Event type: Conferences

On April 23rd, at 3 p.m. Lisbon I 10 a.m. Pittsburgh, we will walk you through the application process for both CMU Portugal Mobility initiatives, “Visiting Students” and “Visiting faculty & Researchers”, which will be open between April 16th and May 14th.

The CMU Portugal Visiting Faculty & Researchers initiative will allow up to 8 grantees to spend between 2 weeks and 2 months working in research, education, and innovation in ICT with peers at Carnegie Mellon University to experience its culture and best practices.

The CMU Portugal Visiting Students initiative will allow up to 12 master’s students or masters who have been awarded a degree in the last five years in Portugal and in ICT-related areas to spend between 2 weeks and 2 months working in research in ICT at CMU.

Credentials to join us on Zoom will be sent by email the day before the event.

To register, please fill in this online form. 

Info Session Agenda

Session Moderator – Sílvia Castro I CMU Portugal Executive Director

5′– João Magalhães I CMU Portugal National Co-Director
Welcome to the Session

10′– João Fumega | CMU Portugal Coordination Office
Overview of CMU Portugal Mobility Programs 

5′ – Megan Berty | CMU Portugal Coordination Office at CMU
Visiting period at CMU

5’ – André Clérigo | CMU Portugal Visiting student
Experience as a Visiting student at CMU

5’ – Christof Ferreira Torres |  CMU Portugal Faculty&Researcher
Experience as a Visiting researcher at CMU

15′ – Q&A

On April 21st (3 p.m. Lisbon / 10 a.m. Pittsburgh), we will walk you through the application process for a FCT-CMU Portugal Affiliated Ph.D. Programs Scholarships. 

The sixth edition of the CMU Portugal Affiliated Ph.D. Programs Initiative offers Ph.D. scholarships in selected cutting-edge areas of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), related to the scope of the CMU Portugal Program. The application period is open from April 14th to May 12th, 2026.

To register, please fill in this online form. Credentials to join us on Zoom will be sent by email the day before the event.

Info Session Agenda

Session Moderator – Mariana Carmo  I CMU Portugal Communications Manager 

5′ – Inês Lynce I CMU Portugal National Co-Director
Welcome to the Session

10′ – João Fumega | CMU Portugal Coordination Office
Overview of the CMU Portugal Affiliated Ph.D. Programs and scholarship funding

5′ – Megan Berty | CMU Portugal Coordination Office at CMU
Research period at CMU

20′ –Tamás Karácsony  I CMU Portugal Affiliated Ph.D. student testimony
Ph.D. candidate experience

20′ – Q&A

On July 9th, the CMU Portugal Program along with the MIT Portugal Program and UT Austin Portugal, will host the session “FCT’s Partnerships with U.S. Universities:  Shaping the Future through Impactful Science” at Encontro Ciência 2025, Portugal’s largest science and technology meeting, at NOVA SBE Campus, in Carcavelos.

The joint session will shed light on the next chapter of the three programs towards 2030, while also reflecting on the legacy they have established over nearly two decades. These initiatives have served as bridges between science and society, connecting instruments such as education, research, and technology commercialization and entrepreneurship to increase their impact potential.  

The first part of this session, featuring the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre and the Secretary of State for Science and Innovation, Helena Canhão, will focus on the core features of the Partnerships under Phase 4 and the synergies between them.

 The second part will feature a panel of invited speakers, each with a distinct engagement in the partnerships, who will share insights on the unique value of these collaborative frameworks and their role in fostering scientific advancement, capacity-building, and entrepreneurship in Portugal. Paulo Dimas, VP of Product Innovation at Unbabel and Chief Executive Officer at Center for Responsible AI, Hélder Silva, Head of Aerospace Flight Software, Thales Edisoft Portugal, and John G. Ekerdt, Professor Emeritus of the Cockrell School of Engineering, UT Austin will provide a well-rounded view of the Programs’ long-term relevance across society. 

Agenda of the session:
2:30 pm – 4 pm
Amphitheater B137 I NOVA SBE Campus, in Carcavelos.

2:30 pm  | Welcome Remarks I João Magalhães, CMU Portugal National Co-director 

2:35 pm | Part I: 2025-2030: A new chapter, a reinvigorated ambition

New thematic areas and collaboration models
Unique features and synergies between the three programs: CMU Portugal, MIT Portugal and UT Austin Portugal
Q&A

Speakers:
Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre
Secretary of State for Science and Innovation, Helena Canhão 

3:10 pm | Part II: Panel Discussion: A successful journey from the research bench to the market

Moderator: John Hansman, Co-Director for MIT Portugal, MIT, USA

Speakers:

• CMU Portugal: Paulo Dimas,  VP of Product Innovation at Unbabel and Chief Executive Officer at Center for Responsible AI, Portugal.
• MIT Portugal: Hélder Silva, Head of Aerospace Flight Software, Thales Edisoft Portugal, and  PI of AEROS, Portugal. 
• UT Austin Portugal: John G. Ekerdt, Professor Emeritus of the Cockrell School of Engineering, UT Austin and PI of UT Austin Portugal at UT Austin, USA.

