The 5th edition of the Doctoral Congress on Engineering (DCE) will take place at FEUP on June 15 and 16, with this program.

The Symposium on Informatics, integrated in the event, will take place Friday, the 16th, in B034, with the co-organization of ProDEI, PDMD and MAP-i, where some of the ongoing research work of the 3 doctoral programs will be presented.

The Keynote: Digital dreams, real thrills: unleashing the power of XR in performing arts and beyond, conducted by Prof. António Baía Reis (PDMD Alumnus), will take place right after the opening session.

Abstract: As virtual worlds expand and develop, the integration of live performance and XR technologies becomes a prominent aspect not only in the arts and entertainment sector, but also within corporate and various other industries. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of immersive experiences and virtual platforms, creating a diverse array of live performances and interactive moments. Groundbreaking productions from the Royal Shakespeare Company, Ferryman Collective, Double-Eye Studios, and La Cuarta Pared VR have paved the way, while spontaneous events like poetry slams on VR Chat or Rec Room continue to gain traction. In this presentation, XR researcher and performer António Baía Reis will delve into the Avatarium method, a work in progress that aims to explore the ecosystem of virtual worlds and their implications for the future of performing arts and beyond. By identifying unique challenges and opportunities, we will uncover the potential of digital performance to transform not only arts and culture but also reshape how corporations and various industries engage with virtual realms.

Bio: António Baía Reis is an interdisciplinary university professor, researcher, and artist with an unwavering passion for extended reality (XR) and interactive media, along with their boundless potential to connect with broader society. He holds a BA in International Relations, a Professional Acting Diploma, an MA in Communication Sciences, and a practice-based PhD in Digital Media. The latter was completed in collaboration with the University of Porto and Stanford University, focusing on XR, creative processes, and social change. With a diverse artistic background spanning professional acting, music, and multimedia art for over 10 years, he has been developing a creative and research portfolio at the intersection of digital media, VR, performance, experimental music and film, and art installations. Having prior experience in digital media and the arts and cultural industry, including executive-level positions such as his role as Academic Executive Director at the Los Angeles-based company Umaya, where he was involved in multidisciplinary teams collaborating with brands such as Loewe, Nvidia, AMC, Orange, Vodafone, Telefonica, and MasterChef, Reis regularly shares his knowledge in XR, digital media, communication, the arts, and their interconnected fields across various sectors. Currently, he is an Invited Assistant Professor at both Universidad Complutense de Madrid and NOVA University of Lisbon, where he shares his expertise in digital and emerging media at the postgraduate level. He also leads research on emerging media and communication as an integrated PhD researcher of the Innovation on Digital Media research lab at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid. As the Course Director for the “Live Performance in the Metaverse” course at the Multiverse Institute for Arts & Technology (MIAT) in Milan, he mentors students in designing and executing live performances using VR and other innovative technologies. Additionally, he is the founder, stage director, and VR actor of La Cuarta Pared VR, a pioneering virtual reality theater collective based in Madrid that explores live acting and performance in virtual realms. Recent awards and special achievements include receiving a MSCA Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2021 for his groundbreaking project aimed at enhancing science communication through immersive media arts. As a published author in leading scientific journals and the Director and Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal Cinema & Territory, as well as a member of the editorial board of the Q1 journal Media Practice and Education, Reis continues to contribute to scholarly discourse. More at www.antoniobaiareis.com

The program of the session can be seen here.

We start the week already thinking about Friday and the celebration of another edition of the DEI’s flagship event, LGP – Linking Great Partners, that will return to the Auditorium José Marques dos Santos after the “Unboxing Edition“, hosted last year by Lionesa Business Hub.

On June 2, the teams formed by 250 students from several master programs of the Faculty of Engineering of U.Porto (Informatics and Computing Engineering, Software Engineering, Multimedia, Services Engineering and Management, Eletrical and Computer Engineering) and 5 students from the Faculty of Fine Arts of U.Porto ( Communication Design), will go on stage to present the 23 technology based projects developed over the semester.

