Joana Gonçalves de Sá, Técnico alumna and professor at the Department of Physics (DF), and researcher at the Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Particle Physics (LIP), received the Activa Inspiring Women Award, in the “Science” category, awarded by the ACTIVA magazine.

“These awards are important not only because they make known the work of the nominees but also the important role of women in various areas”, said the Técnico professor on her appointment in February 2021.

After graduating in Engineering Physics from Instituto Superior Técnico, professor Joana Gonçalves de Sá enrolled in the Gulbenkian PhD Programme in Biomedicine and carried out her PhD thesis on Systems Biology at Harvard University, USA.

From 2012 to 2018, she was principal investigator at the Gulbenkian Science Institute. In 2019, she was awarded a grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to study cognitive biases using the spread of fake news on social networks as a model system.

Professor Joana Gonçalves de Sá coordinates the Social Physics and Complexity (SPAC) research group at LIP. Through experimental and computational techniques (big data and complex systems), the research group studies the decision-making process, particularly related to health policy.

The Técnico alumna coordinates the Science and Society initiative and she is the director of the PGCD PhD Programme , aimed at improving education and scientific research in Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOP).

The jury of ACTIVA Inspiring Women Awards was composed of Natalina de Almeida, Director of ACTIVA magazine, Mafalda Anjos, publisher at Trust in News, Maria de Belém Roseira, Maria da Conceição Zagalo and Luís Marques Mendes.