The dates vary depending on whether one starts from the foundation of the Academia Real da Marinha (Royal Navy Academy) or the former Escola Politécnica (Polytechnic School), but for those who take as their starting point the launch of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Ciências ULisboa), this Wednesday is marked by the celebrations of 115 years of existence. And it was without forgetting the predecessor institutions that Conceição Freitas made her debut in opening the proceedings of a CIÊNCIAS Day as Faculty Dean of Ciências ULisboa. In front of her was the Great Auditorium filled with 470 people in full anticipation for a debate on innovation and the awarding of merit distinctions to staff, lecturers and more than 150 students. Past and future were united for a moment – and not even a word of recognition for Professors Carlos da Câmara and Luís Carriço was missing from the celebration.
CIÊNCIAS Day rewarded merit and pointed the way forward for the future of innovation
Conceição Freitas championed interdisciplinarity as a virtue in Cências ULisboa
“It is an event that carries a great deal of weight and responsibility,” stated the Faculty Dean of Ciência ULisboa. “And it is an added responsibility for us to continue to safeguard the credibility of the institution, to maintain our commitment to excellence, to rigour, to critical thinking, so that we may continue to strive to strengthen our pillars and pursue our mission of educating responsible citizens and competent professionals,” added the Faculty Dean of Ciências ULisboa.
Although it is a moment of celebration, Conceição Freitas did not fail to recall initiatives that are already underway and that may have an impact on the ‘Campo Grande ecosystem’, as she affectionately called the Ciências ULisboa campus.
The debate dedicated to innovation featured the participation of Alysson Bessani, Fernando Antunes, Rita Piriquito Santos, Ricardo Conde and Nuno Araújo
The Scientific Strategy, the Sustainability Report, the revision of the Statutes of Ciências ULisboa, the Organic Regulations of Ciências ULisboa, and the revision of regulations for teaching and non-teaching staff were mentioned as some examples of the ongoing dynamism, which in some cases originated from the previous management.
“The CIÊNCIAS ecosystem is privileged. Having natural sciences, exact sciences, and technosciences on campus, and being able to take advantage of true interdisciplinarity makes us unique and gives us the possibility to respond more easily to complex questions,” emphasised Conceição Freitas.
"Universities are today among the country's largest exporters"
On a Ciências Day, which had innovation as its theme, it was up to Nuno Araújo, president of the Scientific Board of Ciências ULisboa, to moderate the major debate of the afternoon and conclude with an inspiring phrase for all academies from north to south of Portugal. “Universities are today among the country's greatest exporters,” he remarked, alluding to the talent nurtured on national soil. “And it is also thanks to these universities that major companies are setting up here,” he added.
Jorge Relvas, vice-rector of the University of Lisbon (ULisboa), would also strike the same auspicious tone by recalling the approximately 500 ongoing research projects and the impact that makes Ciências ULisboa a "European reference", which has been working closely with companies and public institutions.
The moment when the cutting of the Ciências ULisboa birthday cake begins
The vice-rector identified the development of "a space for interdisciplinarity" as the purpose of the country's largest university, which aims to serve as a "stage for experimentation", and also highlighted a distinguishing feature: "At ULisboa, the future begins earlier".
At the time these statements were made, the conference entitled “Innovate, Protect, Impact: The Future of Scientific Ideas” had already taken stock of national and European innovation policies. The panel included Ricardo Conde, President of the Portuguese Space Agency; Joana Piriquito Santos, specialist in intellectual protection and co-founding partner of NLP; Fernando Antunes, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Ciências ULisboa and co-founder of the startup Delox; and Alysson Bessani, president of the Department of Informatics at Ciências ULisboa and co-founder of the startup Vawlt.
Award ceremony for Prémios de Reconhecimento de Mérito of second-year undergraduate students
Ricardo Conde began by comparing the North American space agency NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to point out that Europe, taking longer to make decisions, ensures greater stability because it is not enough for just one member state to overturn a decision.
While this stability is a virtue, it must be reconciled with the “very complex times” of today, which have led, in four years, to the top of the political agenda shifting from sustainability to issues of security and defence.
