Call For A Phd Scholarship In The Area Of “Emerging Technologies – Simulation Of Structural Batteries At The Nanoscale”

15 May 2023

Job Information

Organisation/Company

Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica

Research Field

Engineering » Mechanical engineering

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

Portugal

Application Deadline

31 May 2023 - 18:00 (Europe/Lisbon)

Type of Contract

Not Applicable

Job Status

Not Applicable

Offer Starting Date

17 May 2023

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by an EU programme

Reference Number

Notice nº 06/IDMEC/UIDP/50022/2020

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

Notice nº 06/IDMEC/UIDP/50022/2020

Offer description

The Institute of Mechanical Engineering – IDMEC (LAETA Research Unit) is opening a call for a PhD Scholarship in the area of “Emerging Technologies – Simulation of Structural Batteries at the Nanoscale” under the terms of the Regulation of FCT Research Grants (RBI) and of the Research Grant Holder Statute (EBI). The grant will be funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the Collaboration Protocol signed between the FCT and the R&D Unit No. 50022, LAETA - Associate Laboratory for Energy, Transport and Aeronautics, within the scope of the UIDP funding /50022/2020.

The duration of the scholarship is annual, renewable up to a maximum of four years (48 months). The research activities leading to the attainment of the academic degree of Doctor of the selected scholarship holder will developed in the scope of the Doctoral Program in Mechanical Engineering of IST.

The call is open between 17th May 2023 and 6 pm (18:00) of 31st May 2023.

Applications and documents supporting the application must submitted by email to [email protected]

It is essential, under penalty of non-admission to the Call, to attach the following documents to the application:

Elements of identity card/citizen card/passport;

Candidate's curriculum vitae;

Certificates of qualification of the academic degrees held, specifying the final classification and the grades obtained in all subjects taken, or, alternatively, the candidate's declaration of honor that he completed the master's degree by the end of the term of application.

Certificate of recognition of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions and record of the conversion of the respective final classification to the Portuguese classification scale;

Letters of recommendation;

Motivation letter;

Write the application and all documents associated with it, including letters of recommendation, in Portuguese or in English.

Regarding the admissibility requirements, it is noted that in the case of academic degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions, and in order to ensure the application of the principle of equal treatment to candidates holding foreign and national academic degrees, it is mandatory to recognition of these grades and the conversion of the respective final classification to the Portuguese classification scale. Recognition of foreign academic degrees and diplomas, as well as the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale, can be requested at any public higher education institution, or at the Directorate-General for Higher Education (DGES, only in the case of automatic recognition). Regarding this matter, it is suggested to consult the DGES portal at the following address: https:// www. dges.gov.pt.

Only candidates who have completed the cycle of studies leading to a Master's degree by the end of the application period will admitted.

Workplan

The objective of this work is part of a broader project on structural solid- state batteries that can result in disruptive technologies for electric vehicles. The main idea is to avoid the extra weight added by lithium-ion batteries by developing multifunctional materials that act as structural components and batteries. Recently, a new vitreous ferroelectric electrolyte with unprecedented electrical permittivity and ionic conductivity has been proposed as a disruptive solution for solid-state batteries. It starts from the existing FEB technology, developing it and benefiting from the group's knowledge of mechanical engineering, through simulation and mechanical tests, with the objective of producing structural batteries adapted to electric vehicles.

The thermal, electrical and fault control mechanisms involved in the constituents of structural batteries will be identified and analyzed through the development of Multiphysics and multiscale models that will support the design of new optimized structural batteries.

This task will be divided into two activities:

1. In the development of Molecular Dynamics (MD) models to assess the nanoscale mechanical properties of battery constituents (electrodes, electrolytic composite). Mechanical characterization will involve elasticity, strength and fracture properties. MD models will allow an in-depth study of the electrochemical-mechanical behavior of the interfaces between the different constituents (atomic interactions at the grain and fiber boundaries), to better characterize the behavior of structural batteries.

2. In the development of constitutive models based on atomistic finite elements (at the atom and molecule scale) to simulate the mechanical, thermal and electrochemical behavior of each of the constituents of a structural battery (including the electrodes, electrolyte and their interfaces).

Scientific Supervisor, Prof. Pedro Areias, IST

Required Education Level

To apply for the PhD Scholarship, the candidate must have a Master degree in Mechanical Engineering. Note that academic degrees obtained in foreign countries shall be registered by a Portuguese institution, according to the Decree-Law nr. 66/2018, of August, 16th, and the Ordinance nr. 33/2019, of January, 25th. It is mandatory to present the Certificate to sign the contract. More information is available on: https: // www. dges.gov.pt/pt/pagina/reconhecimento.

