INL Researchers get FCT support for Scientific Employment
Two researchers working at INL have been awarded a contract in the 2021 Individual Scientific Employment Stimulus Competition (CEEC), which is the fourth edition of this call promoted by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) for doctoral researchers in all scientific areas.
Alejandro Garrido-Maestu was granted the category of Assistant Researcher working on the development of non-targeted detection methods and novel natural antimicrobial nanoparticles to fight pathogens and antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms in the food chain of ready-to-eat foods. Alejandro “was very excited when he found out about the outcome, actually, it was a colleague telling me that the evaluation was released, and I was so nervous I couldn’t even find my name on the list. He is very happy as this is a very competitive call and a great opportunity to stabilize his career and set his research line. Also, he believes the project to be developed will bring very interesting results and will allow enhancing the safety of ready-to-eat products and also aid in the raising challenge associated to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.”
And in the category of Junior Researcher, we have Jennifer Teixeira working in the “Nanomaterials with tailored properties based on metal oxide nanolaminates for carrier selective contacts in optoelectronic applications” project.
Being awarded “the CEEC Individual funding will allow me to work on fundamental material science applied to energy transition systems. The urge for both sustainable and efficient energy solutions, brings unprecedented challenges to materials science, as advanced devices are limited by the materials’ choice. So, during the project, nano- and multi-layered materials will be designed to perfectly fit the already existing technologies, and answer some of the advanced devices’ current needs”, says Jennifer Teixeira.
The results announced by FCT indicate that 3, 730 applications were evaluated. The 400 selected investigators fall into four contractual categories: 208 Junior Investigator, 156 Assistant Investigator, 35 Principal Investigator, and 1 Coordinating Investigator. Women represent 54.8% of the selected candidates and researchers of foreign nationality 31.5% of the total, representing a growth of 4.5% compared to the previous competition.