Category Archives: Highlights

Symposium on Informatics @DCE 2023

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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.

Appointment of the new board of NIAEFEUP

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Last June, 7th, the new board of NIAEFEUP took office in room I-105 of FEUP, at 11:00. André Moreira, the ceasing president, conducted the session, which was opened by Prof. João Cardoso, DEI Director, Prof. Rui Rodrigues, M.EIC Director, Prof. Rosaldo Rossetti, L.EIC Director, and by the recently elected AEFEUP President, Francisco Portela, with speeches of gratitude to the ceasing board and best wishes to the one that will ensure the continuity of the activities for another year.

André Moreira, who took the floor, spoke to those present about all the activities promoted by the group during the mandate, thanking all those who, with him, carried out so many missions, reinforcing “how gratifying the experience was”, highlighting the importance of the nuclei and the positive impact they have on FEUP student life.

This was followed by the appointment of the 10 new elements, seen on the attached photograph, from left to right: Inês Gaspar (secretary), Nuno Pereira (Projects Co-Coordinator), Luís Duarte (Projects Co-Coordinator), Madalena Ye (Image Coordinator), Rita Cachaldora (Vice-President), João Pereira (President), Diogo Silva (Communication Coordinator), José Martins (Events Co-Coordinator), Gonçalo Miranda (Events Co-Coordinator) and Mariana Solange (Treasurer).

The session ended with a speech by the motivated new president, João Pereira, who reinforced the importance of the nucleus for the opportunity it gives computer science students to learn about what they most like through the exchange of experiences and knowledge, not forgetting to address heartfelt words of thanks to the ceasing board.

PhD Defense in Digital Media: ”Research data description in multiple domains: supporting researchers with data management plans”

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Candidate:
Yulia Karimova

Date, time and place
June 2, 14:00, Sala de Atos FEUP

President of the Jury
António Fernando Vasconcelos Cunha Castro Coelho, PhD, Associate Professor with habilitation, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto.

Members
Maria Manuel Lopes de Figueiredo Costa Marques Borges, PhD, Associate Professor, Departamento Filosofia, Comunicação e Informação, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra;
José Luis Brinquete Borbinha, PhD, Full Professor, Instituto Superior Técnico da Universidade de Lisboa;
Irene Pimenta Rodrigues, PhD, Associate Professor, Departamento de Informática, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Évora;
Maria Cristina de Carvalho Alves Ribeiro, PhD, Associate Professor, Departamento de Engenharia Informática, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (Supervisor);
Carla Alexandra Teixeira Lopes, PhD, Assistant Professor, Departamento de Engenharia Informática, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto.

Abstract
The growing amount of research data and the recognition of their value in the scientific community has led to the development of policies, infrastructures, tools and services. Researchers are encouraged to open their data and make them FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) to ensure the verifiability of results and transparency of research, while increasing their value. In this context, Research Data Management (RDM) becomes a vital component of high-quality research and a regular activity for researchers. The Data Management Plan (DMP), provision of quality metadata, repository selection, and data publication are some of the activities that researchers need to undertake when following the Open Science policies. However, these activities are time-consuming and not obvious to researchers, requiring specific knowledge, effort and experience. To support researchers, institutions are looking for solutions and developing workflows, tools, systems and services that aim to meet RDM requirements of both researchers and funding agencies. Implementing any information system, tool or service at a research institution requires their development, testing and evaluation, as well as adaptation to existing regulations. In this work, we present the development of a DMP support system that meets RDM requirements and researcher needs. We also propose its implementation in the institutional infrastructure and workflow. We explore various aspects related to the DMP support system development, namely RDM and DMP requirements and legislation at the international and national levels, institutional project management and RDM workflows, existing initiatives, recommendations and tools. We introduce a collaborative DMP-building method based on collaboration between researchers and a data steward. We describe its application to case studies from different scientific domains, analyze the results and propose its systematic evaluation. We also propose a path that simplifies the DMP creation process, to make plans more standard, high-quality, and detailed, by implementing controlled vocabularies in the DMP support system. To this end, we apply the collaborative method on projects from the same scientific domain, identifying specific aspects for this domain and proposing terms that can be used with controlled vocabularies and possibly contributing to the design of Domain Data Protocols. The proposed DMP support system also considers the existing mechanisms of automation and interoperability, namely the machine-actionable DMP (maDMP) standard. We analyze the maDMP standard and existing tools created according to this standard and propose a DMP structure and a DMP workflow that can help to make the DMP machine-actionable. Finally, we suggest the implementation of the DMP support system in the institutional RDM workflow, and the interface to support researchers in DMP creation and RDM activities in general. Moreover, this work concludes that the DMP support system can be implemented in any institution, and used for projects in different scientific domains. The results constitute a guide for institutions that are still at the beginning of the development of the RDM infrastructure. The feedback from researchers shows that they need support in DMP creation and monitoring, not only at the planning stage of the project but also during its course and sometimes even after. They are very positive about the implementation of the proposed system, highlighting its importance and necessity. Along with researchers, institutions also benefit from the implementation of such a system by providing support to researchers in RDM issues, reducing the time to create plans, improving the quality of DMPs and making projects comply with the RDM and funders’ requirements, thereby contributing to the prestige of the institution.

