The CMU Portugal online Info Session “How to apply for a CMU Portugal Dual Degree Ph.D. Scholarship” was held on October 14th via Zoom, gathering 72 potential candidates to learn more about the call for scholarships for the 2026/2027 academic year.
The Info Session was moderated by Sílvia Castro, CMU Portugal Executive Director, who welcomed the participants and offered a first insight of the Program.
João Fumega, CMU Portugal’s Education Officer, provided an overview of the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program and the Dual Degree Ph.D. scholarships. Following this, Megan Berty, CMU Portugal’s Associate Director at CMU, offered guidance on application requirements and how to prepare a successful submission.
The session continued with the participation of Latifah Almaghrabi, a Dual Ph.D. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, at Universidade de Aveiro and CMU, in her final year, who not only spoke on her research, but also who shared her journey in the program, starting from her application process and admission, offering useful advice to prospective students.
Latifah offered valuable advice on planning the application process in advance, with the support of advisors or professors, and the transition to study abroad (whether in Pittsburgh or Portugal), highlighting the importance of preparations ahead of time, namely the visa process and the housing. She also emphasized the benefits of using the facilities and resources of the universities, and the networking opportunities with peers, sharing her fulfilling experience in the program.
Finally, to wrap up the session, a 30-minute Q&A allowed the participants to ask questions and clear their doubts with the panelists.
Under this call, 10 Scholarships are currently available for the 2026/2027 academic year in 11 available programs in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The Dual Degree Ph.D. scholarships allow students to spend 3 years in Portugal and 2 years in Pittsburgh, integrated as regular students at Carnegie Mellon University. Upon completion of the Ph.D., the student is awarded two diplomas: one from their selected Portuguese university and one from CMU.
The CMU Portugal program hosted an End of Summer Event on August 20, 2025, bringing together CMU Portugal students who are currently studying in Pittsburgh, including Dual Degree Ph.D. and Affiliated Ph.D. students.
Attending students were from multiple CMU departments, including Computer Science (CS), Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Engineering and Public Policy (EPP), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Mechanical Engineering (MechE), and Software and Societal Systems (S3D).
The event began with a lunch on the CMU campus in Pittsburgh. At lunch, students had the opportunity to enjoy a meal together while discussing summer plans and the upcoming academic year, while also building relationships and networking.
Students pictured: Sofia Ferraz, Rafael Gonçalves, Rodrigo Marques, Pedro Cachim, Pedro Ferreira, José Gomes, Rui Melo & Cláudia Mamede
After lunch the students walked over to the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens where they took a 1 hour guided tour of the garden grounds. Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens encompasses 15 acres including a 14-room glasshouse and 23 distinct gardens. Opened in 1893, the historic landmark is just across from the CMU campus in Schenley Park.
Pictured: Pedro Ferreira, Rafael Gonçalves and Keivan KaboutariPictured: Sofia Ferraz, Rodrigo Marques, Keivan Kaboutari, Rafael Gonçalves and Pedro Ferreira
This was a great way to end the summer and kick off the Fall semester as the Program prepares to welcome 10 new Dual Degree PhD students, four of whom will start their first semester in Pittsburgh.
Later in the Fall semester, the CMU Portugal Program will also welcome 12 visiting students and faculty members, who will be joining the CMU Portugal community in Pittsburgh.
For more information on CMU Portugal initiatives you can sign up for our newsletter, News from the Fence.
On July 9th, the CMU Portugal Program participated once again in the Encontro Ciência Summit, joining forces with the MIT Portugal and UT Austin Portugal programs for the session titled “FCT’s Partnerships with U.S. Universities: Shaping the Future Through Impactful Science.”
Hosted this year at the NOVA SBE campus in Carcavelos between July 9 and 11, the FCT’s Partnerships session welcomed representatives from the Portuguese Government in science and education policy, including the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre, and the Secretary of State for Science, Helena Canhão, who delivered the closing remarks and announced José Manuel Mendonça as the chairperson that will lead the mission structure for the governance of the three partnerships.
