CMU Portugal Patient Innovation In-person Residency Recap

Under the CMU Portugal Patient Innovation Accelerator, six teams that participated in the Patient 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. 

Next was a panel on “What it Means to be an Entrepreneur”. Panel guests included: Teresa Whalen, CEO at CytoAgents, Steve Bollinger, CEO, Founder and President at Ovala, Inc., Sean McDonald, Founder, President & CEO Ocugenix, moderated by Meredith Meyer Grelli.

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 Wieland Clinical Research Strategies on 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.

CMU Portugal student André Duarte speaks at Priberam Lab Seminar

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.

CMU Portugal Alumni Community reunites in Lisbon

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.

A total of eight CMU Portugal alumni attended the meeting, including Dual Master students Ricardo Marques, Vitor Leitão, Pedro Abreu, Anselmo Silva; as well as Dual Degree Ph.D. alumni Susana Brandão, Sabina Zejnilovic, Miguel Godinho de Matos and Zita Marinho. They were joined by Tiago Moreira da Silva, an MBA student from the Tepper School of Business who organized the gathering, and João Albuquerque, alumni of the College of Engineering.

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.

CMU Portugal Spring Lunch Welcomes Students Back to Campus

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.

“Prometheus-1” satellite launched into space

On January 14th, a small piece of CMU Portugal’s DNA was sent into space. The “PROMETHEUS-1” satellite, Portugal’s first PocketQube developed at Universidade do Minho as part of the CMU Portugal project Prometheus, hitched a ride on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Transporter-12 mission, launched from California, USA.

Credits: Universidade do Minho

The launch was followed live at the University of Minho in an event attended by the Rector of Universidade do Minho, Rui Vieira de Castro; the dean of the School of Engineering of the University of Minho (EEUM), Pedro Arezes;  and João Magalhães, CMU Portugal National co-director. The Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre, participated in the session remotely. 

Alexandre Ferreira da Silva, the Prometheus project’s Principal Investigator in Portugal and a researcher at EEUM, provided an in-depth overview of the satellite. The PROMETHEUS-1 is a Rubik’s Cube-sized satellite, weighing just 250 grams and measuring 5 centimeters on each side. Built at Universidade do Minho, it was developed in collaboration with Instituto Superior Técnico and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) as part of CMU Portugal’s Exploratory Research Project (ERP) titled “PROMETHEUS – PocketQube Framework Designed for Research and Educational Access to Space.” As a CMU Portugal exploratory research project, Prometheus was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and developed in collaboration between Portuguese researchers and Carnegie Mellon University, led in Portugal by Alexandre Ferreira da Silva and Zachary Manchester at CMU.

João Magalhães (CMU Portugal); Alexandre Ferreira da Silva (Uminho); Tom Walkinshaw (Alba Orbital); and Pedro Andrade (Universidade do Minho and CMU Portugal Visiting Student).

“Over the past couple of years, I’ve had the privilege of leading this incredible project, which has been an amazing journey of learning and growth. None of this would have been possible without the support and collaboration of an outstanding team of colleagues – Pedro Andrade, Zachary Manchester and his team, Rodrigo Ventura, and Rui M. Rocha – to whom I’m deeply grateful”, shared Alexandre Silva.

The result was the first-ever development in Portugal of a satellite designed for both educational and scientific purposes. Equipped with battery management and orientation systems, microcontrollers, and a camera to capture images, the satellite will enable the collection of data such as its orientation and potential software errors. Control of the satellite will be managed by team members from Instituto Superior Técnico . Although it is expected to remain in orbit for up to seven years, its functional lifespan is estimated to be approximately two years, in the best scenario. Tom Walkinshaw, CEO and founder of the British satellite builder Alba Orbital, the world’s first PocketQube factory, that integrated “Prometheus-1”  in the PocketQube Deployer (‘AlbaPod’), in 2024, to be prepared for launch, was also in attendance. 

João Magalhães, CMU Portugal’s  National co-director, adds that “this project exemplifies the success of one of the pillars of the CMU Portugal Program: building bridges between Portuguese universities and Carnegie Mellon University. Prometheus is one of the 94 projects funded under the scope of our Program,  benefiting directly from collaboration between Portuguese researchers and Carnegie Mellon University in developing a satellite with a purpose distinct from any other previously developed in Portugal”. 

