Category Archives: Highlights

Alexandra Mendes recognised with an “Amazon Research Award”

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The winners of the “Amazon Research Awards” (ARA), have been announced last June the 3rd, a program that supports research at academic institutions and non-profit organizations in areas that align with their mission to advance customer-obsessed science.

In the list of 70 winners, representing 44 universities in 10 countries, we find Alexandra Mendes, Assistant Professor at DEI, the winner in the Automated Reasoning area, for her proposal “Overcoming Barriers to the Adoption of Verification-Aware Languages“. This edition marks the first time the award has been granted to Portuguese researchers based in Portugal.

The Professor will focus her work on identifying and resolving obstacles to the adoption of programming languages with support for formal verification, in particular Dafny, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS). The aim is to promote the usability and adoption of formal verification tools among software developers.

The ARAs are highly competitive, with proposals evaluated by Amazon scientists according to the quality of their scientific content and their potential impact on the research community and society. Current and past winners include researchers from other leading institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard, Stanford and Yale.

All the information about this latest edition of the ARA (Fall 2024) can be found here.

The last Lecture of Prof. A. Augusto de Sousa

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Last Monday, 26th of May, the Auditorium José Carlos Marques dos Santos was filled to capacity for the final lecture by Prof. A. Augusto de Sousa, who was bidding farewell to a university career spanning more than 40 years.

Entitled ‘Computer Graphics and Multiple Realities: Explaining a Career‘, the lecture was attended by hundreds of students (both current and former), fellow teachers and staff, family and friends, all of whom wanted to be present at this emotional event.

“Computer graphics allow us to represent and interact with virtual objects, as well as synthesise images of them. The tools, models and algorithms are countless and enable us to develop various realities, whether they are virtual, augmented or mixed. With some imagination, perhaps they can also model the reality of a university professor’s career.” – and so it was in this case. A university career that began in 1983 as an assistant trainee and went on to cover many different paths, always driven by a passion for Teaching and Pedagogy.

The session ended with a celebration featuring performances by TUNAFE, TEUP and the FEUP Fado Group.

The final lecture was broadcasted live and is available to watch here.

Linking Great Partners 2025

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On the 3rd of June, the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto will host Linking Great Partners 2025, an emblematic event of the Department of Informatics Engineering (DEI), recognised for the impact of the contribution of students and the university to the regional innovation ecosystem.

It will take place throughout the day in the Auditorium José Carlos Marques dos Santos, in two parts: the LGP Challenge (pitch session, divided into four acts) and Tech in Action (product fair, divided into two parts).

LGP Challenge, the first act – innovating with AI – includes LGP startups that have developed AI-based solutions. The second act – innovating with the market – consists of a panel with startups that explored ideas proposed by students and developed these products by interacting with the market. In the third act – innovating with organisations – startups that have developed solutions to improve organisational processes will be presented. The last act – innovating with society – includes startups that have developed solutions in collaboration with actors from society.

There are 29 proto-startups created by around 320 students enrolled in the Project Management Laboratory (LGP) course, from various courses at the Faculty of Engineering (FEUP) and the Faculty of Economics (FEP) to respond to the real challenges presented by the 23 partner organisations and opportunities identified in the market.

Using agile software development and experimentation methods, the student teams developed several innovative technological solutions, such as ‘Saudade à Viola’, a project developed in collaboration with artist Gil Ferreira, where a digital avatar joins him on stage, reacting in real time to his voice and adding visual elements to the story of each song; and the ‘HackTrack’ platform platform for learning about cybersecurity through real-world challenges, in collaboration with the Visionarium Association. This 2025 edition also saw the design of the products ‘Immersia Stations’, a solution for interactive and immersive experiences in museums, and ‘Há Cartas?’ (Are there cards?), a mobile application that allows you to turn any moment into an opportunity to play cards, even if everyone has forgotten to bring them. These are just a few examples of the products that will be presented during the event.

