The CMU Portugal Program will fund six new innovative projects in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Portuguese research teams are set to receive over 350 thousand euros in funding aimed to explore wide array of subjects including digital technologies for health, Internet intervention to detect, treat and monitor anxiety and depression in breast cancer survivors, Millimeter-sized Implant stimulators, Neural probes, distributed networks and automatic evaluation of visualizations.
The diversity of areas and research teams well represents the typology of these projects, whose exploratory nature empowers researchers to embark on new ideas toward larger projects in the future. A total of eight Portuguese institutions are poised to receive funding from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the CMU Portugal Call for Exploratory Research Projects 2022. These institutions encompass a diverse range: Associação Fraunhofer Portugal Research, Centro Hospitalar Universitário de S. João, Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Lisboa, Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto Francisco Gentil, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Universidade de Aveiro, Universidade de Coimbra e Universidade do Porto – Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto.
The six new projects will start in the next 3 months. Over the course of a year, Portuguese researchers will join forces with their counterparts from Carnegie Mellon University (US) to develop the proposed endeavors.
According to Inês Lynce, National Co-Director of the CMU Portugal Program, “this is the 4th tender that the CMU Portugal Program and FCT have launched for exploratory research projects since 2017. The aim is to provide support and funding to teams from portuguese research institutions, enabling them to present project concepts and opportunity to engage in collaborative ventures with peers at CMU.”
Even though these are short-term projects, the National Co-Director of the CMU Portugal Program, Nuno Nunes, points out that “from our experience, these collaborations tend to endure and catalyze further joint endeavors. They stand as a remarkable avenue for propelling new projects forward and even fostering the initiation of novel initiatives”.
The CMU Portugal Program regularly supports the launch of Exploratory Research Projects (ERPs), aiming primarily to enhance Portugal’s international competitiveness and innovation capacity in Science and Technology (S&T), specifically within the domain of Information and Communication Technologies ( ICT).
With these new projects, the number of projects supported by the international partnership since its inception in 2006 rises to 86. All projects are selected through a national competitive call and undergoes through an independent evaluation process by an international panel of experts selected by FCT.
Projects recommended for funding by the FCT under the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program:
- AutoEvaVis: Automatic Evaluation of Visualizations – a Machine Learning Approach
Principal Investigator in Portugal: Evgheni Polisciuc, Universidade de Coimbra
Principal Investigator at CMU: Dominik Moritz, Human-Computer Interaction Institute (CMU)
- iNNOV Sensing: a pilot cognitive-behavioral internet intervention to detect, treat, and monitor anxiety and depression in breast cancer survivors based on multimodal active and passive sensing data
Principal Investigator in Portugal: Cristina Mendes Santos, Associação Fraunhofer Portugal Research
Principal Investigator at CMU: Mayank Goel, Software and Societal Systems Department and Human-Computer Interaction Institute (CMU).
Partner Institutions: Centro Hospitalar Universitário de S. João, Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto Francisco Gentil
- Integrated photonic neuronal probes towards neuromorphic computing
Principal Investigator in Portugal: Maria Rute André,Universidade de Aveiro
Principal Investigator at CMU: Maysam Chamanzar,Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (CMU)
Partner Institutions: Instituto de Telecomunicações
- mm-Size Stimulator Implants
Principal Investigator in Portugal: Jorge Fernandes, Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Lisboa (INESC ID)
Principal Investigator at CMU: Marc Dandin, Computer Engineering Department (CMU)
- Synthesizing Adaptive Large-scale Accelerated and Distributed Network Functions
Principal Investigator in Portugal: Luís Pedrosa, Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Lisboa (INESC ID)
Principal Investigator at CMU: Srinivasan Seshan, Computer Science Department (CMU)
- Value systems in digital health technologies Investigation
Principal Investigator in Portugal: Ricardo Melo, Associação Fraunhofer Portugal Research,
Investigator at CMU: Sarah E. Fox, Software and Societal Systems Department (CMU
Partner Institutions: Universidade do Porto – Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto
More information on CMU Portugal website and FCT website.
About Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program (CMU Portugal)
The mission of the CMU Portugal Program is to place Portugal at the forefront of innovation in areas focused on information and communication technologies through state-of-the-art research, excellence in postgraduate training, and a very close connection with Portuguese industry. The Program, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology, is the result of a collaboration between the Portuguese government and the University of Carnegie Mellon (USA) in the area of Information and Communication Technologies, which began in October 2006 and has already been renewed until 2030. This international partnership involves, in addition to, Carnegie Mellon University, 15 Portuguese universities and +150 partner companies. The Program has supported 80 collaborative research projects, 12 of which were launched in 2020 in the Program’s most ambitious Competition to date.
