Adrian Galvez
“In January, Adrian exceeded expectations by demonstrating exceptional performance within the NEXUS and MAGPIE projects. He actively contributed to the continuous development of the electric load prediction tool for ports, adding new features to the algorithm – towards significant improvement of said prediction. In addition, he participated in the energy modelling of various equipment of the Port of Sines – namely, the energy modelling of cranes and refrigerated containers, developing a simulator for this purpose, based on limited information available. In addition, he took on leadership roles in internal and external meetings of the NEXUS and MAGPIE projects, including during discussions on the integration of load and network operation forecasting tools into the NEXUS IT-GEST platform, as well as the implementation of energy use models within the logistics and energy models under development for ports – within the scope of the MAGPIE project.”
– CPES coordinators
You were involved in the NEXUS and MAGPIE projects – in the integration of forecasting and operation tools, and in the implementation of energy use models, respectively; could you tell us a little more about these projects (objectives, expected results and impact, main challenges, tasks performed, differentiating factor, etc.)?
Both projects share similar objectives, aiming at the digitalisation and decarbonisation of the maritime industry. However, their scope, as well as the type and quantity of expected products and services, differ. NEXUS is a national project primarily focused on the Port of Sines, whereas MAGPIE spans several European ports, including Rotterdam, the largest port in Europe. CPES’s involvement in both projects also varies, but we are working to understand current energy consumption in the ports (where, when, and how much), and, more importantly, how energy usage might evolve in future scenarios. This understanding will serve as the foundation for adopting energy-efficient technologies, exploring renewable energy sources, and implementing smart energy management systems to reduce overall energy use and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Among the results obtained so far, a particularly interesting achievement is the development of data-driven approaches for forecasting electricity demand in highly electrified ports. The key outcome in this case was the identification of novel and unique features that enhance predictive accuracy. These features are linked to the distinct types of logistical operations carried out in ports and differ significantly from the features typically used in electricity forecasting. Additionally, we have pinpointed the main energy consumers across different types of port terminals and developed energy demand models for these assets and activities. These models are continuously refined and are currently being used to simulate the energy demand of entire ports under various operational modes and decarbonisation scenarios
In both projects, the primary challenge has been gaining access to the required information. Ports are complex systems involving multiple stakeholders. While the projects are being developed in collaboration with various port authorities, much of the required information is owned by terminal operators or private companies. However, this also presents an opportunity to contribute to the scientific community, as the models we are developing are based on openly available data. Moreover, the relationship between logistics and energy demand in ports has, to date, not been sufficiently explored.
What is your assessment of these two years at INESC TEC, especially because you are in a different city (and country)?
It has been two years of new experiences, personal and professional growth, and, most importantly, two years of being surrounded by excellent people. After this time, I feel that joining INESC TEC and moving to Porto was the right decision and a perfect fit for what I had hoped to achieve in my career: conducting applied scientific research.
Which aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?
I particularly enjoy the collaborative environment. After working largely alone during my PhD, with just my supervisor and I collaborating, it has been refreshing to be part of a team again. I also appreciate the autonomy and trust that my supervisors have given me, allowing me to explore new ideas and, even more importantly, to follow them through to tangible results. For me, this is crucial – having the opportunity to continue learning and acquiring new skills that, even if not immediately essential for my current tasks, may prove valuable in future projects.
How do you comment on this nomination?
Honestly, it was a surprise, especially given the volume and quality of the work currently being developed at CPES. I am grateful to my supervisors, and it is good to know that they consider my work valuable to the team. This has been an intense month for all of us, and we still have a couple of challenging months ahead as both projects are near completion. We will certainly need to give our best effort. In any case, the results we have already achieved, and those I’m confident we will achieve, have only been possible thanks to the dedication and responsibility of all the colleagues involved in these projects, to whom I would like to express my gratitude.
Alexandre Costa
“Alexandre stood out for his incredible management skills, being involved in several national and European projects, with remarkable competence. His constant availability to support co-workers and facilitate the integration of new team members demonstrates a model collaborative spirit. His decisive contribution to the operationalisation of INESC TEC’s new workspace reservation system and new access control to the employees’ car park (Quinta de Santo António), which will soon be integrated into INESC TEC app, deserves special recognition. His methodical approach, attention to detail and constant dedication reflect a unique and exemplary professionalism.”