Luis Filipe Teixeira, coordinator of the course unit and Associate Professor at DEI, highlights that this approach ‘gives students an opportunity to acquire not only technical skills, but also collaboration, resilience and creativity, as they navigate the uncertainty and complexity of developing technological products for customers and the market.’
He adds that ‘LGP promotes an environment where experimentation is encouraged and where students take on entrepreneurial roles, engage with real stakeholders and learn by doing.’

For Raul Vidal, Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, “by involving students from various curricular spheres and different profiles in collaborative work that encourages critical and creative thinking, LGP is a unique opportunity to develop skills in project management, teamwork, customer interaction, marketing, communication, and many other areas that make our students future professionals with a truly distinctive profile and prepare them to be future leaders.”

Linking Great Partners 2025 will be broadcasting live on the event’s YouTube channel.

PhD Defense in Digital Media “Interaction methods for digital musical instruments: Application in personal devices”

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Candidate:
Alexandre Resende Clément

Date, Time and Location:
5th of June 2025, 14:30, Sala de Atos, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto

President of the Jury:
António Fernando Vasconcelos Cunha Castro Coelho, PhD, Associate Professor with Habilitation, Department of Informatics Engineering, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto

Members:
Marcelo Mortensen Wanderley, PhD, Full Professor, Department of Music Research, Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Canadá;
Damián Keller, PhD, Associate Professor, Centro de Educação, Letras e Artes da Universidade Federal do Acre, Brasil;
Sofia Carmen Faria Maia Cavaco, PhD, Assistant Professor, Informatics Department, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa;
Rui Pedro Amaral Rodrigues, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Informatics Engineering, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto;
Gilberto Bernardes de Almeida, PhD, Department of Informatics Engineering, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto (Supervisor).

Abstract:

“This thesis explores the potential of mobile handheld devices as tools for digital musical instrument interaction and participatory performance. Guided by the principles of ubiquitous music and intuitive interaction, the research investigates how mobile handheld devices can address challenges and unlock opportunities in contemporary music-making through participatory frameworks, gesture mappings, and multimodal feedback. Three experiments form the foundation of this study. The first describes and evaluates a system that enables large-scale audience participation in multimedia performances. It highlights the ability of mobile handheld devices to engage users and foster collaboration but reveals challenges in designing intuitive interactions for untrained participants. The second experiment examines how users instinctively map gestures to core musical parameters, such as pitch, duration, and amplitude, identifying natural trends – and the influence of musical training and experience on interaction strategies. The third focuses on evaluating the impact of multimodal feedback, combining auditory, visual, and haptic modalities, in note pitch tuning tasks.
The findings underscore the importance of designing standardised interaction guidelines and integrating multimodal feedback to make digital musical instruments more accessible and intuitive. Experiment 1 showed that the lack of a unified interaction model limited intuitive engagement, highlighting the need for standards that balance individual creativity with group intent. Experiment 2 found clear user preferences for gesture mappings of onset, pitch, and duration, shaped by cultural familiarity, and supporting context-aware design. Experiment 3 showed that while multimodal feedback had little immediate effect on accuracy, it improved user confidence and may aid long-term learning. This research advances the understanding of how mobile handheld devices can support participatory and creative music-making, contributing to the development of inclusive, user-friendly, and versatile musical tools.”

DEI Talks | “Designing New Interfaces for Musical Expression: Opportunities and Challenges” by Marcelo M. Wanderley

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The talk “Designing New Interfaces for Musical Expression: Opportunities and Challenges” will be presented on the 4th of June, at 16:00, in room B018, moderated by Gilberto Bernardes de Almeida (DEI).

Abstract:

“Computer music has a compelling history, with initial attempts to perform computer-generated music live dating back several decades. Performing sounds generated by computers presents numerous opportunities and challenges for musical expression. Though virtually any sound can be synthesized and performed arbitrarily without the inherent physical constraints of strings, membranes, and columns of air, this freedom poses unprecedented challenges to instrument designers, composers, musicians, and concertgoers.
In this talk, I will discuss the design and use of several new interfaces developed at the Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory at McGill University, ranging from self-contained digital musical instruments and prosthetic interfaces for dance performances to fMRI-compatible electronic instruments used in neuroscience studies. I will highlight the unique context and challenges of each development, showcasing the critical importance of interdisciplinary research in this field. Finally, I will present an overview of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (www.cirmmt.org), a leading research centre established 25 years ago, focusing on sound and music, based in Montreal, QC, Canada. CIRMMT’s mandate is to eliminate the barriers between disciplines and research domains by supporting researchers and artists from various backgrounds to interact in ways not possible in traditional academic environments.”

