On 9 October, Inês Silva, a first-year Industrial Engineering and Management undergraduate student at Instituto Superior Técnico, received the Jerónimo Martins Merit Award for the 2024/25 academic year. The award is aimed at students enrolled in the first-year of the Undergraduate programme in Industrial Engineering and Management who applied for the award and obtained the best final grade in the 1st call of the National Competition for Access to Higher Education. The winning student thanked ‘Jerónimo Martins and Técnico for the opportunity’ and said ‘it’s an honour to receive this award’.
The ceremony brought together five candidates who presented their motivations and plans to a jury made up of Paulo Jesus, Head of Learning and Innovation at Jerónimo Martins, Tânia Pinto Varela, coordinator of the Undergraduate Programme in Industrial Engineering and Management, and Sérgio Ribeiro, deputy coordinator of the same Undergraduate Programme. The event took place at Técnico – Oeiras campus.
All candidates highlighted the undergraduate programme’s potential to prepare future professionals to face the challenges of modernisation, innovation and sustainability at Jerónimo Martins. The other four finalists were Afonso Rocha, Maria Pedro, Rita Cardeira and Afonso Menezes.
The president of Instituto Superior Técnico, Rogério Colaço, emphasised the “partners’ support” as “absolutely crucial” to “what Técnico has been doing: creating the best conditions so that students can develop their talent to the maximum”.
The Vice-President for Corporate Interface, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, Pedro Amaral, highlighted that this is “the only award for newly admitted students” at Técnico. Paulo Jesus said that ‘this partnership with Técnico brings a lot of talent’ to the company. “Jerónimo Martins believes in the students’ abilities”, he added.
The winner, Inês Silva, received a prize worth 2250 euros. To improve the quality of teaching and learning, 1500 euros were donated to the Department of Engineering and Management. Ana Póvoa, Head of DEG, thanked the company for its continued support and said she was ‘proud’ to know that the DEG was contributing to the success of Jerónimo Martins through its alumni.