João Magalhães, National Co-Director of CMU Portugal, welcomed speakers and participants and introduced the first panel discussion, ‘A Successful Journey from the Research Bench to the Market’. The debate reflected on nearly two decades of impactful partnerships with American institutions — collaborations that have bridged the gap between academia and entrepreneurship, contributed to societal progress, and are now shaping the way for a new phase leading up to 2030.
The session was moderated by John Hansman, Co-Director of the MIT Portugal Program, and featured representatives from the three Partnerships.
Representing CMU Portugal, Paulo Dimas, VP of Product Innovation at Unbabel and CEO of the Center for Responsible AI, shared his perspective on the program’s impact alongside Hélder Silva, Head of Aerospace Flight Software at Thales Edisoft Portugal, representing MIT Portugal, and John G. Ekerdt, Professor Emeritus at the Cockrell School of Engineering, UT Austin, representing UT Austin Portugal. Each had the opportunity to share insights on the partnerships’ role in supporting the development of scientific and entrepreneurial projects.
Hélder Silva presented the “AEROS Constellation” project, developed within the scope of the MIT Portugal Program, while John G. Ekerdt highlighted UT Austin’s contributions to scientific advancement through exploratory and large-scale transatlantic collaborations such as uPGRADE and BOB, emphasizing their ongoing commitment to research, training, and mentorship.
In his presentation, Paulo Dimas highlighted CMU Portugal’s role in the founding of Unbabel in 2013 by Vasco Pedro — a graduate of CMU’s Language Technologies Institute and former CMU Portugal post-doctoral fellow. Dimas also recognized the contribution of André Martins, a CMU Portugal alumnus in Language Technologies, who joined Unbabel in 2015 as Head of Research and recently transitioned to VP of AI Research Chief Science Officer, having led Unbabel Research almost since its launch.
Between 2020 and 2022, Unbabel led the CMU Portugal large-scale collaborative project MAIA focused on developing a multilingual conversational platform supported by machine translation and dialogue systems, where AI agents assist human agents. This project inspired the launch of the Center for Responsible AI in 2023, gathering start-ups, research centers, a law firm, and industry leaders to develop AI products leveraged by responsible technologies, principles and regulation. Halo is one of those products using AI “for good”, rehabilitating the communication capacity of patients with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Following the presentations, the session proceeded with a roundtable discussion focused on the future of the partnerships and their scientific, entrepreneurial, and societal impact.
During the discussion, Paulo Dimas emphasized the importance of educational initiatives such as the CMU Portugal Dual Degree Ph.D. Programs, particularly in their role in developing human capital and retaining talent in Portugal:
“Nowadays, it’s difficult to retain talent in Portugal. Programs like the Dual Degrees and the Large Scale Collaborative Projects are truly effective. In these cases, the level of commitment from the participating institutions is completely different, much higher than in initiatives that don’t directly involve partners from both countries.”
He also highlighted the contributions of CMU Portugal Ph.D. students like Mariana Nunes and Patrick Fernandesto the research carried out at Unbabel, and offered a key piece of advice: “It is crucial to keep investing not only in projects, but also in products — that’s how we create real value.”
Credit: Encontro Ciência
In the second part of the session, Fernando Alexandre, Minister of Education, Science, and Innovation, presented an overview of the next phase of partnerships planned for 2025–2030, including the public announcement of the nomination of José Manuel Mendonça as chairperson to lead the mission structure for the new joint governance of the international partnerships.
According to the Minister, the goal of this new structure is to establish a broader, shared vision across the three partnerships, while expanding their overall ambition. Launched nearly two decades ago, the initiative is now entering a new phase focused on restructuring and reassessing how these collaborations can strengthen Portugal’s position within Europe.
“We need to be more relevant in Europe and rise to the challenges the EU is currently facing. I believe these partnerships will help us make a difference and improve the well-being of Portuguese society ” stated the Minister, adding that the Government is committed to making these partnerships bigger and more ambitious.