Credits: Universidade do Minho

The Falcon Rocket 9 lifted off around 7:10 pm (GMT), and until the satellite was released into space (‘deployment’), Universidade do Minho signed a protocol with the Portuguese Air Force, followed by the intervention of Hugo Costa, member of the executive board of the Portuguese Space Agency, and Henrique Candeias, chief engineer of the national satellite integrator N3O.

The video of the launch ceremony is available here.

Credits: Universidade do Minho

In the media: Diário de Notícias, Euronews, Exame InformáticaExpresso, Guimarães Digital, Jornal Económico, Jornal iNotícias ao Minuto, Observador, Rádio Renascença, Rádio Universitária do Minho, RTP, Sapo, Sic Notícias.

Networking Time: CMU Portugal Ph.D. students gathered in both Lisbon and Pittsburgh

On December 5th, the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program brought together its Affiliated and Dual Degree Ph.D.  students in parallel events taking place in Lisbon and Pittsburgh.

In Lisbon, the event gathered 33 Dual and Affiliated students from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Universidade de Aveiro, Universidade de  Coimbra, Universidade de Lisboa, Universidade do Minho, and Universidade do Porto. With Ph.D. candidates coming from universities across the country, this event provided an opportunity for everyone to connect and socialize with fellow CMU Portugal colleagues.

The event began with a Workshop titled  “Mental Health Management for Ph.D. Students” led by Chaperone, a Training & Coaching company specializing in career support for scientists, to empower students with practical tools to enhance their emotional intelligence and overall well-being. The session covered topics such as Emotional Self-Regulation, Stress Management and Burnout Prevention.

The workshop was followed by lunch, allowing students to network and exchange experiences.

In Pittsburgh, CMU Portugal partnered with the Student Academic Success Center to offer a seminar on Presentation Skills. This seminar focused on communicating research to general audiences, creating effective presentations, and more. The event gathered 17 students, a mixture of Dual Degree PhDs, Affiliated PhDs and Visiting Students & Faculty. After the seminar, the group gathered for a holiday luncheon where they could relax and reflect on their semester in Pittsburgh. 

Info Session: “How to apply for a CMU Portugal Dual Degree Ph.D. Scholarship”

The CMU Portugal online Info Session “How to apply for a CMU Portugal Dual Degree Ph.D. Scholarship” was held on November 19th via Zoom, gathering 92 potential candidates willing to know more about the 2024 call for scholarships.

The Info Session was moderated by Sílvia Castro, CMU Portugal Executive Director, who introduced CMU Portugal National Co-Directors, Inês Lynce and João Magalhães, to welcome the participants and offer a first insight of the Program.

João Fumega, CMU Portugal’s Education Officer, presented an overview of the Dual Degree Ph.D. Programs and scholarship funding. Next, Megan Berty, CMU Portugal’s Associate Director at CMU, focused on application guidelines and requirements, sharing insights on how to prepare and submit a successful application. 

The session continued with the participation of Catarina Gamboa, a Dual Ph.D. student, who talked about her experience under the program, starting from her application process and admission, offering useful  advice to prospective students. 

Finally, to end the session, a 25-minute Q&A allowed all participants to clarify their doubts with the panelists.

Under this call, up to 10 Scholarships are 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 Dual Degree Ph.Ds. scholarships allow students to spend three years in Portugal and two years in Pittsburgh, integrated as regular students at Carnegie Mellon University. Upon completion of the Ph.D., the student earns two diplomas, one from his selected Portuguese university and one from CMU.

The applications for the nine available Ph.D. programs are open until:

  • December 11th, 2024 (03:00 p.m., EST | 08:00 p.m., GMT): Computer Science (CS), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Language Technologies (LTI), Machine Learning (ML), Robotics, Societal Computing (SC) and Software Engineering  (SE);
  • December 15th, 2024  (11:59 p.m. EST | 04:59 p.m., GMT): Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Engineering and Public Policy (EPP).

More information can be found on the webpage Admissions and Scholarships.

For further doubts you can visit the webpage Dual Degree Ph.D., check our FAQ Page or contact us at apply@cmuportugal.org

CMU Portugal at 2024 Encontro Ciência: The impact of partnerships with American universities on the Portuguese ecosystem

On July 3rd, the CMU Portugal Program, along with the MIT Portugal Program and UT Austin Portugal, hosted the session “Collaborative projects under FCT’s international partnerships with CMU, MIT and UT Austin” at the 2024 Encontro Ciência Summit. The summit was held at Centro de Congressos da Alfândega do Porto with the session aimed to discuss the impact of partnerships with American universities on the Portuguese ecosystem. 

