More than 50 young volunteers, ongoing projects in several European countries and a common goal: to make political information more accessible. It was for this work that José d’Assis Cordeiro, an alumnus of Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, won the 2025 Tágides Anti-Corruption Prize in the ‘Youth Initiative’ category, presented by the All4Integrity Organisation on 12 March 2026.
“This prize is undoubtedly a recognition of all the work carried out by more than 50 volunteers”, he says, referring to the recognition of Política Factual XXI, the non-profit organisation he chairs. This organisation brings together young people from various fields and nationalities under the principles of democratic transparency and access to information.
At Técnico, he gained the technical foundations and international context that support the civic engagement projects he leads today. Graduated from Técnico with both an undergraduate programme and a master’s programme in Computer Science and Engineering, he emphasised how his education and experiences outside Portugal have shaped his career. “Técnico played an essential role, giving me access to many opportunities from an early stage”, says José d’Assis Cordeiro. He recalls his Erasmus experience in Aalborg, Denmark, participation in the ATHENS programme in Delft, the Netherlands, exchange periods in Thailand and Colombia, and his experience at CERN through an agreement with the School. “All these experiences provided me with immense skills to develop these initiatives and understand how we can make a difference in the world around us”.
Among the projects developed, the Manual da Juventude (Youth Handbook) stands out: a platform that brings together opportunities for scholarships, internships, volunteering and civic engagement, in collaboration with more than thirty organisations. “Although there is a lot of information available, it isn’t accessible”, he says, identifying inequalities in access to opportunities as the starting point for the project. “I believe these barriers should not exist, so I decided to embark on this mission”, he explains – an initiative that aggregates and organises information for young people across different fields.
The All4Integrity Organisation also runs the ‘Política Factual’ and ‘Política Factual EU’ projects, which track and report, in a simplified manner, on votes in the Portuguese Parliament and the European Parliament. The European project is currently operating in several EU countries, boasting “more than 20 collaborations with MEPs of different nationalities and political parties”.
An engineering background is highlighted as the foundation of the adopted approach. “An engineering student already has the ‘bug’ for seeking solutions to problems; it’s a matter of channeling that motivation towards real-world applications”, he emphasises, also highlighting the importance of communication as an essential complementary skill. “It is not enough to develop a good engineering project; it is crucial to know how to communicate it effectively, making it engaging and accessible”.
Launched in 2021, the Tágides Prize is presented annually and aims to recognise initiatives, projects or works that contribute to promoting integrity and to preventing and combating corruption across different sectors of society in Portugal. It recognises the involvement of young people in fostering more informed and accessible civic participation.
