Hovione is an international company with over 60 years of experience in pharmaceutical development and manufacturing operations. As a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) it has a fully integrated offering of services for drug substances, drug product intermediates and drug products. The company has four FDA inspected sites in the USA, Portugal, Ireland and China and development laboratories in Lisbon, Portugal and New Jersey, USA. Hovione provides pharmaceutical customers services for the development and compliant manufacture of innovative drugs, including highly potent compounds, and customized product solutions across the entire drug life cycle. In the inhalation area, Hovione offers a complete range of services, from API, formulation development and manufacturing, capsule filling and devices. Hovione's culture is based on innovation, quality and dependability. Hovione is a member of Rx-360, EFCG and participates actively in industry quality improvement initiatives to lead new global industry standards.

As an integral part of our Innovation Strategy, Hovione is opening an application process for the allocation of 1 (one) research scholarship complying with the provisions of the FCT Regulation for Studentships and Fellowships (RBI) and the Research Fellowship Holder Statute (EBI), according to their current versions.
 

Title of the Research Project: Inhalable Protein Drug Delivery Systems towards the development of new modalities of Inhalation Drug Products.

Research Project Overview: The available portfolio of excipients used in inhalation is limited when compared with the number of approved excipients in orally administered drug products. New excipients are sorely needed in the inhalation field to address challenges in the development of this type of medication and protein-based materials hold great potential as excipients to be explored for use in inhalation pharmaceutical products. 

The activities will be developed around a research project to develop new protein-based excipients to address this need and is expected to focus on the following tasks: 

• Participate in research planning;
• Interact with research partners and collaborators;
• Execution and troubleshooting of research plan;
• Data management, communication of results and scientific findings in internal and external forums upon approval;
• Write the thesis document and other documents that attest for progress in the plan being executed; 
• Acquire knowledge in protein engineering, protein characterization, development and characterization of pharmaceutical inhalation products, and skills in independent thinking, research planning and research ethical practice;
• Fulfil the requirements set by the Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa to be awarded a PhD in Biochemistry.

Candidate Eligibility Requirements:

The following individuals may apply to this call: 

1. Portuguese citizens or citizens from other member-states of the European Union. 
2. Citizens from third-party states. 
3. Stateless individuals. 
4. Citizens holding a political refugee status. 

To apply for the PhD Research Scholarship, applicants must have:

• An excellent academic record with an MSc and BSc degree in biochemistry, cell and molecular biology or equivalent, along with demonstrated experience in protein biochemistry, engineering, and biophysical/spectroscopic methods for protein characterization. 
• Proficiency in English, with excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong personal attributes, including enthusiasm, organization skills and objectivity; analytical sense (attention to detail); sense of responsibility and ethics; ability to analyze and solve problems; good interpersonal skills.
• A strong interest in applied research and innovation within an industrial context.

WORKPLACE

The implementation of the program will take place at Hovione's premises, in close collaboration with the Protein Misfolding and Amyloids in Biomedicine Laboratory at BioISI, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa. 

SUPERVISION

The PhD will be supervised by Cláudio M. Gomes, PhD (Full Professor of Biochemistry, Faculdade de Ciências ULisboa) and Paulo Lino, PhD (Senior Scientist, Hovione).

DURATION

The scholarship has a maximum duration of 4 years; it is granted on a full-time basis and is awarded annually, for periods of 12 consecutive months and automatically renewable, unless under the applicable legislation the scholar fails to fulfill his / her assigned duties. 

The scholarship is scheduled to start in September 2025 on an exclusive basis.

APPLICATION

The call is open from February 24th to March 14th 2025, until 5:00 pm (Lisbon time).

Applications must be completed through a motivation letter to bolsas@hovione.com, mentioning the Program and this announcement, together with the following documents: 

• Letter of Motivation, 
• Detailed Curriculum Vitae of the applicant [proving the above mentioned requirements] 
• Copy of relevant diploma, a valid email address and a contact telephone number, contact details of 2 persons as referrals and other documents which the applicant considers relevant for the evaluation of his/her application.

Only applications received until 5.00pm (Lisbon time) on March 14th 2025 will be considered. 
 

EVALUATION

The selection methods are as follows:

• Eligibility screening: all applications received are screened and applications that do not fulfil the criteria published in the call for applications rules are rejected.  Should an application not fulfil the formal requirements of the call for applications, Hovione will send a notification by e-mail specifying the reason for its rejection. 
• Shortlisting: each of the eligible applications is sent to the evaluation panel with broad experience in the discipline of the application. The applications that receive the highest scores from the panel will pass to the next stage. Hovione will notify candidates whether they have been shortlisted or not by e-mail. 
• Interviews: candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be called in for an interview. The interviews will be held remotely. They will be conducted in Portuguese and/or English. 

The evaluation criteria that govern the selection process:

1. Scientific merit taking into account the curriculum vitae of the candidate, degree/masters grade (minimum 16/20), participation in research projects, suitability of the candidate's profile to the Program theme and candidate experience in the Program theme;
2. Level of English;
3. Motivation Letter
4. Interview

Each item will be scored on a scale of 0-20, with the following weights: Curriculum vitae and experience (40%), English (10%), motivation letter (10%) and interview (40%).

EVALUATION PANEL

The panel responsible for evaluating the candidates is composed of the following members:

• Alexandre Ribeiro, PhD, Panel Coordinator
• Paulo Lino, PhD, Senior Scientist
• Cláudio M. Gomes, PhD, Professor

FINANCING

The scholarship has a value of € 1.309.64, which is in accordance with the table of values for scholarships awarded directly by FCT, I.P. (Tabela_valores_SMM_2025.pdf), and is 100% funded by Hovione. The scholarship payment will be made monthly. The tuition fees of the Academic Institution will also be paid entirely by Hovione.
 

PUBLICATION OF RESULTS

The provisional results of the evaluation are communicated via e-mail to the e-mail address used by the applicant and will be published up to 90 working days after the deadline for submitting applications.

After the provisional results have been communicated to the applicants, those who have an unfavourable provisional decision may use their right to dispute it. Applicants should send an email to bolsas@hovione.com which must include an explanatory text together with the documents that the applicant deems appropriate. Resolutions will be sent by email within 10 calendar days from the date of the email. Final results will then be disclosed.

CONTACT INFORMATION

For further inquiries, please contact: Sónia Ferreira (sferreira@hovione.com) 

We look forward to receiving your application!