Seventeen years ago, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) established international partnerships with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). These collaborations led to the creation of the CMU Portugal, MIT Portugal, and UT Austin Portugal Programs. Each program, while distinct in its characteristics and scientific focus, shares the common objective of advancing the Portuguese academic and industrial ecosystem in areas where these American universities excel globally.

José Manuel Mendonça, National Director of the UT Austin Portugal Program, welcomed the audience with a brief retrospective on FCT’s International Partnerships since 2006, emphasizing their significant impact on the Portuguese scientific and technological community. Mendonça stated, “It is about putting technology and science at the service of society” urging the current government to view these international partnerships as strategic allies for Portugal. The UT Austin Director highlighted that their value extends beyond research, influencing society and the environment.

Two discussion panels followed with representatives from academia and industry collaborating with the international partnerships.

The first panel, “International Partnerships and Talent Development”, was moderated by Inês Lynce,National Co-Director of the CMU Portugal Program and INESC-ID President. The panel included the participation of Lia Patrício, coordinator of the Center of Industrial Engineering and Management, Member of the Board at INESC TEC, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of Universidade do Porto, and the scientific director of the CMU Portugal Program; Nélson Costa, an Ergonomics and Human Factors Professor at Universidade do Minho who was a Visiting Scholar at MIT AGELAB, under the MIT Portugal Program; and Mariana Miranda, Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Universidade do Minho, who also completed an internship at TACC through the UT Austin Portugal Program. 

The session showcased the impact of the CMU Portugal Dual Degree Ph.D. programs, which create opportunities for students to develop technical skills and engage with key players and professionals. The discussion also covered the mobility initiatives of the three partnerships, emphasizing their role in promoting research projects with tangible social impacts. Additionally, these initiatives offer a unique opportunity for students to experience campus culture and immerse themselves in the innovative environments of American universities.

Inês Lynce, Lia Patrício, Nelson Costa and Mariana Miranda

The second panel “International Partnerships and their Contribution to Scientific and Technological-Based Innovation and Entrepreneurship” was moderated by Pedro Arezes, National Director of MIT Portugal. The second panel counted on the participation of Pedro Oliveira,  Dean of the Nova School of Business and Economics and co-founder of the Patient Innovation initiative created within  the scope of the CMU Portugal Program; Simão Soares (CEO of SilicoLife , a spin-off of the MIT Portugal program) and Rosa Romero (CEO of  Sphere Ultrafast Photonics and former beneficiary of UT Austin Portugal’s Global Startup Program. 

The session reflected on research projects that were leveraged by the partnerships, such as SilicoLife, that produce microorganisms and novel pathways for industrial biotechnology applications, combining Artificial Intelligence and Biological knowledge; Sphere Ultrafast Photonics, that develop products to improve performance of femtosecond laser applications; and Patient Innovation an online platform where patients and caregivers around the world connect to share the solutions they developed to cope with a health-related problem.

Through Patient Innovation, unconventional entrepreneurs, such as patients and caretakers,  are able to create and present innovative solutions to solve healthcare issues and work on implementing   their solutions in the market. “We launched a platform to offer patient-developed solutions: more than 5000 patient-developed solutions were created. The platform has more than 1 million annual users”, Pedro Oliveira shared. Since its beginning 10 years ago, the project grew to launch the Patient Innovation Bootcamp and, more recently, the CMU Portugal Patient Innovation Accelerator

Simão Soares believes that, through the partnerships, it is possible to develop very interesting projects with a global impact, and shared that Portuguese Academia should take advantage of the American culture and example by believing in projects and investing in them. 

Rosa Romero stated that the UT Austin Portugal Program played a crucial role, as Sphere Ultrafast Photonics was one of the 11 R&TD projects selected for an investment of €21.9M back  in 2020.  She also highlighted the importance of these partnerships as a way to better understand and support the integration of her company in the American market.

Pedro Arezes, Pedro Oliveira, Simão Soares and Rosa Romero

In conclusion, the session hosted by the three FCT international partnerships at the 2024 Encontro Ciência demonstrated the transformative impact of FCT’s international collaborations on the Portuguese scientific and technological landscape. CMU Portugal, MIT Portugal, and UT Austin Portugal initiatives have been able to nurture talent, foster innovation, enhance technical skills and industry connections, and promote groundbreaking projects with significant social impact. The insights and testimonies shared during the panels reinforced the importance of continuing to leverage these strategic alliances to further strengthen Portugal’s position in the global scientific community.

