INESC TEC is accepting applications to award 1 Scientific Research Grant - Plurianual_25-29 - CRACS (AE2026-0235)

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Portuguese version: https://repositorio.inesctec.pt/editais/pt/AE2026-0235.pdf CALL FOR GRANT APPLICATIONS (AE2026-0235) INESC TEC is now accepting grant applications to award 1 Research Initiation Grant (BII) within the scope of the Multiannual Funding of R&D Units 2025-2029, with the reference UID/50014/2025, Funded by national funds through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), I.P. 1. GRANT DESCRIPTION Type of grant: Research Initiation Grant (BII) General scientific area: COMPUTER SCIENCE Scientific subarea: Programming,Informatics Grant duration: 3 months, starting on 2026-10-01 , with the possibility of being renewed for a maximum term of one year. Scientific advisor: Álvaro Figueira Workplace: INESC TEC, Porto, Portugal Maintenance stipend: 701.12, according to the table of monthly maintenance stipend for FCT grants ( https://www.fct.pt/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Tabela-de-Valores-SMM_atu… ), 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" ( https://www.inesctec.pt/pagamento-propinas-bolseirosEN ) The grant holder will benefit from health insurance, supported by INESC TEC. 2. OBJECTIVES: - Support recruitment and session logistics, using a pre-registered study (OSF) and 10 to 12 expert analysts; - Conduct sessions using a standardized script; - Collect the pre-specified measures, including NASA-TLX, SEQ, and SUS; - assist with qualitative coding alongside a second coder (Cohen’s kappa) and with the analysis; - contribute to the manuscript to be submitted in the first quarter of 2027. 3. BRIEF PRESENTATION OF THE WORK PROGRAMME AND TRAINING: The Attention Atlas is a visual analysis tool designed for the multi-level exploration of attention patterns in Transformer models. The causal interpretation of attention is contested in the literature, and the scientific contribution of this research is to provide empirical evidence on an open question: Do scaffolding mechanisms at the interface measurably alter analysts’ reasoning (epistemic strength of conclusions, cross-checking, calibration), or do they merely affect usability? 4. REQUIRED PROFILE: Admission requirements: Undergraduate or graduate student in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field 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 with user studies or with the tool itself familiarity with pre-registered protocols experience with qualitative coding. Minimum requirements: Knowledge of Python; strong oral and written communication skills in Portuguese and English; availability to work on-site (FCUP) 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, 50), Scientific Publications (PC, 5), Experience (EX, 30) and Motivation Letter (CM, 15). 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 weig