The power to create tomorrow
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.
Recognition of Excellence in Research at Ciências
Between 2017 and 2025, the European Research Council (ERC) awarded funding to eight research projects proposed by professors and scientists working at CIÊNCIAS.
Nuno Araújo
Cell-mediated, moldable living platforms. It has long been known that the life of cells is worth a microfilm, but only at the end of 2025 will the mentors of the RODIN project receive an ERC grant that will allow them to apply the concept in practice. Nuno Araújo was responsible for leading CIÊNCIAS' participation in this project, which will be developed in partnership with the University of Aveiro and Imperial College London. The work plan highlights the introduction of cell cultures into flexible biomaterial microfilms.
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
Principal Researcher at the Autonomous Section of History and Philosophy of Science and the Interuniversity Centre for the History of Science and Technology, he received the prestigious Prémio Pessoa in 2014 for his research focused on the 16th and 17th centuries, with a special focus on the history of mathematics, cosmography and cartography.
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
In 2023, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) honoured science professor Pedro Machado by renaming asteroid 32599 Pedromachado after him.
Nuno Peixinho
Prior to this announcement, the IAU had already honoured Nuno Peixinho, a researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA) who began by graduating in Ciências, by naming asteroid 40210 Peixinho after him.
Pedro Lacerda
Pedro Lacerda, who is also a researcher at IA and has a background formation at Ciências, was also honoured with the naming of asteroid 10694 Lacerda.
the L’Oréal Portugal Medals of Honor for Women in Science programme recognises and supports female researchers who stand out for the excellence and impact of their scientific work.
Ana Rita Lopes - 2025
The researcher at Ciências received the award that recognises the contribution of Portuguese women in science, as part of a study carried out on the effects of temperature changes and ocean pollution on the life of anemones and other species with whom they are related.
Edna Correia - 2022
A researcher at the Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), she was honoured following a study on the role of rice paddies as habitats for water birds.
Inês Fragata - 2021
Researcher at the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), she was honoured for her analysis of the effects of cadmium in soil on the health of herbivores
Ana Rita Carlos - 2020
Researcher at the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), she was recognised for her research into muscular dystrophy, particularly merosin-negative muscular dystrophy (MDC1A), which manifests itself at birth.
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
Why Research at Ciências?
At Ciências ULisboa
you will find
R&D in numbers
R&D Centers
BioISI
CE3C
CEAUL
CEMS.UL
CFTC
CIUHCT
CQE-Ciências
IA
IBEB
IDL
LASIGE
LIP
