Campus and Community

4th ObservIST Meeting: Disseminating Best Practices

October 13th 2021updated on October 14th 2021 at 12:55

The event aims to disseminate the best practices recently recognised by the Best Practices Observatory at Técnico .

The 4th ObservIST Meeting took place this Tuesday, 12th October. The 12 Best Practices recognised this year were announced to the Técnico community.

“Hello, I’m Beatriz and I’m almost five years old. Are there any robots that clean our houses and play with me?” – these are the kinds of questions that Técnico researchers answer every Saturday, in “Explain it like I’m 5 – Talks about science at Técnico for children and other curious people of all ages”, elected the Best Practice of the Year 2021.

“Explain it like I’m 5 effectively promotes the link to civil society and reflects the prestige of the Técnico researchers”, highlighted Joana Lobo Antunes, coordinator of the Communication, Image and Marketing Area (ACIM) and responsible for the project.

“Explain it like I’m 5 involves many preparatory meetings, and a lot of work of Técnico researchers, whom we sincerely thank for their enormous generosity and audacity”, stressed Joana Lobo Antunes. “Most of the people who responded to the survey revealed that they were more curious to learn more about Técnico scientific areas and Técnico itself”, she added.

Carla Patrocínio, coordinator of the Technology Transfer Office (TT@ Técnico), highlighted the success of Lab2Market@Técnico. “The program aims to take technology out of our laboratories and take it to the market”.

Lab2Market@Técnico is now in its 6th edition and has already provided more than 1000 hours of specialized business mentoring to more than 25 teams. “After participating in the program, teams can create a startup, structure and guide their research or be better prepared to compete for investment funds”, said Carla Patrocínio.

The project “ISTO É _Podcast”, created by the Student Support Unit (NAPE), was presented by the student Marta Batalha. “This innovative project allowed us to adapt to a more up-to-date digital model, which is more familiar to the target audience, and also facilitates access to information as the Podcast can be listened anytime”, said Marta Batalha.

For several years, professor Miguel Mira da Silva, from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DEI), used the Scrum methodology with his Master’s students. The success rate of a group of students that were supervised based on the Scrum framework was much higher. This perception resulted in a student’s thesis on this topic, an article published in a prestigious scientific journal, and later it was recognised Best Practice by ObservIST.

Professor Miguel Mira da Silva explained the methodology used in project management and highlighted how he uses it so that his students’ performance is improved. “The use of this methodology allows a great interaction between the supervisor and the students. The thesis is drawn up gradually and allows students to have constant feedback. This close interaction brings some pressure that leads to better results”, he stressed.

The event was chaired by professor Alexandre Francisco, Vice-president of Técnico for Academic Affairs and President of the Quality Management Council, and by professor Teresa Peña, President of the Pedagogical Council (CP). Both professors stressed the importance of this initiative, and congratulated everyone involved in the projects.

The remaining Best Practices were presented during the morning. Detailed information about each project is available at ObservIST website: