On 15 July 2025, the Naoris Protocol Award was presented recognising the ‘Best Dissertation’ in the field of Cybersecurity for the 2022/2023 academic year. The Técnico alumnus Miguel Monteiro (undergraduate programme and master’s programme in Computer Science and Engineering) stood out among the 11 applicants, receiving a cash prize of €1,800 for his work and the practical relevance of his research.
Miguel Monteiro expressed his gratitude for the “fantastic five years spent at Técnico” noting that “I grew as a person and as an engineer here”. He explained that he wanted his dissertation to have a real impact and leave a mark beyond academic work.
The award recognises a student whose dissertation focuses on cybersecurity, covering study programmes taught in three Técnico departments: the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DEEC), the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DEI), and the Department of Mathematics (DM). The winner was selected by a jury composed of Técnico professors Carlos Caleiro, Carlos Ribeiro, and Pedro Adão.
During the event, Pedro Amaral, Vice President of Técnico for Corporate Interface, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, highlighted the strategic importance of cybersecurity, considering it one of the fundamental pillars in the protection of “space, air, land, and cyber domains” and associating its reinforcement with the “challenge of defence and world peace”. The professor also noted that “it is very difficult to single out just one project at Técnico, such is the amount of talent present”, and emphasised “the central role of universities in cybersecurity talent training”.
Representing Naoris, João Ferreira dos Santos, Head of Compliance, highlighted the direct involvement of professors in creating and implementing this award, pointing to the close connection between academia and the business sector in the United States as a source of inspiration. “It was this model that motivated us to build this bridge between academic innovation and practical applicability”, he said. He also reinforced Naoris’ commitment to keep supporting academia at a time when the company is “following its path from startup to scaleup”. “Cybersecurity is one of those fields that people only remember when things go wrong”, he said, also reinforcing that “it is important to continuously learning, since the world of cybersecurity is in constant flux”.
Additionally, a donation of €1,200 was made to DEI. Daniel Gonçalves, Vice-Head of DEI, thanked the company for its support, highlighting the importance of cybersecurity. “We have to reward and make use of our critical mass, which is growing”, he said.
