The 2nd edition of the Celfinet Award recognised the best student in the Telecommunications Systems curricular unit, in the academic year 2024/2025. Miguel Cardoso, currently pursuing a Master’s Programme in Electrical and Computer Engineering, received a prize worth €1,800.
“I feel very grateful for this award”, said Miguel Cardoso, also emphasising the award’s impact on students’ motivation throughout the semester: “from the moment this award was announced, a friendly competition began,” and “it undoubtedly motivated students to work harder”.
According to Rogério Colaço, President of Instituto Superior Técnico, the Celfinet Award is an initiative whose value goes beyond the financial component: it reinforces recognition and the symbolism of students’ merit and, at the same time, brings Técnico closer to companies. He also noted that this type of award continues an approach that Técnico has been strengthening in recent years: reinforcing its external links and technology transfer.
Celfinet representative Carlos Caseiro highlighted the importance of the sector and the valuing of talent, stating that “this telecommunications field remains very much alive” and that “networks continue to evolve; technologically, they are becoming increasingly complex, and we increasingly need more talent”.
The jury comprised António Rodrigues and Paula Queluz, senior lecturers of the Telecommunications Systems curricular unit, and Carlos Caseiro, Celfinet representative.
The Award also includes a donation to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DEEC), intended to improve the quality of teaching in the curricular unit, worth €1,200. Regarding collaboration with companies and the value of links to real-world contexts, António Rodrigues stressed that “we have access to things that wouldn’t be possible if the company wasn’t collaborating with us, namely, network data, real data, so we can work with real problems”.