Finally, 8 CMU Portugal Ph.D. students presented their work in an e-poster format that will soon be available on the conference’s virtual gallery:  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).

Jeria Quesenberry (CMU) speaks on Gender Balance in two CMU Portugal events

On June 26th and 28th, the CMU Portugal Program hosted two invited talks to discuss gender balance in Academia. Continuing its tradition of bringing Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) speakers to Portugal to share best practices and experiences on this topic, the Program welcomed Jeria Quesenberry from CMU as the guest speaker.

During her visit to Portugal, the professor of Information Systems, delivered the talk “Breaking Barriers in Technology: Women in Computing at Carnegie Mellon and Global Perspectives” on two occasions. The first event was held at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, co-organized by INESC-ID and the Instituto Superior Técnico Gender Balance Group. The second occurred at INESC TEC in Porto, supported by its Diversity & Inclusion Commission.

At Técnico, President Rogério Colaço opened the session, sharing the institution’s commitment to gender balance. He highlighted the foundation of the Gender Balance Group in 2016, now led by Professor Alexandre Bernardino and Beatriz Silva from Técnico. According to President Colaço, while we can talk about gender equality nowadays, true equity has yet to be achieved, stressing that supporting gender equity has been one of the concerns of his presidency. 

Jeria´s research focuses on cultural influences in technology, particularly social inclusion, broadening participation, career values, organizational interventions, and work-life balance.  Currently, she stands as the Associate Dean of Faculty in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and a Teaching Professor of Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University and has published the book Kicking Butt in Computer Science: Women in Computing at Carnegie Mellon University”. 

Jeria Quesenberry (CMU)

Jeria shared the outcomes of her research on women in computing, highlighting best practices and challenges from her experience at CMU and showcasing examples from the Computer Science undergraduate program at CMU over the years.

According to the researcher, “Gender imbalance is a topic that requires work. It is a multifaceted problem that demands a multilayered approach.” She added: “When I started my research 25 years ago, this was a new topic. Now there is a broader recognition of the problem; speaking about gender balance is no longer a question.” 

As of 2019, in the US, women represent just over half of the professional workforce but only 27% of computing jobs, and African American and Latinx women hold less than 10% of computing occupations. The highest representation of women in ICT work can be found in the Asia-Pacific region (30.4% women) and Africa (31.3% women). 

Regarding Carnegie Mellon University reality, CMU SCS undergrad gender diversity has been higher than national averages for 15+ years. In 2019, 49% of new CS students were women. Since 2022, that percentage has been divided between women and nonbinary; in 2023, it was registered at 46% and 3%, respectively. Regarding major graduates, females and males are at about the same rate – women are 93%, and men are 92%. In the mid to late 90s, female students only represented 5-12% of the students in the field. 

The 2000s brought some changes, not only in the admissions processes (looking for students with strong potential as opposed to prior programming experience) but also in culture and environment, which brought in more female students with a broader range of interests. However, the curriculum was NOT changed to be “female-friendly”. 

In 1999, the Women@SCS Advisory Committee was created to support female students. Its mission is to create, encourage, and support women’s academic, social, and professional opportunities in computer science and to promote the breadth of the field and its diverse community. 

Since then, the percentage of women has risen as the culture & environment improved for all. At the end of her presentation, Jeria shared: “Let’s stop perpetuating Western cultural myths about women’s low participation in computing once and for all. Instead, let’s commit to discussions that explore the wide range of obstacles and catalysts within our various cultures and environments. Addressing the gender gap requires a broader understanding of how we think about women and the computing field”, declares Jeria Quesenberry.

In Lisbon, Jeria’s talk was followed by a roundtable discussion on “Gender imbalance in STEM: the Portuguese academic experiencewith the participation of  Ana Paiva, Portuguese Secretary of State for Science; Anália Cardoso Torres, Professor at Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Universidade de Lisboa; Inês Lynce,  National Co-Director of the CMU Portugal Program and President of INESC-ID; Jeria Quesenberry, João PeixotoVice-Rector of Universidade de Lisboa; Leonor Barreiros master student at Instituto Superior Técnico and Luís Lemos Alves, Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico. Sara Sá, science writer, moderated the discussion.

