On Wednesday, José Manuel Rebordão brought to a close a career spanning 48 years dedicated to research, teaching, innovation and academic management. In his Final Lecture, he traced the evolution of the Portuguese scientific system since the 1980s. The audience in the Grand Auditorium of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Ciências ULisboa) included family members and many of the colleagues who had worked alongside him in teaching, research or management roles – and almost all of them were faced with a question that science may struggle to answer: after all, what is the special secret that allows this well-known professor from the Department of Physics, who specialised in optics, worked on the first Portuguese satellite and led the FCiências.ID association, to maintain a level of productivity above the average of the rest of humanity?
José Manuel Rebordão’s contribution to education, research and academic management at CIÊNCIAS
José Rebordão during the Final Lecture in the Grand Auditorium
On more than one occasion, people have taken to the stage in an attempt to find an answer to this great mystery, which still resonates within the ULisboa science community today. Nuno Araújo, head of the Department of Physics who led the proceedings, singled out Professor José Manuel Rebordão as one of those who take on the mission of giving their all to the academic community; Conceição Freitas, Dean of Ciências ULisboa, was quick to point out that he is “a very intelligent and organised person” who possesses “an enormous capacity for work” and “extreme dedication”. Nuno Garcia dos Santos, president of the FCiências.ID Association and professor at Ciências ULisboa, also spoke of the qualities of “transparency” and “selflessness”, but ultimately noted that no one can replace José Manuel Rebordão, “at best, they follow in José Manuel Rebordão’s footsteps”.
Conceição Freitas thanked José Manuel Rebordão for all the work he has done at Ciências ULisboa
Fernando Carvalho Rodrigues, the mastermind behind the PoSAT satellite – which marked Portugal’s debut in space during the 1990s – stated that without José Manuel Rebordão, the small winged device might never have been launched. Luís Carriço, former Dean of Ciências ULisboa, suggested as a possible answer “the amount of work per second” demonstrated, and Ricardo Conde, President of the Portuguese Space Agency, recalled the launch of a course dedicated to space technologies and the work carried out with the European Space Agency (ESA). Manuel Abreu, coordinator of the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA), resorted to irony to describe José Manuel Rebordão’s productivity: “Tell me, professor, what is your secret, what do you take, which brand of yoghurt do you usually buy (and which guarantees such a capacity for work)?”
Nuno Garcia dos Santos was appointed as José Manuel Rebordão’s successor at FCiências.ID
For a moment, the entire audience in the Grand Auditorium was swept up in a collective smile – and José Manuel Rebordão did not miss the opportunity to refer to metaphorical “yoghurts” in each chapter of The Last Lecture, in which he described the evolution of the national scientific system in parallel with the progression of his professional career, from the completion of his PhD in 1983 to the present day, without overlooking the chapters relating to the integration of INETI into Ciências ULisboa and his leadership of the FCiências.ID association.
Luís Carriço identified the ‘amount of work per second’ as the factor that contributed most to Rebordão's productivity
Living up to his reputation for always speaking his mind, José Manuel Rebordão did not shy away from criticism – or even from the political disagreements surrounding the closure of INETI. He also recalled that, in the 1980s, the Portuguese business landscape consisted of small companies that did not always excel in technological sophistication, and he also mentioned a barcode detection project that failed to become a business due to a lack of corporate scale, as well as the national brand that struggled to sell lifts because the market did not recognise their track record due to their country of origin.
The structural funds, implemented within the EU framework, were to facilitate the leap to a new paradigm – one that persists to this day. “Implementing (a project or a programme) means spending money,” said José Manuel Rebordão. “The culture has not changed (today),” added the professor from the Department of Physics.
During the tribute event, José Manuel Rebordão showed an award he had received.
José Manuel Rebordão also took the opportunity to highlight the ESA’s working methods, which he would come to know more closely following Portugal’s accession as a member state in 2000 – though their influence had already begun to be felt a few years earlier in the national industry, when several Portuguese companies and scientific institutions joined forces to develop PoSAT in 1993.
José Manuel Rebordão surrounded by family, friends and colleagues
The Ciências ULisboa lecturer points out that the first Portuguese satellite, for which he was the technical lead, would have a direct impact on INETI’s standing and the areas in which it operated. “We were very successful at INETI, which also caused us problems,” said the researcher.
Regarding the ESA, he also noted that “you cannot ask an organisation to do something that goes against its nature”, whilst emphasising the “transparency” and the level of preparation with which the European agency operates.
Manuel Abreu posed the question of the afternoon: what is the secret behind José Manuel Rebordão’s productivity?
The lack of diagnostic tools and statistical indicators that would enable us to ascertain the country’s actual needs and the outcomes of the investments made was also addressed during this session; and, unsurprisingly, the closure of INETI and the subsequent integration of its research team into the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lisbon was also described, whilst keeping the political landscape in mind.
Whilst no one begrudges the praise for the work done during the transition of INETI, nor does anyone forget the work involved in the dissolution of the Foundation of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (FFCUL) and the subsequent launch of the FCiências.ID association, which now plays a key role in supporting scientific research projects and in connecting with society and the business community. “It was a complicated process,” said the professor, referring to the “history of incompatibilities” that arose whilst he had to deal, in parallel, with the distinct regulatory realities of FFCUL and FCiências.ID.
Nuno Araújo conducted the session
Systems that are now part of everyday life at Ciências Lisboa, such as Census, Biblios and Fundus, were also mentioned during the tour; conversely, the proliferation of institutions that appear to overlap in terms of resources and functions was cited as a criticism of the national scientific system over recent decades.
The Last Lecture looked back at the development of José Manuel Rebordão’s career alongside nearly 50 years of the national scientific system
The importance of engagement with the business sector was highlighted both in reference to the fact that companies contribute their most valuable resources when providing manpower for joint projects, and in terms of the considerations that research institutions must take into account. While institutions may derive their independence from the funding they secure, this requires them to respond to “the needs of the market and public policy”.
“What I learnt at INETI is that institutions can also fail,” he warned, finally. It is unlikely that this lecture will be forgotten.