The Department of Chemical Engineering (DEQ) at Instituto Superior Técnico organised another edition of Summer Internship Programme – DEQ 2018 (EstVerDEQ). This is an opportunity for 1st cycle students of chemistry or chemistry-related areas to contact with Técnico researchers and to “experience the unique scientific culture at Técnico”, said professor Dulce Simão, from the organizing team. “The main goal of this Summer Internship is to stimulate students’ interest in research and to promote their contact with professors and researchers in order to better understand how it is the life of a professor/researcher outside of class”, adds another member of the organizing team, professor Henrique Matos.

From 9th to 20th July, 44 students from Técnico and from other universities joined a research team for nearly 30 hours a week and had “the opportunity to develop research and participate in debates and in different social activities”, stresses professor Dulce Simão. The feedback from the participants was “very positive” and, according to professor Henrique Matos “the results were very positive and we will take the participants’ opinion into consideration in order to improve next year’s edition”. “An effective participation in research”, “feeling like part of a team of researchers”, “being aware of the work developed at Técnico” and the “availability of supervisors” were highlighted by students as some of the most positive things of this Summer internship.