Luís Oliveira e Silva, professor at the Department of Physics (DF-IST) and president of IST Scientific Board (CC), was recently elected fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc). Two Técnico professors – Luís Oliveira e Silva and Armando Pombeiro – are now fellows of the EurASc. The president of IST Scientific Board is the first Portuguese to be part of the Physics division and the sixth Portuguese to join the prestigious academy.
“I am very grateful to the European Academy of Sciences for this recognition, to the members of my team and my research group, GoLP, and to IPFN and Técnico colleagues for all their support and collaboration: without them I wouldn’t be able to develop my research work”, says professor Luís Oliveira e Silva, who had no link with EurASc so far. However, the Técnico professor recalls the “scientific interactions with some members with whom I have been collaborating”. “I know some of EurASc Portuguese members, namely professor Armando Pombeiro, from Técnico, and the president the European Academy of Sciences, professor Rodrigo Martins from Universidade Nova de Lisboa”.
The election of EurASc fellows begins with a proposal by the Scientific Committees, which is duly subject to the approval of the General Board – composed of Presidium Members and Heads of Divisions. EURASC is completely independent of any national entity, in its membership, election processes, deliberations and actions. “The appointment is based solely on the relevance of scientific contributions, on the reach and impact of published articles and on the scientific curriculum”, stresses professor Luís Oliveira e Silva.
The European Academy of Sciences is a fully independent international association of distinguished scholars that aims to recognise and elect to its membership the best European scientists with a vision for Europe as a whole, transcending national borders, and with the aims of strengthening European science and scientific cooperation. Another objective is to take advantage of the expertise of its members in advising other European bodies for the betterment of European research, technological application and social development. “The academies play an important role in promoting the values of Science and also in contributing to the definition of public policies”, says professor Luís Oliveira e Silva. “I hope to collaborate with the Academy towards these goals, namely at European level, especially at a particularly delicate time for Europe”.
“Técnico plays a very important role in Portuguese Science, which is evident through our research centres, professors, researchers and students”, he said, about the fact that Técnico has two Fellows of the European Academy of Sciences.
