a robust and effective workflow to aid with the definition of the boundaries and the level of detail to observe for various types of projects, including the scoping and the identification of the key variables or indicators, with a particular focus on the pilot project to be developed;
- Activity 3: Develop a simple and effective modelling approach based on Geostatistics and AI (e.g. machine learning, neural networks), aimed at integrating the information collected from the pilot project area, aimed at describing complex marine systems under the three dimensions: environmental, social and economic. These systems should aim at becoming essential tools for monitoring global changes and provide predictive scenarios, as well as to support decisions;
- Activity 4: Develop and conceptually test nature-based ecosystems rehabilitation solutions, in collaboration with ongoing projects, and measure their impact in certain regions of interest within the pilot project area;
- Activity 5: Implement and validate the methodology and models developed possibly at two different scales and scenarios: 1) at the oceanic scale, focussing on an Oceans Accounting project for the Macaronesian region; 2) at the coastal and regional scale, focussing on an Oceans Accounts project for the Littoral North Natural Park in Esposende – Portugal and two other Portuguese Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s).
Name(s) of supervisor(s)
Eduardo Pereira, IB-S – Institute of Science and Innovation for Bio-Sustainability /
ISISE – Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering, University of Minho
Name(s) of hosting institution(s)
IB-S / ISISE
Identification of PhD program
PhD in Civil Engineering, University of Minho
The AIR Centre PhD Scholarship Programme aims at training the leaders of the future
Enhancing scientific research and technology development capabilities of AIR Centre Network in order to better respond to national priorities and global challenges in the Atlantic region;
- Strengthening existing collaboration ties and exploring or developing new collaboration ties between the AIR Centre and the Portuguese scientific community in areas of common interest;
- Promoting bilateral/multilateral cooperation between Portuguese scientific institutions and other institutions from diverse Atlantic countries through inclusive knowledge and data sharing to promote job creation, young entrepreneurship and inclusive sustainable development;
- Expanding the reach of the AIR Centre scientific agenda through a wider engagement with the academia to demonstrate the societal relevance and public value of research.
Doctoral research work will be carried out entirely or partially in a Portuguese institution.
Duration
Scholarships are annual, renewable to a maximum of 4 years.
Submission
Applications and all supporting documents must be submitted online using the Application Form available on each scholarship page. Applications submitted by other means will not be accepted.
Application Process
Please note that you will need the items listed below. To ease the submission process, we suggest you gather them before you start your application:
- Copy of your Identification Document (ID card, passport);
- Recognition of the foreign academic degrees and the conversion of the respective final grade to the Portuguese grading scale, if applicable;
- Your Curriculum Vitae and saved as PDF;
- A Motivation Letter;
- Your PhD work plan, if applicable (please check scholarship link for details before working on this);
- 2 Recommendation letters.
- Ciência ID
Except for official documents, application and all related documents must be submitted in English.
Notification of results
Evaluation results will be communicated to the email address provided by the candidates in the application form.
Before applying, IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you carefully read the Public Notice of the Call for detailed information on the application, evaluation and selection process. Public Notice can be found on each scholarship page.
To access the Application Form (found within each scholarship page), you need to Register (create an account). When doing so, please make sure to write your email address correctly since all relevant information regarding your application will be sent to that email. Once you register, a password will be sent to your email and you can then Log In. Access the Scholarship Programme tab and scroll down to see all the available scholarships.
You can only submit one application for each scholarship. You can edit and save the application form at any time. The form will be available on the platform for editing until the application deadline, or until you submit the application. Once you submit your application, you will not be able to un-submit or make any changes.
Please note that the application to this scholarship program does not grant you a place in a PhD programme. Make sure you apply to the PhD programme identified in each scholarship.
Questions related to the application process or Application Form should be addressed to the AIR Centre through the email scholarships@aircentre.org using the following subject line: AIR Centre PhD Scholarship Programme – [your name]. The AIR Centre will reply to all information requests up to 3 working days before the applications submission deadline. Before contacting the AIR Centre carefully read all the documents related to the Call and the information available on the AIR Centre’s website.
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