Credit: Encontro CiênciaCredit: Encontro Ciência
Helena Canhão (Secretary of State for Science and Innovation), Fernando Alexandre (Minister of Education, Science and Innovation), Madalena Alves (President of FCT) e José Manuel Mendonça Credit: UT Austin Portugal
Throughout the Encontro Ciência 2025 Summit, eight CMU Portugal Ph.D. students were also featured through e-posters showcased in the conference’s virtual gallery.
The CMU Portugal Program hosted on June 4th an Info Session to guide potential candidates to apply to the Open Calls for Mobility Programs “Visiting Students” and “Visiting Faculty & Researchers”. To date, the CMU Portugal Program has supported 69 Visiting Students and 96 Faculty and Researchers visits to Carnegie Mellon University.
The Info Session, held via Zoom, gathered 28 participants, including students, faculty, and researchers who were interested in learning about the key steps for a successful application and how to get the opportunity to spend a research period at CMU until the end of 2025.
The session was moderated by the Program’s Communications and Events Officer, Mariana Carmo, who welcomed the participants.
João Fumega, CMU Portugal’s Education Officer, gave an overview of both CMU Portugal Mobility initiatives, focusing on the application process and main requirements. Megan Berty, CMU Portugal Associate Director at CMU, spoke next on the CMU requirements and the support available by the Coordination office in Pittsburgh.
Next, Gabriel Santos, MSc graduate in Biomedical Engineeringat Universidade de Coimbra, shared his experience as Visiting Student in 2024. Gabriel was hosted by Professor Carmel Majidi in the Mechanical Engineering Department. His research focuses on Tunable Stiffness Neural Probes, working at the Soft and Printed Microelectronics Laboratoryof the Institute of Systems and Robotics – Coimbra, which has been working closely with Professor Carmel Majidi.
Anna Bernard, assistant professor of Economics and researcher at Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, was a Visiting Faculty and Researcher in 2024, hosted at the Heinz College by Professor Michael D. Smith. Her research interests lie at the intersection of cultural and digital economics, with a focus on the music industry and crowdfunding for creative projects using experimental and online data. Anna had heard positive feedback from former participants of the Visiting program, which convinced her to apply.
Gabriel and Anna shared positive feedback about their time at CMU. They talked about the straightforward application processes to the Visiting Programs, advising potential applicants to take care of logistics, especially applying for a visa and housing, as early as possible. They also enjoyed immersing themselves in Pittsburgh’s culture, namely the sports scene. Finally, they highlighted the value of attending the numerous seminars, using the university’s research labs and resources, and building connections with peers and professors.
Finally, to wrap up the session, there was a 15-minute Q&A, which allowed the participants to ask questions to the panelists.
For further questions about all our initiatives, please visit our website, or contact us at apply@cmuportugal.org.
The CMU Portugal online Info Session “How to apply to a CMU Portugal Affiliated Ph.D. Program Scholarship”, was held on May 22nd via Zoom, gathering 61 potential candidates willing to know more about the 2025 available scholarships.
Under this call, 12 Scholarships are currently available for the 2025/2026 academic year in selected cutting-edge areas of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), related to the scope of the CMU Portugal Program. The selected candidates will be hosted at a Portuguese University and benefit from a research period of up to 12 months at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
The Info Session was moderated by Mariana Carmo, CMU Portugal’s Communications and Events Officer, who introduced CMU Portugal National Co-Director João Magalhães, to welcome the participants and offer a first insight of the Program.
João Fumega, CMU Portugal’s Education Officer, provided an overview of the program., presenting the application guidelines and main requirements.
Megan Berty, CMU Portugal’s Associate Director at CMU, spoke next on the research period at CMU, and the support available by the coordination office in Pittsburgh.
The Session continued with the participation of Diogo Silva, an Affiliated Ph.D. student in the area of Language Technologies at NOVA FCT and researcher at NOVA LINCS, who not only spoke on his research, but also shared his experience as a student under the program, from the application process to his research period at CMU.
Diogo offered valuable advice on how selected candidates can prepare to go to Pittsburgh, namely the visa process and the housing. He highlighted as one of the main benefits of the research period in Pittsburgh his networking experience both with peers and faculty, and being able to use the university’s facilities and resources, to “make the best of this experience”.
