The Técnico alumni António Nunes (Aerospace Engineering) and Lilli Anders (Biomedical Engineering), received the IEEE Outstanding MSc Thesis Award, which recognises the best master’s theses developed at Portuguese higher education institutions. The award ceremony took place on November 21, as part of IEEE Engineering Day 2025, an initiative of the Portuguese Section of the IEEE, which was held at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.
António Nunes’ award-winning dissertation, titled “Orbital Station-Keeping in the Circular and Elliptic Restricted Three-Body Problems,” focuses on the development of control strategies for the operation of autonomous space vehicles in unstable orbits of the Earth-Moon system. The work explores “continuous control approaches compatible with electric propulsion technologies, aiming to increase efficiency compared to conventional solutions based on impulsive propulsion”, explains the author. The methodologies developed were evaluated numerically, allowing their effectiveness in maintaining different types of orbits to be quantified.
According to the alumnus, the award represents “another important recognition of the work carried out, which, above all, motivates and encourages further research in the field of study”. In July, his master’s thesis had already been awarded by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DEEC) as part of the “Outstanding Master Thesis Awards”.
The work, conducted under the guidance of Pedro Batista, a professor at Técnico and researcher at the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-Lisboa), and Sérgio Brás (ESA), enabled António Nunes to secure a research grant at the Institution, funded by the NEURASPACE project, coordinated by Técnico professor Rodrigo Ventura. Together with the same group of supervisors, the alumnus is now seeking to develop “even more ambitious and realistic control methodologies,” with a view to furthering this topic in the context of a PhD.
In the field of Biomedical Engineering, under the guidance and coordination of Hugo Plácido da Silva, a professor at Técnico and researcher at Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), Lilli Anders developed a dissertation focused on the design and evaluation of a customised orthoprosthesis for lower limbs, intended for children with fibular hemimelia (a rare congenital malformation characterised by the partial or total absence of the fibula). “The work combined additive manufacturing, sensor integration, and biomechanical evaluation, seeking to address the scarcity of specific solutions for early ages and the lack of quantitative data on gait and neuromuscular activity in this age group”, the student shares.
“The most significant thing was to see the project evolve from a clinical need to a functional device that a child could use on a daily basis”, she says, emphasising that the interdisciplinary approach, the quantitative validation of the device, and the publication of the results in an IEEE scientific journal contributed to its recognition.
According to Lilli Anders, the award reinforces the importance of research focused on specific clinical needs and comes at a decisive moment in her academic career. “What means the most to me is knowing that the child I worked with can now walk independently”, she says, adding that the award is an incentive to continue her research in the field of biomedical engineering, also in the context of her PhD.