Gil Gonçalves, coordinator of this curricular unit, tells us that this year’s edition was named “Learning by innovating“, for promoting learning through the development of innovative solutions, intending to reinforce the importance of the link between the University and the Industry. June 2, it will be presented in 4 acts:

The first one – learning with society – is composed by a panel with LGP startups that have developed solutions in collaboration with associations (for example, the Cerebral Palsy Association of Porto) and with research units;

The second and third acts – learning with industry – include LGP startups which have developed solutions in collaboration with companies from different areas (technological consultancy, IT solutions, manufacturing industry, health, …);

The last act – learning with the market – includes the startups that explored ideas proposed by the students and developed those products interacting with the market.

From this which is known to be a “living laboratory”, which creates a unique context and provides students with the ideal environment to develop and practice transversal and multidisciplinary skills of project management, collaboration, innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity and communication, will come out projects carried out with real companies, born from proposals of technological products based on needs validated by the market.

Throughout the various stages of the LGP methodology – from the organisation of companies and multidisciplinary teams, to the presentation of the product – students contact clients, partners and competitors, encounter the complexity and uncertainty inherent in technology-based innovation, and experience first-hand the culture of a startup.

The Linking Great Partners event can be followed on social networks and on the event’s Youtube channel.

On the 22nd of May, the FEUP Auditorium will host the XX Conference on Information Science, an event promoted by the undergraduate and master  students of the Information Science programs, a partnership between the Faculties of Arts and Humanities and Engineering of the University of Porto.

As in previous years, the aim of the conference is to promote an open discussion of a current theme, involving the participation of guests, the promotion of the Bachelor and Master’s degrees, as well as of the skills of its graduates and masters, among different business, institutional, professional and academic areas.

Under the theme “Ethics in the Information Era“, the programme of the edition that celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the conference includes an opening conference on Ethics and ethical issues in the context of organisations.

This will be followed by two panels that will analyse the global conjuncture, as well as the current and future challenges regarding the ethical parameters assumed by the different organisations in the use of information in the set of services made available. Two panels will also address the issues of access, understanding and evaluation of information in different media, and also the responsibility and ethical behaviour when dealing with research data and personal information in the digital era.

Before the closing session there will also be a round table with invited Alumni who, over the two decades, have benefited from an innovative model of training in Information Science at U. Porto and who, at the same time, have actively contributed to the success of the Conference on Information Science over twenty years.

Registration is free but compulsory, HERE

Organized by IEEE UP Student Branch, NEB-FEUP/ICBAS and NIAEFEUP, the second edition of Datattack took place last weekend (April 21-23), a 24 hours Data Science hackathon that aims to offer students the opportunity to contact with professionals in this area, enriching the marathon experience.

On the 1^st day of the event, 2 workshops were held: Rain and river level analysis using data science, where participants could analyse the relationship between the amount of rainfall and the level of a river, using the numpy, pandas, matplotlib and sklearn libraries to perform the analysis and create a model to determine the possibility of flooding and, CRISP-DM – An Introduction to Effective Data Mining, an introduction on data mining and how CRISP-DM works, with a discussion on a case study at the end.

The 2^nd day was dedicated to the competition itself that started at 10:30 am on the Saturday and ended 24 hours later with the teams of four to five elements working intensely to accomplish the proposed tasks and thus be awarded the prizes for best project.

The winning teams:

1º Lugar: DataFreaks

2º Lugar: Asociación Fusqi

3º Lugar: Attack on Python

“Organising a Data Science event for students is key to inspiring the next generation of Data Scientists. By providing opportunities to explore and learn about this growing area, we can help them develop critical skills and prepare them to deal with the ever-increasing volume of data we will face in the future,” stresses the event’s organisation.

“O Futuro passa por aqui” is the motto that accompanies another edition of the event that fills FEUP with high school students, eager to know what is this about being an engineer.

