A “concurso público” is a selective process to fill a job position offered by a government (federal or state) or public institution maintained by a government. It is also an anti-fraud system that aims at filling the available positions on the basis of merit, determined through a fair and open competition among the candidates. Anyone interested in this kind of job position must be approved via a “concurso público”. Applicants undergo a test, or series of tests, about specific subjects of the working area.

A document called “edital” defines the rules and lists all the information and rules (such as minimum requirements for the applicants, offered wage, tests to be taken, required documents, etc.) regarding the selection process. The “edital” is published before the start of the enrollment period.

Brazilian law requires that faculty positions at UNICAMP, a public institution maintained by the State of Sao Paulo, be filled through a “concurso público”. Applicants will be called for a series of examination activities with a hiring/examination committee; expenses will be not covered, and the dates will not be negotiable. (Typically, a couple of months go by between the end of the enrollment period and the “concurso”.) During this process, the applicants will be questioned on their research statement, “memorial” (see FAQ#3), and various topics in Physics (to be disclosed in the “edital”). The candidates will also be asked to give a class on a topic chosen by random draw from a list of topics prepared by the committee. Upon request, all examinations may be taken in English. The committee will rank the applicants, and the position will be filled in order of ranking.

Application must be done in person or through a proxy. The required documentation is:

1. Copy of Ph.D. diploma or other document showing that the applicant holds a Ph.D. degree.
2. Personal identification document.
3. “Memorial” (see FAQ #3).
4. Copy of all published papers or documents mentioned in the “memorial”.
5. A research statement (10 page limit) addressing the following: appropriateness to the area of the announced position, academic and scientific currentness/significance of the proposed research to be conducted at IFGW, and viability of executing the research project at IFGW.

All documentation should be submitted electronically. Hardcopies are not required.

The “memorial” is an extended CV that includes an introductory biographical description telling your personal and academic trajectory, including your education, professional choices, research activities, teaching activities, you accomplishments, your goals, plans for your teaching and research carrier at UNICAMP, etc. It is meant to give the hiring committee a brief idea of the candidate’s history and career choices.

The “memorial” should include:

1. academic degrees;
2. curriculum vitae et studiorum;
3. professional, teaching and scientific activities. The applicant should also present a description of his/her 5 most significant publications containing the information he/she considers to be most important for an analysis of relevance and originality of the publications, emphasizing his/her particular contributions. This description should be limited to 3 pages;
4. prizes;
5. fellowships;
6. Attendance to courses, conferences, symposiums, seminars, etc.

The applicant must provide evidence for every item mentioned in the “memorial”, such as copy of diplomas, published papers, conference proceedings, etc.

All foreign diploma (undergraduate and graduate) have to be recognized by a Brazilian institution. Diploma recognition can be obtained from many public universities in Brazil, including UNICAMP, as long as the institution offers the same (or equivalent) diploma course. The process is not standardized; almost every university has its own procedure. A common first step to recognition of a foreign diploma is to have it legalized by the Brazilian consulate/embassy nearest the institution that issued the diploma.

At the time of application and for participation at the examination activities of the “concurso público”, the applicant is only required to submit a copy of his original diplomas. But if successful in the “concurso público”, and hired by the university, the applicant will have to provide a recognized Ph.D. diploma by the end of his 3-year probationary period (see FAQ#6).

1. written examination: basically, this is the submitted research statement along with an oral questioning about the statement;
2. academic achievement examination: the committee examines the applicant’s “memorial”;
3. oral examination: the applicant will be questioned about his/her “memorial” and/or Physics topics disclosed in the “edital”;
4. teaching examination: the applicant will randomly draw a topic from a list chosen by the committee from the topics disclosed in the “edital”; he/she will then have 24 hours to prepare a 50 to 60 minute long class about this topic and present it to the committee.

Since all faculty positions at UNICAMP are automatically tenured after a 3-year probationary period, UNICAMP has chosen years ago to hire their faculty initially under a part-time employment regime (RTP, “Regime de Turno Parcial”) in order to safeguard the quality of its research and teaching. However, even before starting their activities at UNICAMP, the candidate approved at the ‘concurso público’ may request that the employment regime be changed. After an analysis of merit of his/her research plan, the candidate will then be hired into full time regime (RDIDP, “Regime the Dedicação Integral à Docência e à Pesquisa”). This is the preferred employment regime at UNICAMP. Staying in RDIDP throughout the carrier is conditional on the approval of a Periodic Activity Report (each 3 to 5 years, depending on previous evaluations), through which the faculty member should demonstrate his/her academic productivity. Both employment regimes are tenured; however, salary is 6 times higher in RDIDP than in RTP. Ninety-nine percent of IFGW’s faculty is in RDIDP.

1. Thirteenth salary: The 13th salary is a bonus payment equivalent to a month salary paid to all faculty in two installments (November and December) every year.
2. Paid vacations: Every faculty has the right to a 30-day rest every 12 months of work. Vacations can be taken for a full 30 days or in two installments of 15 days. Additionally, a vacation bonus corresponding to 1/3 of monthly salary is granted during the rest period, according to Brazilian laws.
3. Bonus for years of service: a 5% pay raise given every five years of service.
4. 1/6th bonus: a 17% (1/6) pay raise after 20 years of service.
5. Child allowance: allowance paid to UNICAMP’s faculty members who are the legal guardian of a minor child (from 6 months of age to 6 years old). The allowance is R$ 650,00 per child (as of July, 2015).
6. Paternity leave: Male faculty members are entitled to 7 days of paid paternity leave at the birth of a child.
7. Maternity leave: Female faculty members are entitled to a 180-day maternity leave at full pay following the birth of their baby.
8. “Licença Prêmio”: Every five years of service, faculty members are entitled to a 3-month leave of absence at full pay for any purpose (academic or nonacademic).
9. Sabbatical leave: Faculty members may request up to 6 months of sabbatical leave every 7 years of service at UNICAMP.
10. Food allowance: Benefit paid to all faculty members. Current rate is R$ 850,00 (as of July, 2015).

Salaries are not negotiable. They are fixed by a consortium of the three public universities maintained by the State of Sao Paulo, so salaries do not vary from one university to another, nor within each university. However, salaries may be topped up with consulting fees, research grant allowance, and administrative duties on campus. Faculty are paid for the work they perform during the entire calendar year (12 months).

Currently, the average faculty teaching load at IFGW is 4 hours per week (in class) of Graduate and/or Undergraduate instruction. At IFGW, all courses are open to every faculty member, none being exclusively taught by any particular faculty or associated with a department.

Besides financial support from the main national funding agencies (CNPq/CAPES), faculty at IFGW can also apply for funding from FAPESP (Sao Paulo state’s research funding agency) and FAEPEX (UNICAMP’s own fund for supporting research and teaching). Through FAEPEX, new faculty can apply for a modest start-up fund of up to R$ 15.000,00 (as of July, 2015), as well as financial support for both an undergraduate student and a Master’s student, for a period of 12 months. New faculty members can also apply for more significant start-up funds from FAPESP’s Young Researcher Program (see https://fapesp.br/en/yia). Many of IFGW’s new hires have been very successful in this program, having being awarded research grants of up to US$ 800,000.00 to setup their own labs.