Finally, to close the session, a 20-minute Q&A allowed all participants to clarify their doubts with the panelists.
Under the CMU Portugal Patient Innovation Accelerator,six teams that participated in thePatient Innovation (PI) Bootcamp traveled to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh from April 7th to 11th for a week-long residency program designed to prepare the participating teams to enter the U.S. market.
The teams were hosted by Project Olympus, a CMU Incubator Program that provides resources and mentorship to help members of the CMU community to turn cutting-edge research into startups; and AlphaLab Health, Pittsburgh’s leading life sciences accelerator, which has been supporting startups since 2008. The week featured expert-led workshops, tailored mentorship from Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIRs), and visits to key institutions such as Allegheny Health Network (AHN) and UPMC Enterprises.
The week was structured around morning sessions led by Project Olympus on various entrepreneurial topics. In the afternoons, the teams were given flex-time for one-on-one meetings with experts and Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIRs).
Here is a closer look at how the week went.
Day one began with a welcome message from Meredith Meyer Grelli, Director of Project Olympus, Melanie Simko, Program Manager at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, and Megan Berty, Associate Director of CMU Portugal at CMU. The morning continued with a presentation from guest speaker Jerome Granato, MD, experienced physician executive and healthcare consultant, on selling into the healthcare market.
After the panel was a presentation by Mara McFadden, CEO of Endolumik, on Leadership: know yourself and your team.
Day two kicked off with a presentation on Creating Value and Reducing Investor Risk. The key points of the presentation were: defining inflection points, understanding risk and setting expectations. The speakers included: Matt Harbaugh, Venture Capitalist at Mountain State Capital, Nick Pachuda, Innovation Leader & Investor, Kevin Rocco, Founder at Biorez, and Noveate Capital Partners which consists of a team of MedTech, BioPharma and Venture Capital experts who identify, support, and accelerate tomorrow’s life science breakthroughs.
Next was a panel of three guest entrepreneurs in the fields of Software (Saisri Akondi, Biomedical Innovator), Medical Device (Craig Markovitz, Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University), & Therapeutic Medicine (Paulo Fontes, Co-founder & Chief Medical Officer, LyGenesis, Co-founder & Medical/Strategic Advisor, ICaPath). This panel focused on the Realities of Product Development and Validation and was moderated by Max Fedor, lead EIR and Director Portfolio Commercialization at LifeX.
Following the panel was a presentation by guest speaker Alethea WielandClinical Research Strategieson Validation and Regulatory Compliance. Day 2 concluded with a visit to the Suburban General Incubation Facility, a repurposed hospital facility.
Day three began with a workshop with Meredith Meyer Grelli on Developing a Pitch, followed by a panel, moderated by Meyer Grelli, on Communicating with Investors. Panel members included: Rezzan Kose– 412 Venture Fund, Sree Gadde– BlueTree Ventures, Gretchen Jezerc – Profit Mind, Jeanne Iasella – Alpha Lab Health.
The final session on day three was a presentation by speaker,Krista Bragg, CEO, KB Kinetics LLC, on Health Systems Perspectives.
Day four’s morning began with a session on Intellectual Property: Building offensive and defensive patents & protecting software by speakers Pierre Queiroz de Oliveira, IP Attorney at DLA Piper and Jake Greenberg, IP Attorney with CMU’s Center for Technology Transfer and Enterprise Creation.
Next was a session on Competitive Strategies in Healthcare Business by Alissa Meade, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Glimmer Health.
Lunch on day four provided an exciting opportunity for the Patient Innovation Entrepreneurs to meet and network with the CMU Portugal Community at CMU during a Grad Student Appreciation Luncheon.
Attendees included Dual Degree and Affiliated Ph.D. students spanning many CMU departments including: Computer Science, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Engineering & Public Policy, Human-Computer Interaction, and Language Technologies. The students also span many Portuguese Universities including: Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA School of Science and Technology, University of Aveiro, Instituto Superior Técnico, Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra, Faculty of Engineering – University of Porto, and University of Lisbon.