Ana Paiva highlighted the need to guarantee gender balance in the law, but supporting education, awareness, and cultural activities can have a big impact. The Secretary of State mentioned some activities that have been developed, such as the  RESTART Program. This funding instrument was created to promote gender equality and opportunities through the competitive funding of individual R&D projects in all scientific fields by researchers recently taking parental leave. In her intervention, Ana Paiva also highlighted the recent call for science-for-policy projects that aim to ensure that scientific knowledge drives and supports the development of new policies. It was also mentioned the program Engenheiras por um dia that encourages female students to choose engineering and technology, challenging the notion that these are male-dominated fields.

 

Ana Paiva – Portuguese Secretary of State for Science

Anália Torres shared with the audience the results of the recent study “Gender Equality in Higher Education Institutions: Knowing the Reality to improve it,” which aims to provide a synopsis of the results found on promoting Gender Equality (henceforth GE) in Portuguese Higher Education. The four Case Studies conducted (with interviews with institutional managers, teachers, non-teaching staff, and students from four Portuguese Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), allowed us to understand the specific institutional, contextual, and circumstantial factors that can help in explaining the level of adherence to policies and practices that promote Gender Equality (GE). The conclusions drawn from this research project show that, although Portugal started late in tackling gender inequalities in higher education, it is already taking steps to balance the existing gaps. Precisely because imbalances persist, it is important to consider the clues drawn up and grounded in the project results.

Anália Cardoso Torres – ISCSP, Universidade de Lisboa

Inês Lynce, the first female CMU Portugal National co-Director and the first female President of INESC-ID, addressed the issue of underrepresentation in Academic leadership, evaluation processes, panels, etc. Despite the significant demand for her participation in events and other initiatives, she makes an active effort to participate, ensuring female representation;  otherwise, their seat at the discussion table will remain vacant. Inês also emphasized the importance of fostering a cultural environment that builds self-confidence in young girls, enabling them to find their own voice and be heard. Lynce highlighted that this work must begin at a very young age, starting at the primary education level.

Inês Lynce – CMU Portugal I INESC-ID

João Peixoto, Vice Rector of Universidade de Lisboa and Professor at ISEG (Lisbon School of Economics & Management), shared an overview of the institution, a sister school of Instituto Superior Técnico. Since 2013, ISEG and Técnico have been integrated into the Universidade de Lisboa, the largest university in the country, emphasizing the historical moment registered seven years ago when ISEG appointed Clara Raposo as the first woman President. The University of Lisbon Vice-Rector highlighted the institution’s commitment to supporting gender balance with a significant step taken two years ago, when ULisboa launched the Plan for Gender Equality, Inclusion, and Non-Discrimination to develop a structure, a culture, and a set of actions to create and monitor equal opportunities and the reduction of inequalities, including those arising from gender. ULisboa’s Network for Gender Equality, Inclusion, and Non-Discrimination was created to monitor the measures associated with implementing the plan and to promote the exchange of experiences, actions, and recommendations to contribute to an inclusive University. The Vice Rector highlighted that diversity, at all levels, is a key factor in driving Innovation. According to him, the next goal for the upcoming years is to have the first elected female rector at the Universidade de Lisboa. 

João Peixoto – Universidade de Lisboa

Leonor Barreiros, an MSc Computer Science (CS) and Engineering student at Técnico, spoke about her experience as a Computer Science student and some challenges girls in science still face. However, she also underlined some positive initiatives that exist nowadays to support Girls in STEM, like the “Feedzai” scholarship that she won in 2023 as a recognition of her academic effort and work. The scholarship helped her support her Erasmus experience in Munich and was a way to confirm that she is “on the right path”. According to her, these kinds of awards are a great incentive to continue working and show that dedication can be rewarded. This particular scholarship, exclusively for women, provides essential encouragement for girls to keep investing in themselves.

Leonor Barreiros – Instituto Superior Técnico

Luis Lemos Alves emphasized that awareness is crucial for cultural change, especially since many people today assume that gender balance is no longer an issue. On the contrary, this assumption underscores the need to assess and understand the problem thoroughly. The professor at Técnico advocates that, while there is no need to change curricula to make STEAM accessible to girls, there is a need to revise, implement, and evaluate existing policies. For example, although there is a clear non-discriminatory policy for STEM positions in academia, the fact that women are not applying, highlights the need to understand why this is occurring and what can be done to change it.

Luís Lemos Alves – Instituto Superior Técnico

Overall, the key message was that broad recognition of the problem motivates those seeking to create change. We all have the agency to work together on this.