“This is a unique opportunity for students to get to know our faculty, and the routes are designed to show the Engineer’s role in protecting the planet, improving humanity and building a better world”, says Sara Cristóvão, responsible for the organization of “SPE – Semana Profissão Engenheiro“.

During 3 days (March 28-30) FEUP intends to be an enlightening support in the decision making process of many young people when the time comes to start Higher Education. To achieve this goal, a programme rich in pathways/activities and clarification sessions for students and parents was created. In this 2023 edition, more than 1500 students and approximately 70 teachers and psychologists from the North to the South of the country are enrolled and will find in FEUP the opportunity to know the reality of an institution of Higher Education and to contact with its community of teachers, students, staff and student groups.

For those students who already know what they want to do and just need to confirm their choice, the monothematic paths are the perfect solution.

In this SPE session, Informatics Engineering organized the tracks 16 and 17 (P16 and P17), with various activities, focused on the following themes: “Artificial Intelligence Applications“, “Computer Security“, “Software Development and Testing Lab“, “Graphics, Interaction and Games“, “Informatics Multipurpose“, “Database and Web Applications Lab“, “Computer Lab“, “Capstone Project” and “Informatics at FEUP: how they are, what they do, what they eat and where they live” – which are intended to be a showcase of what is done in the Informatics and Computing Engineering program.

And if after the event there are still many doubts, the doors are still open to clarify them through Consultório de Dúvidas FEUP.

Next March 21st, at 18:30, in the FEUP’s Library (Floor 0), the 3rd year student of Informatics and Computing Engineering, Pedro Fardilha Barbeira, will launch “Verbal Alquimia“, a poetry book where “we are challenged to share the deepest feelings inherent to the Man, not because it moves us, but because it offers us the freedom to think, to feel and – for the most daring – to live”.

In conversation with Pedro Barbeira he confessed that “Computer Engineering came a bit out of the blue”. His dedication at the time (we were in 2013) to computers and games, and his “schisms” in robotics – he dreamt of making medical prostheses – made him choose Computer Science. But the first years of college, where he had to divide his energies between complex personal challenges and a whole new world that was very different from high school, proved to be a real “Cabo das Tormentas”.

One day he decided, as he tells us, “to return to the program and really face this “Adamastor”, which insisted on projecting its shadow on my path”. On the way he discovered a passion for programming: “In it I found the perfect conciliation between Method and Creativity, those two facets of Order and Chaos, so close and necessary”. The interest grew not only for the “more “esoteric” disciplines – Operating Systems, Computer Networks, Compilers – but also for the more pragmatic ones – Web Development, UI/UX, among many others”.

When we ask him what the connection between writing and computer science is, Pedro tells us that the connection between the two emerges in what he imagines to be his dream life: “Writing is an indispensable tool when it comes to sharing knowledge – I believe to be the truest, oldest and deepest heritage of Humanity. Given the current state of the world, I believe that evolution will come about precisely because of the sharing of experiences and experiences – so necessary for empathy and cooperation – as well as a re-evaluation of the value of subjective experience – so forgotten by our deeply objective society. As such, I feel that programming will allow me to develop and explore my own ideas, at the level of applications focused on the common user, as well as to enhance the expansion and evolution of businesses and projects in which I really believe. The literary capacity contributes a lot to the clarity and specificity of oral expression, as well as to the ability to weave analogies, that ancestral vehicle of wisdom transmission, abilities that are central to the management of people and teams, to the interaction with clients and employers, as well as to the analysis and observation of social problems that we can try to mitigate or correct through our programmes”.

Talking about the future he tells us that he wants to invest on freelancing when he feels ready and dreams of “being at the head” of his own business. “Letters provides me with the analysis, synthesis and understanding skills I feel I need to make an impact at the level I consider relevant, and Engineering provides me with the technical tools and skills necessary to achieve these goals. A strong reminder that Knowledge is plural and transversal, and that sometimes the most evolutive solutions are found in the least expected places”, shares with us the student who will soon let us know “his visions through the twisted meanders of the poetic verses that flow through him”.

Entrance is free, you are all invited.