– Lino Oliveira, Area Manager
You were involved in the operationalisation of new features of the INESC TEC app; could you tell us a little more about the work you have been carrying out?
Since the app was growing, we thought about what other areas we could explore to advance its features; considering that one of the key objectives is to dematerialise the employee card, we believe that the next step should be facilitating access to INESC TEC parking lots. This would prevent the need to resort to physical cards, as well as the need to configure them. In this sense, we designed a remote system that benefits from the features of mobile devices. Following the “punch the clock” feature, employees will be able to access the park by scanning a QR Code or reading an NFC tag. The GSM-based remote system will provide access to parking lots.
The other feature stems from the need to support the hybrid work scheme and manage available workspaces/desks. At HumanISE, we operationalised a workspace scheduling solution to manage employees’ presences. This solution uses a visual booking platform where employees can interactively schedule their presence, based on the plan of their workspace. The HumanISE team’s feedback was quite positive. After several people started to show some interest, we introduced the solution in several other Centres – and we’re still planning to do so in other workspaces.
What were the main challenges during this process?
The integration of communication systems with different technologies and protocols brings several challenges. We must plan how they’ll work alongside current systems. It requires proper planning to ensure fault-tolerant operationalisation. And the users should receive clear feedback about the status of the system they are interacting with. If any of the system elements are faulty, the user should be notified of the reason and have other alternatives.
Which aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?
I enjoy the fact that I carry out multidisciplinary tasks. I collaborate on projects with different contexts, team members and themes, and I believe that this has been quite important to improve as a professional. When I embraced the challenges at INESC TEC, I sought professional growth, but INESC TEC allowed me to evolve way beyond that. I’ve been able to improve at a personal level, learning how to address different questions while applying and sharing my knowledge.
How do you comment on this nomination?
I was quite surprised by it. I enjoy getting involved in these challenges, but I wasn’t expecting this nomination. I am very happy with this recognition, and the possibility of collaborating with the amazing people that contributed to this process. I’d like to thank Lino Oliveira, who guided me through these challenges and always supported me.
João Souza
“We nominate João Souza for his excellent contributions within CRIIS – in particular, at iiLab -, namely to the different leadership activities of the R&D team, supervision of master’s and PhD theses, and scientific development activities associated with the creation of new robotic pick and place solutions, using AI and computer vision algorithms (integrated into a mobile manipulator prototype). His work was vital the success of the Mari4_YARD and MoMaflex projects, while promoting our scientific domain and team.”
– CRIIS coordinators
You contributed to the Centre and iiLab’s work, namely concerning the development of robotic pick & place solutions and a mobile manipulator prototype. Could you tell us a little more about the work you’ve carried out, and the relevance to the Centre and the institution’s activities?
As a researcher at the CRIIS, I focus on meeting the growing demand for robotic solutions for operations in warehouses, production lines, assembly lines, etc. Many of said operations require the robot to perceive (assign value to sensing) and interact (using robotic hands and arms) with the environment. In this sense, mobile manipulators represent an evolving area of research, with high applicability and a wide field of study. These operations involve exploring computer vision techniques, machine learning, control, modelling, sensing and optimisation.
The Centre coordinators also mentioned the Mari4_YARD and MOMAFLEX projects; what are the main objectives of these projects? Any major result you’d like to emphasise?
Mari4_YARD is a European project focused on the development of technologies for the shipbuilding sector. One of our contributions involved the development of mobile manipulators to assist shipbuilding warehouses. Basically, the robot was able to meet the component requests of a human welding operator, identifying and picking up the necessary parts. As to the MoMaFlex project, we developed a mobile manipulator to place orders in a warehouse of a large Portuguese retail company, Worten. In addition, the robot was able to check the products that arrived at the warehouse, manually interacting with the environment. In this last project – also at a European level -, the robot needed to adapt to different applications, and we were able to achieve this goal.
Besides focusing on R&D, you also supervise students; how do you manage all these different tasks? And what are the main challenges?
I have always had a great passion for teaching. Knowing that my team and my students learn and acquire new skills is a great motivation – perhaps the greatest. Robotics projects require more than a single individual. Therefore, I try to train people dedicated to research, with a critical and scientific spirit, who are friendly and good team members. We seek to work together in a cohesive and collaborative manner, which is vital to the success of our initiatives. I seek to improve continuously as a trainer and team coordinator, studying leadership methodologies and practices. In addition, I always seek to update myself technically: after all, we need to be up to date to teach. This is, perhaps, the biggest challenge of the process.