Skills/Qualifications

To apply for the PhD Scholarship, the candidate must also have deep knowledge of modeling the behavior of nanocomposite structures, FGM and piezoelectric structures and various techniques for simulating thin-walled structures (plates, shells). Being author of scientific papers published in high impact indexed international journals on the topic of the scholarship is a major benefit for the evaluation.

Benefits

Scholarship holders are allocated a monthly maintenance, € 1.199,64, allowance in accordance with the table in Annex I of the RBI (https:// www. fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores). The exchange may also include other components, under the terms set out in article 18 of the RBI and for the amounts provided for in its Annex II.

All scholarship holders benefit from a personal accident insurance for research activities, supported by the FCT.

All scholarship holders who are not covered by any social protection scheme can ensure the exercise of their right to social security by joining the voluntary social insurance scheme, under the terms of the Code of Contribution Schemes of the Social Assistance System, ensuring FCT the charges resulting from contributions under the terms and within the limits provided for in article 10 of the EBI.

Payments due to the scholarship holder are made by bank transfer to the account identified by him. Payment of the monthly maintenance allowance is made on the first working day of each month. Payments for the enrollment, enrollment or tuition fees are made by the FCT directly to the national institution where the scholarship holder is enrolled or enrolled in the PhD.

Eligibility criteria

The eligibility criterion and selection process only takes into account the candidate's merit. Applications considered admissible will be scored on a scale from 0 to 100 on a single evaluation criterion that takes into account the final classification of master's degree, merit of CV, experience in the scientific area of the project.

Important notice for applicants with diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions:

• Candidates with diplomas issued by foreign higher education institutions can apply and will be evaluated with the same criteria as candidates with diplomas issued by Portuguese institutions, provided that they present, in their application, proof of recognition of academic degrees and conversion of final classification for the Portuguese scale, under the terms of the applicable legislation.

• Candidates with foreign diplomas who do not present proof of conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale will be evaluated with a classification of 0 points in criterion (A).

Selection process

The evaluation of the candidates and the selection will be conducted by the following Jury Members:

Professor Nuno Miguel Rosa Pereira Silvestre, IST, President

Professor Hélder Carriço Rodrigues, IST

Professor Aurélio Lima Araújo, IST

Prof. Virginia Infante, Alternative member

Prof. José Miranda Guedes, Alternative member

Templates will be produced from the meetings of the evaluation panel, under the responsibility of all its members. The minutes and their attachments must include the following information:

• Name and affiliation of all evaluation panel members;

• Identification of all excluded applications and their respective reasons;

• Methodology adopted by the panel for cases considered to be particular;

• Final Assessment Forms for each candidate;

• Provisional ranking and ranking list of candidates, in descending order of the final ranking, of all applications evaluated by the panel;

• CDI statements from all panel members;

• Possible delegations of votes and powers due to absence.

The evaluation results are communicated via e-mail to the e-mail address used by the candidate to send the application/indicated in the application.

After being notified, candidates have 10 working days to submit a formal rebuttal.

INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY OF FINANCING GRANTED

In all direct or significant R&D activities financed by the grant, namely, in all communications, publications and scientific creations, as well as theses, carried out with the support provided for in the grant, mention must be made of financial support from FCT and the Fund European Social Network, namely through the Demography, Qualifications and Inclusion Program (PDQI). For this purpose, they must be inscribed in the documents relating to these actions as FCT, MCTES, ESF and EU insignia, in accordance with the graphic rules of the community support program.

The dissemination of research results financed under the RBI must comply with the rules for open access to data, publications and other research results in force at FCT.

In all scholarships, and in particular in the case of actions supported by community funding, namely the ESF, follow-up and control actions may be carried out by national and community bodies in accordance with the applicable legislation in this matter, with the supported scholarship holders being obliged to of collaboration and provision of the requested information, which includes carrying out surveys and evaluation studies in this area, even though the grant has already ended.

Requirements

Research Field

Engineering » Mechanical engineering

Education Level

Master Degree or equivalent

Additional Information Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

IDMEC- Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica

Country

Portugal

State/Province

Lisboa

City

Lisboa

Postal Code

1049-001

Street

IDMEC, Av Rovisco Pais, 1

Geofield

Where to apply

E-mail

[email protected]

Contact

City

Lisboa

Website

https: // www. idmec.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/about/job-openings/

Street

Av Rovisco Pais, 1

Postal Code

1049-001

STATUS: EXPIRED