About the Speaker:

Marcelo M. Wanderley is Professor of Music Technology at McGill University, Canada, where he directs the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT). His research interests include the design and evaluation of digital musical instruments and the analysis of performer movements. He co-edited the electronic book “Trends in Gestural Control of Music” in 2000, co-authored the textbook “New Digital Musical Instruments: Control and Interaction Beyond the Keyboard” in 2006, and chaired the 2003 International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME03). He held invited research chairs in several European and American institutions, including Inria Lille, France, the University of Mons, Belgium, and the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He is a member of the Computer Music Journal’s Editorial Advisory Board and a senior member of the ACM and the IEEE.

Creativity Talks | “Creativity as a Complex Psychological Dimension” by Manuela Romo

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The 16th session of the Creativity Talks will feature distinguished psychologist and professor Manuela Romo as the keynote speaker, presenting on “Creativity as a Complex Psychological Dimension”. The talk will be delivered in Spanish and will be held online May 22nd, at 6:00 PM GMT+1 (Lisbon and London time), and will be moderated by Manuel Firmino (DEI).

“Creativity is a way of thinking that results in things that are both novel and valuable” (Romo, 2019).

This operational definition serves as a starting point, but understanding creativity goes beyond the products it generates. We will discuss the cognitive processes involved in this way of thinking, but producing creative outcomes requires more than just cognitive processes—these alone would explain an isolated contribution in a given field. However, a creative person maintains this dimension consistently throughout their productive life, which requires other psychological dimensions related to motivation and personality. The most important theoretical models for explaining creativity reflect this complex nature. These are componential models that integrate cognitive, personal-affective, and sociocultural elements. We will explore these models and provide a description of their components.

The talk will be streamed here.

Manuela Romo holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the Autonomous University of Madrid, where she has developed her teaching and research career. She has published six books, 16 book chapters, and more than 50 articles. Among her notable contributions to the dissemination and application of creativity studies is her book Psychology of Creativity: Contemporary Perspectives (Ed. Paidós, 2019). She has also developed a test for assessing children’s creativity: TCI – Test de Creatividad Infantil (TEA Ediciones, 2008). She has delivered over 70 lectures on the subject and conducted courses and workshops in Spain, Portugal, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, Taiwan, and various Latin American countries. She is a member of the editorial board of several scientific journals, including The International Journal of Creativity and Human Development, Frontiers in Psychology – Cognition, Creatividad y Sociedad: Revista de la Asociación para la Creatividad, Arte, Individuo y Sociedad (Complutense University of Madrid), Recrearte: IACAT (Institute for Advanced Studies in Creativity), and RECRIAI (Ibero-American Journal of Creativity and Innovation) in Brazil.

PhD Defense in Informatics Engineering “A Live Environment for Continuous Software Inspection and Refactoring”

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Candidate:
Sara Filipa Couto Fernandes

Date, Time and Location:
May the 5th, at 14:00, in Sala de Atos of the Faculdade de Engenharia of Universidade do Porto

President of the Jury:
Rui Filipe Lima Maranhão de Abreu, PhD, Full Professor, Department of Informatics Engineering, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto

Members:
Fabio Palomba, PhD, Assistant Professor of Software Engineering (SeSa) Lab, Department of Computer Science, University of Salerno, Itália;
António Manuel Ferreira Rito da Silva, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Informatics Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa;
João Carlos Pascoal Faria, PhD, Full Professor, Department of Informatics Engineering, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto;
Ademar Manuel Teixeira de Aguiar, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Informatics Engineering, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto (Supervisor).

