The 1st edition of the IST-PhysFront Symposium took place on the morning of 10 September, at the Técnico Innovation Center powered by Fidelidade. The event brought together researchers, professors, and students from the Department of Physics at Instituto Superior Técnico. The meeting marked the beginning of the academic year with an opportunity to showcase and share research conducted by members of the Department.
“We wanted to create an event where our students and the community from the Department of Physics could gain insight into our research at all levels. The goal was to establish a moment for presentation and connection early in the year, before people dispersed”, explained Filipe Joaquim, a professor at Técnico.
The first session, focused on Machine Learning applications in physics research, was well-attended early in the morning. Professors and researchers presented artificial intelligence techniques used in astroparticle data analysis and plasma modelling, reflecting a growing international trend.
‘As last year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was closely associated with technology and artificial intelligence, we also wanted to show how these tools are already being applied in research conducted at the Department of Physics’, the professor emphasised.
The afternoon programme opened with perspectives on quantum systems, technological applications for health, and new approaches to studying the evolution of the universe, reflecting the breadth of the lines of work currently underway at Técnico.
A poster session followed, featuring contributions from students across all three cycles of study in Physics at Técnico. The energy and enthusiasm of the academic community were evident as attendees engaged in discussions about the presented results. Filipe Joaquim emphasised, “There is fundamental physics, but there is also applied and technological physics. It’s important to show first-year students that Physics at Técnico has these connections, and they don’t need to look elsewhere to pursue this type of work”.
The community voted for the best posters presented in each category. In the “undergraduate programme” category, the award went to Inês Alvito and Carolina Antunes for their work dedicated to testing different variables in computational models for the development of a new laboratory. In the “master’s programme” category, the winner was Bernardo Picão, with a project dedicated to the study of tetraquarks (particles formed by four quarks), in which he developed simulations based on the fundamental theory of particle physics to assess whether the predicted masses coincide with experimental observations.
In the “doctoral programme” category, the award went to the FlahGuard team, which presented a project using particle technology to develop a medical device for implementing a new cancer treatment.
Other awards were also given to Técnico students. The Student Innovation award went to the ‘NOISR’ project, dedicated to the development of physical neural networks capable of training and evolving without the use of software. In the “Best Video” category of the Integrative Project (PIC2) course of the Master’s Programme in Engineering Physics, the award went to Bruno Semião.
At the close of the symposium, Filipe Joaquim emphasised that the 1st edition of IST-PhysFront had established itself as ‘a meeting place for the community of the Department of Physics, promoting the sharing of scientific results and valuing the role of students in physics research’.
