CMU Portugal brought its community together for a symposium

The community of students in the doctoral program at Carnegie Mellon University Portugal (CMU Portugal) gathered on September 15 at the Pavilhão do Conhecimento (Pavilion of Knowledge) in Lisbon for a symposium held in a hybrid format (in-person and online), broadcast on YouTube and still available for viewing, under the theme "Developing a supportive community for all researchers pursuing their PhDs under the scope of CMU Portugal initiatives."

The event was attended by 24 students from different areas of the CMU Portugal Doctoral Program, with the aim of sharing their experiences as doctoral students and their research work, particularly in the areas of Data Science and Engineering; Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Language Technologies; Data Analysis; Cloud Computing; and Engineering and Public Policy. The opening session of the initiative was attended by Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology, and Higher Education; José Paulo Esperança, Vice President of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT); Inês Lynce, Director of CMU Portugal; and Rosalia Vargas, President of Agência Ciência Viva.

The Minister of Science, Technology, and Higher Education highlighted the program's importance in building new frontiers of knowledge, considering it an excellent opportunity for networking and sharing. He also mentioned that, year after year, the CMU Portugal program strives to be one of the best for the best students, offering unique moments and opportunities.

In turn, the Vice President of FCT emphasized the importance of the CMU Portugal program and initiatives such as goPORTUGAL to stimulate international connections and knowledge sharing. He also pointed out that Portugal has been in the spotlight recently as one of the countries with the highest number of "unicorn" companies, and praised the choice of study areas made by students in the CMU Portugal doctoral program.

The event was aimed at all applicants to the CMU Portugal doctoral program, applicants to affiliated doctoral programs, and all doctoral candidates conducting their thesis within the scope of one of CMU Portugal's research projects. The symposium promoted a collaborative research environment and dialogue between students, alumni, scientific committees, researchers, and coordinators from CMU Portugal's partners. It also provided an opportunity to create and strengthen networks, giving participants the chance to present their work plans and results to date and discuss these with their peers.

The CMU Portugal program is part of a set of international partnerships established by FCT, focusing on US institutions, which since 2006 have promoted the internationalization of national scientific and higher education institutions, involving more than 1,000 teachers and researchers and more than 1,500 master's and doctoral students. These partnerships are currently integrated into the goPORTUGAL initiative, which has set the objectives of strengthening and expanding the concept of international partnerships for the period 2018-2023.