This thesis was co-supervised by André Monteiro de Oliveira Restivo, PhD, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics Engineering of the Faculdade de Engenharia of Universidade do Porto.

Abstract:

“Writing software is hard; reviewing, changing, or adapting old software is even more challenging. A bad design can quickly lead to rotting software, with each modification heading to a rigid and fragile codebase. Evolution may become extremely costly if we do not refactor code at the right time. Often, developers choose to refactor too late when most symptoms are already impossible to ignore. They check their source code, looking for code smells and the most appropriate refactorings, trying to bring sanity into their design. They then realize they need help from specialized, overly complex, and hard to use tools. If only they tended to refactor their code sooner, they might have gained more peace of mind earlier. In this process of writing and evolving code, changing hats from coding to refactoring should be done often, if not constantly. We argued that a live refactoring environment, which presents refactorings in real-time, would help developers be continually aware of possible refactoring opportunities, making it easier to apply them earlier and faster when the codebase is still under control. We developed such a live environment by considering and evaluating in real-time several code-quality metrics, detecting smells, providing feedback, and presenting possible refactoring candidates unobtrusively and elegantly to the developers — all without leaving the comfort of their development environment. By enhancing an existing IDE with live refactoring capabilities, we showed that we can help developers understand, adapt, and maintain their systems in a more controlled and prompt fashion, allowing them to produce better code faster. The following contributions resulted from this work: (i) an extensive analysis of the state-of-theart on the main topics of our project, (ii) a live refactoring environment capable of continuously inspecting code to detect, suggest, and apply refactorings, (iii) an empirical validation using different approaches that helped us gathering data that allowed to confirm our hypothesis, and (iv) a set of scientific publications validating all the work done. While our work presents significant contributions, there are areas for further exploration. We could enhance specific aspects of our Live Refactoring Environment, including broader refactoring support or reducing processing time for complex code. Moreover, future work could also involve predicting the impact of refactorings on quality metrics and enhancing usability, including tests with color-blind users.”

DEI Talks | “Governança de Inteligência Artificial: Erros, Desinformação e Desafios Contemporâneos” by André Lemos and Haline Maia

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The talk entitled “Governança de Inteligência Artificial: Erros, Desinformação e Desafios Contemporâneos” will be presented (PT) on May the 16th, at 10:30, in room I-105.

Abstract:

In this double session, researchers André Lemos and Haline Maia explore, from critical and interdisciplinary perspectives, some of the main dilemmas that emerge from the growing presence of artificial intelligence in social, educational and informational life.

André Lemos focuses his presentation on the flaws and disruptions that run through algorithmic systems, discussing how AI can be not only efficient, but also precarious, uncertain and opaque. Through a socio-technical approach, he analyses AI errors as structuring elements of contemporary digital culture.

Haline Maia brings to the discussion the implications of AI in information ecosystems, with an emphasis on journalism and disinformation. Based on a study that combines participatory methodologies and ethical assessment of technological impact, she presents reflections on how to align technologies such as deepfakes and automated fact-checking with fundamental human values.

Each presentation will last 30 minutes and will be followed by a discussion with the audience.
The lecture is part of the research project Governance of Artificial Intelligence in Brazil and Portugal: Crossroads and Trends. Supported by CNPQ/MCTI/FNDCT 22/2024.

About the speakers:

André Lemos is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Communication of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and coordinator of Lab404. He holds a PhD from the Sorbonne, with postdoctoral studies in Canada, Ireland and Brazil, and is an international reference in cyberculture, technological mediations and socio-technical studies. Author of more than 15 books and winner of several awards, he is currently investigating the effects of errors, failures and instabilities in digital systems. He is a level 1A researcher at CNPq and a full member of the Bahia Academy of Sciences.

Haline Maia is a researcher affiliated with INESC TEC and CIRCLE (Lund University), as well as an Associate Professor at IPAM. She holds a PhD in Digital Media from FEUP and works in the areas of AI governance, algorithmic ethics and education. With 15 years of experience in communication, she has indexed academic publications and actively participates in international projects on automated journalism and digital strategies.

