LIP Portugal Research Fellowship 2027: €1,090.98 Monthly—Can Your Physics Experience Get You Selected?
Have a Physics or Physical Engineering degree, some research experience, and a growing suspicion that your next step should involve a real detector rather than another certificate? LIP’s TOMAR Research Student Fellowship offers €1,090.98 per month for hands-on research in Coimbra, Portugal, with a planned start on 1 January 2027.
Your challenge is to show how your existing experience fits the experiment—and establish that you can meet the course-enrolment and degree-recognition conditions before signing the contract. So, can you apply from abroad? Must you already be enrolled? And what would make the selection panel take your application seriously? Let’s work through the decisions that matter.
Why You Should Read This Guide? – Lets Find Answers
Can you apply from outside Portugal?
International applicants are not excluded, but you must meet the degree, research-experience and enrolment conditions. The notice requires a degree in Physics or Physical Engineering and explicitly includes nationality in its non-discrimination policy.
Do not let the label “Bachelor fellowship” mislead you: this opportunity is for someone who already holds the required degree. A current undergraduate who has not yet obtained it does not meet the stated degree requirement.
You must also qualify for an eligible master’s or non-degree course under LIP’s research-grant regulations. The enrolment certificate can be delivered when contracting, so its absence from your initial application is not automatically disqualifying. However, this flexibility does not remove the eventual enrolment requirement.
Already studying abroad? Ask LIP whether your particular course qualifies. The notice does not establish that every overseas master’s programme or online non-degree course is acceptable.
If your degree was awarded outside Portugal, the selected candidate must provide Portuguese recognition before signing the contract. Start investigating the appropriate recognition route early; submitting a foreign diploma and completing its recognition are separate steps.
What experience will help you compete?
Your strongest application will connect research experience, particle-physics instrumentation and experimental data analysis to TOMAR’s actual work. Previous research projects, summer internships or comparable initiatives can demonstrate that experience.
The project is developing a muon tomography telescope using Resistive Plate Chambers, or RPCs, with a readout design that reduces the number of electronic channels. You would help assemble and integrate the instrument, collect experimental data, develop analysis and tomographic reconstruction tools, and test the prototype’s performance under realistic conditions. Scientific supervision is provided by Alberto Blanco.
Think about your own experience: have you helped operate a detector, processed experimental measurements, or written software that made a dataset usable? Those are the details to bring forward.
| What the panel considers | What to demonstrate in your application? |
|---|---|
| CV: 50% | Relevant degree, research projects, internships and your individual contribution. |
| Relevance to project needs: 50% | Particle-physics instrumentation, experimental methods and data-analysis software experience connected to TOMAR’s tasks. |
| Particularly valued experience | RPC detector work and experimental data analysis using MATLAB. These are preference criteria, not substitutes for the entry requirements. |
Here is a useful writing test: replace “I have strong analytical skills” with the experiment you worked on, the tool you used, the problem you solved and the result you obtained. Be specific, and keep every claim accurate.
No RPC experience? It is a preference rather than a separately stated compulsory condition. You still need to demonstrate the required instrumentation and analysis background. LIP may leave the fellowship unawarded if no applicant has a suitable profile.
What does the monthly allowance actually cover?
The confirmed financial benefit is a €1,090.98 monthly maintenance allowance for an initial six-month research fellowship. Payments are made by bank transfer to the fellow’s account.
The notice does not promise tuition payment, free accommodation, flights or support for dependents. Before deciding whether you can take up the award, prepare a budget for housing, living expenses, any course charges and relocation.
Renewal is possible within the project and regulatory limits, but it is not guaranteed. Plan around the initial six months rather than assuming funding will continue throughout a master’s degree.
Likewise, the absence of a specified IELTS score does not remove the English requirement: good English is listed, fluency is valued, and both your CV and motivation letter must be in English.
How do you build and submit your application?
Apply by emailing PDF documents to coimbra.candidaturas@lip.pt, with the job-offer ID in the subject line. The supplied notice gives an email application route for this fellowship.
- Confirm the exact call. Review the TOMAR fellowship notice on EURAXESS and check the LIP recruitment page for updates. Match the project reference CENTRO2030-FEDER-02361800; other LIP openings may have different rules.
- Prepare your required evidence. Assemble an English motivation letter, detailed English CV, degree diploma, transcript listing university courses and grades, and relevant supporting documents. Include enrolment certification if available; the notice permits it at contracting.
- Resolve the academic conditions early. Ask LIP to clarify your intended or current course if necessary. For a foreign degree, consult the official Portuguese degree-recognition guidance and confirm which recognition is required. Do not assume one route applies to every qualification.
- Make your motivation letter project-specific. Explain which TOMAR tasks you are prepared to support and give evidence from your past work. A brief account of a relevant experiment is more persuasive than a long paragraph praising Portugal.
- Submit before the closing time. Email the PDFs to coimbra.candidaturas@lip.pt. A clear subject would be “Application – Offer 471533 – TOMAR BIL – Your name”. Check that every attachment opens and that your contact details are correct.
- Monitor your email. Evaluation results are communicated by email. Selection must be followed by completion of the contracting requirements, including enrolment evidence and foreign-degree recognition where applicable.
When must you apply—and what should you do today?
The last date to apply for the TOMAR Research Student Fellowship offered by LIP–Coimbra is 22 October 2026 at 17:00 Lisbon time (16:00 UTC). The expected starting date is 1 January 2027. The notice does not give a separate course-admission or degree-recognition deadline; the relevant evidence must be ready for contracting.
Give yourself three concrete tasks today: confirm your enrolment route, identify the slowest academic document, and write down your two strongest examples of relevant experimental work. Once those are clear, you can build an application that makes it easy for the panel to see what you would contribute.