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 aim of rewarding annually the best master’s dissertations in the areas of Information Technology, Telecommunications and Media.

This year, in a ceremony associated with the 31º Digital Business Congress, the dissertation “Generative Soundscapes for Enhanced Engagement in Non-Invasive Neurorehabilitation”, by Aisha Jeanette Animashaun, Master in Multimedia Alumna, was awarded in the Media area.

The Dissertation, concluded in July 2021, was supervised by Prof. Gilberto Bernardes, Assistant Professor at DEI and Coordinator of the area of Interactive Music and Sound Design of the Master in Multimedia, who tell us more about this research:

“The lack of engagement and motivation, also referred to as apathy, has a negative impact on the treatment effectiveness and well-being of people with neurocognitive disorders such as dementia. In this context, we aimed to assess whether the engagement of people with dementia during non-invasive treatments is affected by noise levels from surrounding sound sources and negative auditory stimuli present in treatment environments. An online survey gauged that disruptive auditory stimuli and noise levels influence engagement and adherence levels of demented individuals during treatment. Negatively perceived sound sources were identified in both therapy facilities and at home, such as human voices, household appliances, and household noises. The results indicate that the perception of higher noise levels in therapeutic facilities is in correlation with the lower rate of perceived adherence during the therapy session compared to the lower noise level and higher engagement found when demented individuals interact at home. A generative sound environment strategy was proposed to dynamically mask the frequency bands of 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 conversation with Aisha, she shared with us the enormous satisfaction of receiving this distinction:

“To me, it is not so much about winning as it is to celebrate the people involved in the journey. I was thankful that all the work on the project as well as the input from my supervisor, professors, colleagues, friends, and family have been recognized through this award. I am really passionate about research that aims to improve health and wellbeing and I am thrilled that it translated well into the research project!”. When asked about the biggest challenge encountered during this journey, Aisha tells us that “The biggest challenge, as in so many projects from 2020 onwards, was the pandemic. My initial focus had to shift in order to eliminate the risk for health-impaired individuals. However, the support I received from my supervisor and surroundings helped me identify a more focused path and made the project even stronger than the previously proposed plan. I think one of the biggest achievements or most exciting events was to actually work with participants during the experiment and get their feedback on our prototype. Their openness to including multimedia technology in treatments for neurorehabilitation and the suggestive results of a higher engagement during the test was very encouraging.”

What about plans for the future?

“I would like to conduct further research into neurorehabilitation and neurocognitive disorders making use of multimedia-focused interventions and ultimately embark on a PhD journey to fuel my passion for research and learning”.

We wish you all the best Aisha!

Recalling last year’s edition, André Cruz, Alumnus of the Integrated Masters in Informatics and Computer Engineering, was also distinguished with this Award, in the area of Information and Communication Technologies, with his dissertation “Fairness-Aware Hyperparameter Optimization”, 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. The awarded research resulted in a new algorithm – Fairband, which allows training fairer models, increasing the fairness of automatic decision processes by 93%, on average. More about it can be seen here.

Following the commitment assumed with the education sector in Portugal, through a memorandum of understanding signed during the 2021 edition of the Web Summit, at the StartUp Portugal stand, between Associação DNS.PT (.PT) and Huawei Portugal, Huawei launched a Scholarship Programme directed to university students in the areas of Engineering and Science, having recently recognized 50 university students for their academic and personal merit with the attribution of a scholarship worth 5,000 Euros, in an investment of 250,000 Euros.

For Forbes Portugal, Diogo Madeira da Silva, Head of Public Affairs & Communications at Huawei Portugal said that this is a “significant investment in the training of Portuguese students and an indelible contribution to a more capacitated, more digital and more competitive Portugal”, hence the fact that this initiative is being promoted together with .PT and with the support of INCoDe.2030, of Portugal Digital, the Commission for Citizenship and Equality and the Secretary of State and the Commission for Citizenship and Equality, “guarantees us the alignment with the empowerment, digital transition and equality agenda that the country is pursuing. And we hope that more partners can join this initiative”.

Around 3000 applications were received from young university students from all over the country, including the 7 students from DEI who recently received one of these scholarships that will make all the difference in their academic careers; Sofia Pinto, Tiago Oliveira, Miguel Silva and Diogo Neves are students in the Bachelor in Informatics and Computing Engineering, a joint FEUP/FCUP programme, and Rita Peixoto, Mário Mesquita and Miguel Gomes from the Master in Informatics and Computing Engineering at FEUP.

Talking to Sofia Pinto, she tell us that when she saw the email about the scholarship program, from the L.EIC secretariat, she thought “I think I have the right profile and trying is not difficult” and that’s how she “dared” to participate. And his decision couldn’t have been better, as it will allow her to save to invest in an MBA in the future and to travel, accumulating the experiences provided by what she most likes to do, travel!

Tiago Oliveira, Founder and Associate Director of Easy Future, intends to invest part of the winnings in this association and believes that this project was one of the most valued aspects in his CV, having decisively contributed to his being among the 50 lucky winners. Regarding the future Tiago tells us that he intends to create or work in a company that bets strongly in the technological development of the companies, through low cost means of development of sites and apps and support in the cybersecurity area.