DEI Talks | “Toward Next-Generation Automated Test Smell Detection and Refactoring” by Fabio Palomba

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The talk “Toward Next-Generation Automated Test Smell Detection and Refactoring” will be presented May 2nd, at 5pm, in room B016, moderated by Ademar Aguiar (DEI).

Abstract:

“Despite their crucial role in ensuring software correctness and maintainability, test cases are often plagued by poor design choices – commonly known as test smells. While existing research has proposed techniques for detecting and mitigating these smells, current tools suffer from limited accuracy, outdated definitions, and a disconnect from actual developer practices. In this talk, I revisit the notion of test smells and argue for a paradigm shift in how we define, detect, and refactor them. Through a combination of empirical studies, developer-centered analyses, and quality-aware automation strategies, I expose the fragility of long-standing smell definitions and highlight the need for granularity-aware and context-sensitive approaches. I further discuss how incorporating test code quality attributes into automated refactoring tools, guided by developers’ expectations can dramatically improve tool adoption and effectiveness. The talk concludes with a vision for next-generation test quality tools that combine empirical software engineering, machine learning, and multi-objective optimization to support developers in crafting and maintaining high-quality test suites by design.”

About the Speaker:

Fabio Palomba is an Associate Professor at the Software Engineering (SeSa) Lab of the University of Salerno. He received the European Ph.D. Degree in Management & Information Technology in 2017, with a dissertation that earned the IEEE Computer Society Best PhD Thesis Award. His research focuses on software maintenance and evolution, empirical software engineering, code quality, and mining software repositories. He has received several prestigious recognitions, including ACM/SIGSOFT and IEEE/TCSE Distinguished Paper Awards, the SNSF Ambizione grant, and the IEEE TCSE Rising Star Award for his contributions to code smells and refactoring. Fabio serves on the editorial boards of top software engineering journals (e.g., EMSE) and has held organizing and program roles in various software engineering conferences (e.g., SANER). He is an ACM/SIGSOFT Executive Member and an active member of the software maintenance and evolution research community.

DEI Talks | “Safe Evolution of Smart Contracts Supported by LLMs and SMT Solvers” by Augusto Sampaio (UFPE)

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The talk “Safe Evolution of Smart Contracts Supported by LLMs and SMT Solvers” will be presented April the 24th, at 14:00, in room B006, moderated by Nuno Macedo (DEI).

Abstract:

The focus of this talk is a framework that supports the safe deployment and upgrade of smart contracts based on the design-by-contract (dbc) paradigm. The input is (i) an interface specification with invariants and pre- and postconditions for each function, and (ii) an implementation to be verified. The deployed version of a smart contract must conform to this specification. Specification evolution might involve both changing the data representation as well as extending the interface with new functions, provided the evolved specification is a refinement of the original one. A distinguishing feature of the overall approach is the automation of the verification process in a hidden formal methods style. Since developers tend to be reluctant to provide formal specifications for software components, we are investigating state-of-the-art NL processing technologies, using Large Language Models (LLMs), particularly, ChatGPT, to automatically infer formal (dbc) interface specifications from textual requirements. Also, when an upgrade involves change of data representation, we use the Alloy Analyser to automatically infer the relation between the two data representations. The applicability of the framework is evaluated in the context of Solidity smart contracts that implement some Ethereum standards. This project is a collaboration between Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (Brazil), The University College Oxford Blockchain Research Centre (UK), and The Blockhouse Technology Limited (UK).

About the Speaker:

Augusto Sampaio is a DPhil from Oxford University, Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of York, Commander of the Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit, a member of the Brazilian Academy of Science, and a Professor at Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. His main research interests are software engineering formal methods; formal approaches to testing; design, simulation and verification of robotic systems; and safe evolution of smart contracts. He is an Editorial Board member of Formal Aspects of Computing (ACM) and Science of Computer Programming (Elsevier), and has been a PC member of leading conferences in the field (FM, ETAPS, SEFM, ICFEM, ICTAC …). He published more than 150 papers and supervised 60 PhD and master’s students.