António de Almeida Foundation Award awarded to Bruno Lima

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Last Friday, May 26, the Auditorium José Marques dos Santos hosted another Conferement Ceremony, an event where the Faculty of Engineering confers the most honourable distinction to those who completed their doctoral degree and defended their thesis in the previous academic year.

The ceremony, which began with the entrance of the Academic Procession, honoured not only the New Doctorates 2022, but also the winners of the Institutional Awards (Prof. Dr. Joaquim Sarmento Award, António de Almeida Foundation Award and Prof. Dr. António Silva Cardoso Award). António Silva Cardoso Award), the FEUP Doctorates that celebrated this year the 25th and 50th anniversary of their doctorate date and the winner of the Career Award, given annually by FEUP to an alumnus who distinguished himself by his extraordinary professional career, this year presented to António Mota, who gave an emotional speech before an audience that gave him back a standing ovation.

In this edition DEI highlights its Alumnus Bruno Miguel Carvalhido Lima, ProDEI Doctorate, who, with his thesis “Observability and Controllability in Scenario-based Integration Testing of Time-Constrained Distributed Systems”, received the António de Almeida Foundation Award, a pecuniary prize of €1500 which rewards the most original thesis, of high scientific merit and socio-economic interest, from the following Doctoral Programmes: Electrical and Computer Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, Physics Engineering and Informatics Engineering (the group of doctoral programmes competing in this edition).

This thesis, supervised by Prof. João Pascoal Faria (DEI/FEUP), whose abstract and the full version can be seen in the open repository of the U.Porto, was for its author a stimulating and rewarding challenge, which allowed him to collaborate with other researchers and professionals in the area and to acquire new skills and experiences that enriched his education and curriculum. “This award was an honour and a public recognition for the work developed”, Bruno Lima tells us at the end of the ceremony.

*Were 19 the new Doctorates from DEI doctoral programmes distinguished in this ceremony (4 ProDEI, 7 Digital Media and 8 from MAP.i – joint program of the U.Porto, University of Aveiro and University of Minho), whose list can be seen in the page of the honoured Alumni.

Linking Great Partners – “Learning by Innovating” is presented on June 2 at FEUP

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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.

The “magic FoRMuLa” team conquers the 2nd place in the Ebec Challenge Iberia

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It was in a festive atmosphere that the “magic FoRMuLa” team took the stage at the Ebec Challenge Iberia to receive the distinction of 2nd place in the competition held in Madrid.

After reaching the 1st place in the local phase held in Porto, the team formed by Lucas Santos, Francisco Pires, Rita Ramada and Mafalda Magalhães, made magic once again in the two days of competition, accompanied by six other teams representing the Universities of Lisbon, Aveiro, Coimbra, two from Madrid and one from Valladolid. Over the two long days, the team had the opportunity to collaborate intensely among the team but also to share knowledge with the other participants. In everyone’s opinion, it was a very enriching experience, both personally and professionally.

They were two intense  days, each one with a different proposal for the Innovative Design challenge. “On the first day, we were challenged to create a prototype of an underwater tunnel, and use a 3D printer to do it. On the second day, the goal was to use debris from demolished buildings as material for a 3D machine, which would be responsible for printing new buildings” Rita Ramada told us. “These proposals encouraged our creativity, and the exploration of the combination between technology and engineering to create viable solutions. At the same time, it made us reflect on the importance of sustainability and the reuse of materials in construction” concludes the future computer engineer.

After the challenges, the team explained their ideas and presented their prototypes before a jury, thus winning the 2nd place.

“This recognition fills us with pride and validates our hard work and dedication throughout the challenge. It was an honour to have participated in Ebec Challenge Iberia and to have had the opportunity to represent our college and course outside Portugal” ends the team.

Photo: BEST Iberia

XX Conference on Information Science brings to discussion the “Ethics in the Information Era”

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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

Beatriz Miranda wins the APDC Best Media Thesis Award

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With the support of CEE – Consortium of Engineering Schools, APDC – Portuguese Association for the Development of Communications, launched in February 2021, the Best Thesis Award, with the purpose of rewarding anually the best master’s dissertations in the areas of Information Technology, Telecommunications and Media.