 Q&A (25m)

3:55 pm | Closing Remarks I José Manuel Mendonça, UT Austin Portugal National Director

Additionally, CMU Portugal Ph.D. students will showcase their research through e-posters, which will soon be featured in the conference’s virtual gallery.

The full Program is available here.
To attend the event, registration is required through Encontro Ciência website.

Tathagata Srimani, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, will be the afternoon keynote speaker, at the event “Semiconductors: Opportunities and Challenges”,  at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) in Braga (Portugal), presenting the session “NanoSystems: Lab-to-Fab”, on March 17th, at 2:15 -2:30 pm.

Tathagata Srimani’s participation in the event is sponsored by the CMU Portugal Program and follows the 2023 visit of CMU faculty to Portugal’s labs in nanotechnologies and material characterization.

The event is jointly organized by INL, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the National Innovation Agency (ANI), the Northern Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N) and has the institutional support of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation and the Ministry of Economy.

To access the full program and register, visit the official website.

Inês Lynce, CMU Portugal National co-Director and INESC-ID President, will be part of  the roundtable discussion “Doctoral Models with Industry and Non-Academic Partners” at the A3ES International Conference “Doctoral Education in Transition: Addressing Challenges for Inspiring Change”, to take place November 29th, 2024, on Teatro Thalia. 

Pedro Bizarro, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer at Feedzai, a CMU Portugal Affiliated company and the first start-up launched under the Program, will also be part of the discussion panel that will be moderated by Manuel Heitor, former Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology. 

The Closing Session will feature Ana Paiva, the Secretary of State for Science, as speaker.

The full agenda of the even

t is available here.  If you wish to attend, register here.

The event will be broadcast via Youtube.

The Bridge.AI project, with the creation of five working groups for different dimensions of the EU AI Act’s application, aims to produce recommendations for national decision-makers based on sound scientific knowledge, experts’ guidance, and specific cases from the Center for Responsible AI while simultaneously creating an ecosystem of collaboration between key stakeholders.

The conclusions of the project will be presented at the Bridge AI Conference: Portugal at the Forefront of AI Regulation to be held on October 19th, at the Champalimaud Foundation.

The Bridge AI Conference will bring together academics, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and interested citizens to listen to and debate with the most prominent voices in AI regulation. This event will feature the presentation of the preliminary results of the Bridge AI study, talks and debates with international experts and key national decision-makers.

The conference will be held in PT and EN with translation in real time.

Take a look at the agenda and register to attend here.

 

The Bridge.AI project is funded by Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and PlanAPP, through the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers; and is coordinated by INESC-ID, in collaboration with the Champalimaud Foundation and Unbabel.

CMU Portugal is one of the academic institutions participating in Bridge.AI and the technological company Unbabel, one of the CMU Portugal Program’s affiliated partners, is one of the 4 companies integrating the project.  Learn more here.

On July 3rd, the CMU Portugal Program will host, along with the MIT Portugal Program and UT Austin Portugal, the session “Collaborative projects under FCT’s international partnerships with CMU, MIT and UTAustin” at the 2024 Encontro Ciência Summit. This year’s edition will take place at 2:30 pm, D. Maria Hall of Centro de Congressos da Alfândega do Porto.

The CMU Portugal session will highlight innovative initiatives and partnerships established within the Program to address critical challenges. These include contributions to talent development within its unique ecosystem  and to academic and industrial innovation and entrepreneurship 

14.35 -Welcome Notes and Session Background: Brief Retrospective on FCT’s International Partnerships| José Manuel Mendonça, National Director, UT Austin Portugal

14:45 – Panel I -International Partnerships and Talent Development
Moderation: Inês Lynce (National Co-Director Nacional CMU Portugal)

• CMU Portugal – Lia Patrício (FEUP | INESC TEC | CMU Portugal)
• MIT Portugal – Nelson Costa ( Universidade do Minho| MIT Portugal)
• UT Austin Portugal  – Mariana Miranda (INESC TEC,  UT Austin Portugal) 

15: 20 – Panel II – International Partnerships and their Contribution to Scientific and Technological-Based Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Moderation: Pedro Arezes (National Diretor MIT Portugal)

• CMU Portugal – Pedro Oliveira (Dean, NOVA SBE)
• MIT Portugal – Simão Soares (CEO, SilicoLifel)
• UT Austin Portugal – Rosa Romero (CEO, Sphere Ultrafast Photonics)

Additionally 8 CMU Portugal Ph.D. students will present their work in an e-poster format that will soon be available on the conference’s virtual gallery. These will be:  Cláudia Mamede (FEUP), Diogo Silva (FCT NOVA), Francisco Neves (FCT NOVA), Manuel Carneiro (Universidade de Coimbra), Maria Eduarda Andrada (Universidade de Coimbra), Marta Freitas (Universidade de Coimbra), Sofia Ferraz (FEUP) e Tamás Karácsony (FEUP).

The calendar for the sessions is available here. To attend the event, registration is required, through the Encontro Ciência website.

About Encontro Ciência:
“Encontro Ciência” is the major Science Conference organized by the Portuguese Government through the Ministry of Science Technology and Higher Education (MCTES) and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT). It is held annually to highlight Portugal’s main achievements in science and technology.