The day concluded with a Pitch Workshop in which the entrepreneurs presented a 15-minute pitch of their company or product. Afterwards was a short Q&A and constructive feedback from EIR’s, mentors, and others.
The final day provided an opportunity for the entrepreneurs to meet with Project Olympus and the CMU Portugal Program to discuss how the week went and provide feedback. The week was wrapped up with a Happy Hour at The Oaklander Hotel.
Though the week in Pittsburgh has concluded, the work is not over. The program will conclude with an in-person workshop in Portugal in June, where participants will showcase their progress and finalize their go-to-market strategies. By the end of the Patient Innovation Accelerator Program, teams are expected to have developed solid commercialization plans tailored to both US and EU markets.
For more information about the Accelerator Program, please click here.
André Duarte, a Dual Degree Ph.D. student in Language Technologies at Instituto Superior Técnico / INESC-ID and Carnegie Mellon University, was the invited speaker at the latest Priberam Lab Machine Learning Lunch Seminar held on March 11th. This seminar is part of a series of biweekly informal meetings hosted at Instituto Superior Técnico, in Lisbon.
Credits: Priberam
At the event, André talked about DE-COP, a method designed to detect whether copyrighted text has been included in a language model’s training data. André shared that “by leveraging multiple-choice questions that contrast verbatim text with its paraphrases, DE-COP effectively exposes memorization, significantly outperforming prior methods”.
The CMU Portugal student also talked about his extended investigation to vision-language models (VLM) with DIS-CO, a new approach for identifying copyrighted visual content in training data. By “using our MovieTection benchmark, built from 14,000 frames across various films, we find that many popular VLMs display clear signs of memorization, raising broader concerns about AI training practices and copyright compliance” explains André.
“I was really happy to receive this invitation. As a Ph.D. student, I see these opportunities to share our work as truly valuable. So, I can only say thanks for being the one chosen this time.” shared André, who was quite impressed with the turnout of approximately 60 attendees.
André Duarte’s research focuses on the security and privacy of Generative AI models, with a particular emphasis on Membership Inference Attacks. He is supervised by Arlindo Oliveira, at Instituto Superior Técnico and INESC-ID, and Lei Li, at the Language Technologies Institute of Carnegie Mellon University
In November 2024, André Duarte won the SPARK award for best student article at Center for Responsible AI Forum 2024, for his article “DE-COP: Detecting Copyrighted Content in Language Models Training Data”, selected among 44 academic submitted projects.
On February 12th, members of the CMU Portugal Alumni Community gathered in Lisbon for a networking event featuring Tepper School of Business Dean Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou and Mimi Fairman, Executive Director of International Advancement at CMU.
The event allowed former CMU Portugal students to reconnect and engage with other fellow alumni while catching up on the latest from Carnegie Mellon University.
The evening fostered great conversations strengthened connections while contributing to expand the CMU Portugal community’s global network.
During her visit to Lisbon, Mimi Fairman met with the CMU Portugal Coordination Office team to discuss CMU Portugal’s education initiatives and alumni community. The meeting served as an opportunity to highlight the partnership’s ongoing work and explore avenues for future collaboration. Discussions focused on strengthening engagement and exploring opportunities for deeper connections within the global CMU alumni network.
The CMU Portugal program hosted a lunch on the Carnegie Mellon campus in Pittsburgh on February 11th, 2025, bringing together students currently studying in Pittsburgh.
At CMU, the program’s coordination team regularly creates networking opportunities for students from different Ph.D. programs – who may not typically interact in classes – to connect, build relationships, and expand their professional networks beyond the classroom.
Attending students included Dual Degree Ph.D., Affiliated Ph.Ds. students from many CMU departments including Computer Science (CS), Software and Societal Systems (S3D), Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Human Computer Interaction (HCII), Language Technologies Institute (LTI), and Engineering and Public Policy (EPP).
This gathering gave everyone an opportunity to catch-up while enjoying a meal together, sharing their experiences at CMU in Pittsburgh so far.
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