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Research and Development
CIÊNCIAS is recognized for its strong commitment to excellence in scientific research.
CIÊNCIAS has a strong track record in fundamental research across almost all areas of knowledge, while maintaining a focus on developing solutions to society’s major challenges. In addition to its associated research centres, the scientific ecosystem benefits from strategic collaborations with national and European authorities, alongside business projects, paving the way for new services, products, and innovations. Aligned with national funding policies from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, CIÊNCIAS has developed a multidisciplinary research network guided by best practices in sustainability.
In 2024, there were 495 ongoing scientific projects, totaling €15.8 million. CIÊNCIAS currently holds eight grants from the European Research Council.
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Reconhecimento da Investigação de Excelência em Ciências
Between 2017 and 2024, the European Research Council (ERC) awarded funding to seven research projects proposed by professors and scientists working at CIÊNCIAS.
Catarina Frazão Santos
Sustainable Ocean Use Planning in Antarctica in the Context of Global Environmental Change (PLAnT). With Antarctica and climate change as a backdrop, PLAnT aims to develop more sustainable and equitable marine exploration processes, as well as new paradigms for the governance and use of the seas, including the social relationships that emerge within them.
Bruno Loff
HoFGA – The Hardness of Finding Good Algorithms. The CIÊNCIAS team led by Bruno Loff set out to identify “families” of algorithms that require fewer resources while producing faster responses when solving complex problems.
Inês Fragata
Dynamictrio – Feedback between Population Dynamics and Evolution of Interactions in a Tri-Trophic System. With Dynamictrio, the CIÊNCIAS team led by Inês Fragata aims to study the relationships among three species using models that predict how the environment influences the genetic codes and traits of different organisms.
Maria Dornelas
coralINT: Integrated Niche Theory – Linking Environmental, Compositional and Functional Change on Coral Reefs. By observing 100,000 coral colonies and producing three-dimensional maps, the CIÊNCIAS team led by Maria Dornelas aims to quantify the effects of environmental change on coral distribution and pave the way for theories capable of predicting the functions a coral species may perform in response to habitat changes.
Henrique Leitão
Making the Earth Global: Early Modern Nautical Rutters and the Construction of a Global Concept of the Earth. Beyond collecting data from Iberian ship logs and navigational guides, this ERC-funded project draws on multiple disciplines to identify the earliest concepts of a planet that unites different cultures, distances, and continents, yet exists as a global space where the oceans serve as a key avenue of globalization.
Joaquim Alves Gaspar
The researcher used modern techniques in cartometric analysis, numerical modelling, and multispectral analysis, but the field of study for the ERC grant received in 2017 relates to the maps Portuguese sailors used over 500 years ago.
Sara Magalhães
COMPCON – Competition Under Niche Construction. A researcher from the CIÊNCIAS Department of Biology used mutant tomato plants that are unaffected by mites to investigate how this new factor influences the competition and evolution of these parasite species.
The Prémio Pessoa is an initiative of Jornal Expresso and Caixa Geral de Depósitos, aimed at recognising the Portuguese personality who, each year, stands out in the country’s artistic, cultural, or scientific life.
Henrique Leitão
Investigador Principal da Secção Autónoma de História e Filosofia das Ciências e do Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e Tecnologia, recebeu o prestigiado Prémio Pessoa em 2014, pela investigação centrada nos séculos XVI e XVII, com especial foco na história da matemática, na cosmografia e na cartografia
FLAD recognizes research projects that contribute to the development of maritime science and technology as a means of stimulating innovation and strengthening the sustainable development of the blue economy.
José Ricardo Paula
A researcher from the Centre for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE) received €300,000 in 2023 from the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD) to study, in partnership with the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, the relationships between different marine species based on so-called cleaning mutualisms.
After precisely determining an asteroid’s orbit, which allows its position in the sky to be predicted over long periods, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) assigns it an official number, making it eligible to receive a name chosen by its discoverer.
Pedro Machado
Em 2023, União Astronómica Internacional (IAU) homenageou o professor de CIÊNCIAS Pedro Machado com a nova denominação do asteroide 32599 Pedromachado.
Nuno Peixinho
Antes deste anúncio, a IAU já havia homenageado Nuno Peixinho, investigador do Instituto de Astrofísica e de Ciências do Espaço (IA) que começou por se formar em CIÊNCIAS, com a denominação do asteroide 40210 Peixinho.
Pedro Lacerda
Pedro Lacerda, que também é investigador do IA e tem formação feita em CIÊNCIAS, foi igualmente homenageado com a denominação do asteroide 10694 Lacerda.
The L’Oréal Portugal Women in Science Honorary Medal programme recognises and supports female researchers who stand out for the excellence and impact of their scientific work.
Ana Rita Lopes - 2025
Investigadora de CIÊNCIAS, recebeu o galardão que premeia o contributo das mulheres portuguesas na ciência, no âmbito do estudo levado a cabo em torno dos efeitos produzidos pelas alterações de temperatura e contaminação dos oceanos na vida de anémonas e outras espécies que com elas se relacionam.
Edna Correia - 2022
Investigadora do Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar (CESAM), foi galardoada na sequência de um estudo sobre o papel dos arrozais enquanto habitats de aves aquáticas.
Inês Fragata - 2021
Investigadora do Centro de Ecologia, Evolução e Alterações Ambientais – cE3c, foi distinguida pelo devido à análise dos efeitos que o cádmio nos solos produz na saúde de herbívoros.
Ana Rita Carlos - 2020
Investigadora do Centro de Ecologia, Evolução e Alterações Ambientais (CE3C), foi premiada pelas investigações sobre distrofia muscular, e em especial, a distrofia muscular merosina-negativa (MDC1A), que se revela logo à nascença.
Over the years, CIÊNCIAS has trained students and hosted scientists and professors who have been honoured with Scientific Merit Awards, granted by the Portuguese government.
António Galopim de Carvalho
Fernando Catarino
Fernando Carvalho Rodrigues
Isabel Âmbar
José Hipólito Monteiro
Mário Ruivo
Maria José Costa
Mónica Bettencourt-Dias
Raquel Gaspar
Salomé Pais
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