Miguel Silva, 2nd year student at L.EIC, believes that the success of his application was due to his passion for technology, applied to the personal projects he develops in his spare time and also to the work developed in the different student groups where he is inserted. At the same time Miguel already dreams with the ERASMUS program, and counts with the scholarship for the additional costs of a season abroad. “It reassures me to know that I have room to explore different interests and invest in my education from now on”.

 Diogo Neves also sees ERASMUS as one of his academic ambitions because of his lifelong curiosity to get in touch with the digital reality of other countries. Diogo believes that his numerous extra-curricular activities, such as musical projects, social initiatives, involvement in academic associations and the various courses taken outside the area of computing, were the key to getting this grant.

Rita Peixoto considers that it was her professional experience so far, her summer internship, her path at JuniFEUP, namely now as Director of the Technology Department, and also her proactivity, mirrored in the various volunteering activities, the Erasmus+ program of partnership with Secondary Schools, the academic monitoring and the constant presence of sport in her life, the aspects most valued by Huawei.

“My dream is to create my own company and develop an innovative product that will help as many people as possible. Throughout my academic career I try to develop and implement the most different project ideas that I have, and I hope that one day one of them will grow to the point of becoming my job and main focus.” – this is how Miguel Gomes sees his future. As for the present, he considers that his professional experience at INESCTEC and Cloudware, his duties as a monitor at the “consultório digital de matemática” , his involvement in a student group, and the project developed in the IDEIA course unit were decisive for the success of his application.

Mário Mesquita, currently in Hong Kong on an exchange program, believes that his entrepreneurial spirit, applied to activities in student groups, participation in competitions, his professional experience obtained in internships and part-times, and the website he created, were valued and decisive to get this scholarship. He also sees himself as an entrepreneur in the future and does not rule out the possibility of creating his own start-up, but right now he wants to explore the world, although the plan will always be to return and bring the knowledge acquired back to Portugal.

Throughout its 17 years of activity in Portugal, Huawei has deepened a strong connection with Education and talent issues, with this program joining other initiatives and investments in the area, such as Smart Bus, Seeds for the Future, *ICT Academy, Summer School for Female Leadership in Digital Age, or, more recently, the inauguration of 5GAIner, a 5G and Artificial Intelligence lab.

*As part of the partnership established between FEUP and Huawei, which launched in 2020 the ICT Academy program with the aim of providing a comprehensive training solution that covers the development of content in key areas for current challenges and future demands, such as Big Data, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things or 5G, FEUP students have through this platform the opportunity of free training so that step by step they can start investing in their future.

The 19th edition of the Mostra da Universidade do Porto runs until April 24 at the Pavilhão Multiusos de Gondomar. With free entrance and transportation, a large number of visitors is expected. They will be welcomed by students, teachers and technicians from various faculties of U.Porto and Research Centers.

Through the dozens of stands, the most curious will be able to experience numerous interactive activities and get to know the training offer of the undergraduate and master’s degree courses.

Students and their families who are considering applying to Higher Education will have the opportunity to attend several information sessions and on Sunday there will be special sessions on the transition from High School to Higher Education and on the social support they can apply for.

This year Mostra brings us a new feature, LIVE sessions that can be watched here.

At the Informatics and Computing Engineering stand, visitors will find motivated students available to answer all questions related to the Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Informatics and Computing Engineering and will be challenged to try out some serious games developed in the scope of the curricular units of these courses:

Quantik is a strategic board game. The game logic is developed with SICStus Prolog software and a 3D graphic interface was added later. There are different scenes, lights and cameras that make the environment richer. There are 3 different game modes to choose from: player vs player, player vs bot, and bot vs bot. It is also possible to undo moves and watch the game movie when the game is over.

Cromoparty is a game developed in C and Assembly. It is based on the famous game concept “Dance Dance Revolution”, but with some didactic references to biology, namely the mitosis process. Its main objective was to implement/deal with I/O operations in MinixOS of several devices such as keyboard, mouse, graphics card, etc.

Nudge is a strategic board game for two people. The game logic is developed with SICStus Prolog software and a 3D graphic interface was added later. There are different scenes, lights and cameras that make the environment richer. There are 3 different game modes to choose from: player vs player, player vs AI, and AI vs AI. It is also possible to undo moves and watch the replay when the game is over.

Grace is a telepresence robot that was to host the OpenCx conference at FEUP to be held in 2020, but did not make it due to the Covid 19 pandemic. The robot can be controlled by a Raspberry Pi running on Robot Operative System (ROS). To control the robot remotely, GraceVision was developed, an app on Flutter for iOS and Android that also allows access to the installed camera.

All the information about Mostra and its programme can be found here.

The group went out to discover the “Little Portuguese Tibet” through the Brandas de Sistelo Trail (PR14 Walk). In this scenery of true rural beauty, where the fabulous terraces stand out in the landscape, students and teachers were able to socialize informally, in collaborative dynamics that promote mutual help, integration, friendship and well-being.

This was the second activity of the 2021/2022 edition. All the others can be seen at Informatics On Board

* Interpares Mentoring Program

 The Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto has an INTERPARES MENTORING program in operation, aimed at students entering for the first time in this institution of Higher Education (mentees), both national and international, with the objective of supporting them in this new phase of their academic path. This program of social and academic integration is carried out by students (mentors) already attending the different courses in more advanced years, and coordinated by a team of teachers, being adapted to each course according to its characteristics. This program is totally voluntary for both mentors and mentees. This initiative is currently integrated in the U. Porto Mentoring Program.