Which aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?
I enjoy the constant need for innovation and the possibility of working on projects with direct impact on industry and society. Collaborating with talented people, and the opportunity to mentor students and young researchers is also extremely rewarding.
How do you comment on this nomination?
This nomination is a wonderful recognition of the work I have been carrying out, both in research and in mentoring young talents. It is an honour that motivates me to keep focusing the development of innovative technologies and to contribute to the training of future experts in the field.
Pedro Moreira
“Pedro Moreira has been developing a very positive work regarding the design of technological solutions within the scope of the IDINA and Linha de Saúde 24h projects. As the technical manager of said projects, Pedro’s contribution has been vital to their success – with a direct impact on society and different populations, namely in the African region. An example is the Linha Saúde 24h project, a free healthcare telephone service for the population of Guinea-Bissau. The platform developed in this project integrates advanced technologies designed and developed by our team, which aim to optimise services and ensure the effective and fast access to all. In this sense, healthcare professionals can carry out the screening tasks, advise and forward the calls that reach the telephone line, while generating reports on the different services provided to the population. This is an excellent example of how it is possible to transfer science and technology to society.”
– HASLab coordinators
You were involved in the IDINA and Linha de Saúde 24h projects, the latter in Guinea-Bissau; could you tell us a little more about both initiatives, describing the objectives, results, impact, the type of activities you developed to support the projects, etc.?
IDINA – Inclusive Non-authoritative Digital Identity – is an innovation project that aims to build a person’s identity document based on statements made by other people or entities, in places where the State is unable to meet the requests of all citizens. Very briefly: when making a statement about an individual and their various attributes (name, age or address), data sources cause the system to analyse all existing statements about that individual, before processing them to disambiguate the data, and calculate a confidence value for each of the attributes; at the end of this processing, the level of confidence in the source is adjusted, and the individuals have their data updated, which can be later read by a reader. As a process that handles sensitive data, all security mechanisms and elements that confirm the veracity of the information were implemented according to the ISO-18013 standard.
This is a project that we have been developing for the last two years, already with three mobile applications – one for each of the different types of users -, as well as a backend that ensures the veracity of all the information.
The Linha de Saúde 24h is a telephone line to support the population concerning healthcare issues. Since it’s a free service, anyone can call and get support. With several operators, nurses and doctors, the line ensures an adequate response to the severity of each situation. Depending on this, people can still be referred to a healthcare facility to benefit from adequate treatment.
In addition, this line serves other purposes than just healthcare. This service can also manage Civil Protection questions, e.g., accidents on public roads, and complaints, like attempted bribery at a public structure. Lastly, the system also allows a psychologist to follow up on certain cases.
What were the main challenges you faced during your activities, especially those carried out abroad (Guinea-Bissau – Africa)?
Within the scope of the Linha de Saúde 24h, I had the opportunity to implement the project in Guinea-Bissau. One of the biggest challenges was the design and implementation time of the entire application: only six months. In addition, and considering the country’s conditions, we were forced to take certain measures, like choosing a specific open-source software, to prevent software licensing costs. In addition, we had less than a week to carry out all the hardware and software installation, as well as to train all the people involved in the project.
We completed this process only after receiving the feedback from the first six months of operation, which coincided with the annual meeting of the project’s strategic partners – where the project’s results were presented.
Which aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?
Both projects seek to contribute to society in an innovative way, focusing on questions that we, as citizens of developed countries, take for granted. A clear example was the way people welcomed us in Guinea-Bissau, a small slice of the “gratitude cake”. The feedback received from each person working on the phone line (all of them proud to be able to work on this project and help their co-citizens) and the fact that human lives have already been saved, fills our entire team with pride, and makes each challenge worthwhile, while providing that extra motivation to keep moving forward.
How do you comment on this nomination?
This nomination would not be possible if João Marco did not focus on these types of projects and partnerships; I’d like to thank him for the opportunity to improve the lives of so many people, while allowing me to explore different contexts and cultures. Also, I would like to thank Professor António Sousa and Professor Vitor Fonte, who have always showed their support since the first day I joined INESC TEC.
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