INESC TEC is now accepting grant applications to award 1 Research Initiation Grant (BII) within the scope of the
Plurianual_LA funded by National Funds through FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P.,
project (reference LA/P/0063/2020
1. GRANT DESCRIPTION
Type of grant: Research Initiation Grant (BII)
General scientific area: COMPUTER SCIENCE
Scientific subarea:
Grant duration: 6 months, starting on 2023-03-03, with the possibility of being renewed for a maximum term of one
year.
Scientific advisor: Manuel Barbosa
Workplace: INESC TEC, Porto, Portugal
Maintenance stipend: € 486,12, according to the table of monthly maintenance stipend for FCT grants
(http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores), paid via bank transfer. Grant holders may be awarded potential
supplements, according to a quarterly evaluation process (Articles 19, 21 and 22 of the Regulations for Grants of
INESC TEC and Annex II), up to a maximum limit of 50% of the monthly maintenance stipend.
INESC TEC supports costs with registration, enrolment or tuition fees, during the grant duration, under the terms
established in the internal document: "Payment of Tuition fees to grant holders".
The grant holder will benefit from health insurance, supported by INESC TEC.
2. OBJECTIVES:
FIDO2 is a cryptographic protocol that aims to replace password-based authentication with strong authentication
using a hardware token. Recently, several modifications were proposed to this protocol for additional security,
but it is not clear what is the performance/security tradeoff of these modifications.
The goal of this project is to develop an implementation of FIDO2 that permits assessing these tradeoffs and to
create an open-source library that offers all variants of the protocol.
3. BRIEF PRESENTATION OF THE WORK PROGRAMME AND TRAINING:
- Analysis of the FIDO2 protocol;
- Development of a first prototype in a low level language, e.g., C or Jasmin;
- Development of alternative versions of the protocol;
- Performance analysis.
4. REQUIRED PROFILE:
Admission requirements:
- Degree in Computer Science, Informatics or similar.
The awarding of the fellowship is dependent on the applicants' enrolment in study cycle or non-award courses of
Higher Education Institutions.
Preference factors:
- Experience in cryptography and implementation of cryptographic protocols.
Minimum requirements:
- Knowledge in programming (ex: c/c++, python);
- Knowledge in cryptography.
5. EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS AND SELECTION PROCESS:
Selection criteria and corresponding valuation: the first phase comprises the Academic Evaluation (AC), based
on the criteria referred to in Article 12 of the Regulations for Grants of INESC TEC, while the second phase
comprehends the Individual Interview (EI). All factors are evaluated on a scale of 0 to 100, taking into account the
applicants' merit, suitability and conformity with the preference factors.
The weight of the AC factors are as follows: Academic Qualifications (FA, 70%), Scientific Publications (PC, 0%),
Experience (EX, 30%) and Motivation Letter (CM, 0%).
Candidates who score less than 50 points in the AC average will be considered excluded on absolute merit. The top
five candidates approved on absolute merit will be qualified for the individual interview. The Final Grade (CF) is
obtained by the weighted average of AC (85%) and EI (15%).
The Selection Jury is composed of the following members:
President of the Jury: Manuel Barbosa
Full member: José Bacelar Almeida
Full member: Bernardo Luís Portela
Substitute member: Hugo Pereira Pacheco
Release of results and prior hearing: the results of the selection process, as well as the terms and procedures for
prior hearing, will be released to the applicants by email, under the terms referred to in Article 13 of the Regulations
for Studentships and Fellowships of INESC TEC.
6. FORMALISATION OF APPLICATIONS:
Application Documents:
1. Motivation letter;
2. Curriculum Vitae (must include the list of previous fellowships, their type, beginning and end dates, funding
entities and host institutions);
3. Certificate or diploma degree dully recognised in Portugal;
● Documents proving the awarding of academic degrees and diplomas, or the according recognition - in cases of academic degrees or
diplomas granted by a foreign higher education institution - can be dismissed in the application process, and replaced by the
applicant's declaration of honour, with the verification of said condition taking place during the grant's hiring stage. The submission of
the certificate is mandatory when signing the contract.
● Academic degrees or diplomas awarded by a foreign higher education institution require an authentication by a Portuguese higher
education institution, and the corresponding registration on the DGES platform, in conformity with Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of August
16, and Ordinance no. 33/2019, of January 25. More information available on the website
https://www.dges.gov.pt/pt/pagina/reconhecimento?plid=374
4. Proof of enrollment in a degree awarding study cycle or in a non degree awarding Higher Education program.
● The proof of enrollment may be presented just during the grant hiring stage.
5. Signed declaration stating not having benefited from any other research fellowship (Article 5, no. 5)
6. Documental evidence to support the country of residence, residence permit or other legally equivalent
document, in cases where the applicant is a foreigner or non-resident in Portugal - valid until the beginning of
the grant.
7. Other supporting documents relevant to the final assessment.
Failure to deliver the required documents within the 90-day period after the date of the notice of the conditional
awarding of the grant implies its cancellation.
Application period: From 2023-02-01 to 2023-02-14
Submission of applications: the application will be formalised by submitting the form available in the Work With
Us section of INESC TEC website.
7. BINDING LEGISLATION AND REGULATION
The hiring process shall comply with the current legislation regarding the Research Grant Holder Statute, approved
by Law no. 40/2004 of August 18, in its current wording, as well as by the Regulations for Grants of INESC TEC
and for FCT Grants Regulation in force.
For more information, please check the Regulations for Grants of INESC TEC and relevant annexes at
www.inesctec.pt/bolsas
