On 8 October, four students from Instituto Superior Técnico received the Feedzai Scholarship Women in Science MSc and PhD. The award ceremony, which aims to support and encourage women to pursue careers in science and technology, took place at the company’s premises in Lisbon.
This year’s winners, Filipa Lino (Electrical and Computer Engineering PhD student), Catarina Freire, Alexandra Pato (Computer Science and Engineering Master’s students) and Inês Simões (Electrical and Computer Engineering master’s student) shared the impact of the scholarship on their academic and professional lives at the event. According to Inês Simões, the scholarship is an ‘important financial aid’, and ‘a big stimulus to continue investing in academic training’. Catarina Freire considers this ‘award dedicated to women as a great initiative to encourage others’ in a ‘field that can be intimidating’. Alexandra Pato also sees this award as ‘an incentive for more women to continue pursuing studies in this field’, describing it as ‘a step forward’. ‘The Feedzai scholarship has allowed me to pursue my studies and decide what I want to do in the future’ says Filipa Lino.
Pedro Amaral, Vice president of Técnico for Corporate Interface, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, recalled that Feedzai is a member of the Técnico spin-off. “Feedzai is one of our most important partners because it sees this collaboration in a comprehensive way, both in supporting initiatives that contribute to attracting women to STEM fields, as well as through the Feedzai Chair in Machine Learning awarded to Professor Mário Figueiredo, who is also a member of the scholarship jury”.
Pedro Bizarro, the company’s Chief Science Officer (CSO), hoped the winners would ‘continue to be science ambassadors and continue to make this initiative grow’. The ceremony was also attended by Sancha Barroso, one of the winners of the 2023/24 edition, Mariana Lima, winner of the 2022/23 edition. Sofia Gomes, Inês Lynce and Alexandre Francisco were members of the jury.
The scholarships will be worth €5,825 and €18,350 depending on whether they are master’s or doctoral students, respectively.