Moment of tribute to Carlos da Câmara, flanked by Jorge Relvas and Conceição Freitas (on the left), and Filipe Rosas (on the right)
In addition to some warnings regarding funding policies, Ricardo Conde took the opportunity to offer encouragement to those who venture into the unknown. “When we look at the space sector, we tend to focus more on technology,” he said, before adding: “But it is science that builds (space) superpowers.”
The praise for science was also evident in the words of Joana Piriquito Santos, but with a warning for those who make innovation a way of life. “There needs to be a strategy and there need to be people who know how to interpret the science at stake and who also know why they want a certain intellectual protection,” said the NLP specialist.
Jorge Relvas pointed out that Ciências ULisboa is a European benchmark
Having started out as a pharmacist and then moved into law because she was firmly determined to help change the world, Joana Piriquito Santos herself served as an example for those seeking a career – but hers was not the only inspiring story to come up during the debate: Alysson Bessani recounted how the idea to launch the startup Vawlt arose in order to enter the cloud computing sector, which is dominated by major technology brands. “It started with a paper (scientific article), then another paper, and then European projects that made it possible to keep everything running,” recalled Alysson Bessani.
Because there is not just one possible path to success, Fernando Antunes surprised everyone by explaining that Delox, which could prove to be a crucial company today should a new pandemic arise or if it becomes necessary to counter any biological threat, actually started out by trying, unsuccessfully, to launch a project in the health sector, which was related to insulin receptors.
“In essence, we were working on an Ozempic before Ozempic existed,” recalled the co-founder of Delox.
In the story behind Delox, it was the first contacts with the market that revealed the initial idea was incipient. And in response to this, the repositioning followed which led to the startup’s current decontamination solutions.
A moment of tribute to Luís Carriço, flanked by Conceição Freitas (on the left) and Jorge Relvas and Margarida Santos-Reis (on the right)
“We contacted the largest companies in the world,” recalls Fernando Antunes about the first time he tried to sound out the market, fearing he would be ignored. The reply to the email turned out to be surprising, with several demonstrations of interest and the consequent scheduling of meetings with two major brands.
“It was through that contact that we confirmed there was value there (in the business idea),” added the co-founder of Delox.
On a day intended to be inspiring, there was no shortage of good examples – from athletes who have excelled in national and international competitions, to awards recognising academic merit for the best PhD, Master’s, and undergraduate students over three years. In total, more than 150 students were recognised.
Mario Mateus da Costa, president of the Students’ Association of the Faculty of Sciences of Lisbon (AEFCL), took the opportunity during his speech on Ciências Day to express his appreciation for those who study and work, and for those who study and dedicate themselves to associativism. “Your discipline inspires us and is a source of pride,” said the president of the AEFCL in a message to all the awarded students.
Vicentuna enlivened the closing of Ciências Day
Jorge Correia, Marta Silva and Nuno Matela were recognised for Reconhecimento da Docência de Excelência (Excellence in Teaching), while the awards for 25 Years of Service to Sciences went to Júlia Alves, who is responsible for Technical Support Unit, and to Professors Filipe Rosas, Tiago André Marques, Susana Duarte Santos, Carlos Duarte and Helena Trindade.
The highlight of the event was the speeches by Carlos da Câmara, Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences and Energy, who received the award for Reconhecimento pelo Impacto de Ciências na Sociedade (Recognition of the Impact of Sciences on Society), and Luís Carriço, Professor in the Department of Informatics and Faculty Dean of Ciências ULisboa until the beginning of 2026, who received the award for Reconhecimento pelo Impacto na Comunidade de Ciências (Recognition of Impact on the Sciences Community).
“Many of the most interesting papers I have written resulted from questions from industry",
“I had absolutely no idea about this,” said Carlos da Câmara about the surprise with which he was caught by the prize that distinguishes members of Ciências ULisboa for the impact generated outside the campus.
“Many of the most interesting papers I have done resulted from questions from industry,” added the DCTE professor, who is also one of the most well-known faces of the Instituto Dom Luiz. In addition to the financial factor, applied science adds value to society because “it deals with issues that seem simple, but turn out to be complicated,” Carlos da Câmara reiterated.
Luís Carriço emphasised that the work done in previous administrations was carried out “with great pleasure and passion” and was only made possible thanks to the team that accompanied him in leadership. He admitted that an assessment still needs to be made, but did not fail to reiterate a wish: “I hope the school has changed.” Evolving is part of Ciências ULisboa.
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