On May 10, Beatriz Almeida Miranda, student of the Master in Multimedia of the U. Porto, will go on stage in the 32nd Digital Business Congress of APDC, to receive the distinction of best master’s dissertation in the area of media, with the work entitled “Immersive VR eHealth Strategies: VR games to treat schizophrenia negative symptoms“, which was conducted under the guidance of Professors Paula Alexandra Carvalho de Sousa Rego (IPVC) and António Fernando Vasconcelos Cunha Castro Coelho (DEI/FEUP), who tell us a little about this dissertation:

“Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that resorts to cognitive rehabilitation treatments to help reduce symptoms that cannot be treated with medication. In general, pharmacological treatments are not effective in controlling the negative symptoms of the illness. Negative symptoms include, among others, decreased motivation and interest in performing simple activities. In this context, this thesis aimed to contribute to the study of the application of serious Virtual Reality (VR) games in the treatment of negative symptoms in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, through the development of a prototype of a serious game in Virtual Reality (VR) that simulates spaces and tasks of daily life activities, proposing the resolution of problems, with the ultimate purpose of recovering autonomy and increasing motivation to perform tasks in patients diagnosed with the schizophrenia spectrum. The prototype was validated with a sample of healthy participants with very interesting and relevant results for the project, which indicate good prospects for use with patients. The study and the results obtained allowed us to identify a set of important characteristics that can be useful in the development of games in this area. This thesis was developed in the context of a larger project – Greenhealth, which has IPVC as a partner (together with IPB, IPCA, IPP and ULSNE)”.

Chatting with Beatriz, she told us about the immense satisfaction of receiving this distinction: “Having my work recognized means a lot to me. When I started it I knew very little about the subject I chose, which made me work even harder to develop a thesis with the level of rigor I wanted. This distinction served as yet another demonstration that I successfully achieved my goal. Despite this, I feel that in the end the greatest prize I won was my personal growth. I believe that this research has served not only as a way to help in the development of better solutions for the for the treatment of schizophrenia, but also as a way to help demystify misconceptions that exist about the usefulness of games and about the way we see and deal with mental illnesses.”

As for the future, Beatriz wants to finish the research project she is working on, GreenHealth, and then enter the job market, preferably in a company that works in the area of Virtual Reality.

In the 2022 edition, Aisha Animashaun, also an alumna of the Master in Multimedia, received this same distinction with the work entitled “Generative Soundscapes for Enhanced Engagement in Non-Invasive Neurorehabilitation”, a proposal for a generative strategy of sound environments to dynamically mask the frequency bands of the noise identified with negative auditory stimuli, to promote a relaxing soundscape from a range of ambient sounds connoted in the literature with low degrees of valence and arousal, in dementia patients.

In the 1st edition of this award, back in 2021, André Cruz, Alumnus of the Integrated Masters in Informatics and Computer Engineering, was also distinguished in the area of Information and Communication Technologies, with the dissertation “Fairness-Aware Hyperparameter Optimisation”, which focused on the study of biases and potential discriminations in the use of artificial intelligence systems related to gender, age, ethnicity or geographical location.

Datattack is back for its 2nd edition

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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 1st 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 2nd 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.

CreativityTalks | “The Creativity Virus” by Katja Tschimmel

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Creativity is one of our most precious human resources. We owe to it our civilisation, our culture, and every benefit that arts, science or technology offer. Today, we live on the results produced by creative people over the ages. In this sense, creativity is inexhaustible. Creativity creates creativity. We can define creativity as the capacity to transform ideas and knowledge to obtain new knowledge. Creative thinking and action create new creative thinking and action. Creativity is contagious, and so infects the people around us. This is the idea which will be explored in Katja Tschimmel’s talk. In this approach, she will not focus only on the creative individual – the artist, the designer, the writer or the scientist – but she wants to understand the creative person as an integral part of a complex system. A living system which can be a group of people, a team, an organisation, a city or/and the whole society. This Creativity Talk aims to infect the audience with creativity by 1. offering knowledge about the creativity phenomenon and 2. inspiring the generation of new ideas and knowledge through information, images and short thinking exercises.

 “The Creativity Virus” will be presented by Katja Tschimmel on May 4, at 6 pm, room B021. The session will be moderated by Prof. João José Pinto Ferreira and will also be streamed via Youtube

Free entrance but registration required.

Short-Bio:

Katja Tschimmel, German by birth and Portuguese by choice, is a consultant and executive trainer, researcher and lecturer, coach, and conference speaker. Having a Ph.D. in Design and a Master in Applied Creativity, Katja researches and works in the fields of Creative Thinking, Design Thinking, Creative Processes and Innovation for more than 25 years. She is the author of several books and articles about Creativity and Innovation. Katja Tschimmel is the managing owner of MINDSHAKE, a Consultancy in Creative Thinking and Design (www.mindshake.pt). She is also a Guest Professor at the University of Porto (FEP/FEUP) and Porto Business School, giving Master Classes in several other educational higher institutions in Portugal and abroad. Since January 2023, she is the Portuguese Ambassador of the World Creativity and Innovation Week (https://wciw.org/)