Tiago Morais, Técnico alumnus and researcher at MARETEC – Marine, Environment and Technology Center, was one of the winners (3rd place) of the PhD prize in Ecology – Amadeu Dias Foundation, awarded by the Portuguese Ecological Society (SPECO), for his PhD thesis in Environmental Engineering, titled “Studies in quantitative environmental modelling of agricultural land use systems: Fit stuff in a lot of stuff”.
“I am extremely honored to receive this prize”, says Tiago Morais. “I was surprised because my research areas are not those typically addressed in the more ‘traditional’ ecology. Nevertheless, this distinction shows the importance of studying environmental ecology and agroecology through new approaches, such as nutrient mass balance, and also through the use of new data and models”.
The PhD thesis was supervised by professors Tiago Domingos and Ricardo Teixeira, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DEM) and focused on the quantitative assessment of the impact of land use on terrestrial ecosystems.
The guiding principle behind this research was the evaluation of agricultural systems. “Despite addressing different areas, the focus has always been to find approaches that allow the assessment and improvement of the sustainability of agricultural systems, as they are fundamental for human existence”, he stresses.
Quantitative tools to improve the management of food systems developed during the research are now being adapted to carry out the detection and determination of sown biodiverse pastures in Alentejo, using only remote data and machine learning. These tools will be used by the Instituto de Financiamento da Agricultura e Pescas – IFAP (Financing Institute for Agriculture and Fisheries – IFAP) for the assessment of compliance for granting subsidies.
According to the MARETEC researcher, “the multidisciplinary areas addressed in my thesis, which are typically so far apart, may have positively influenced the jury’s decision. The problems addressed by scientific research are increasingly complex and challenging, so unidisciplinary research increasingly fails to respond. Técnico is the best place to develop and promote multidisciplinary research”.
The PhD Prize in Ecology – Amadeu Dias Foundation is an initiative of the Portuguese Ecological Society (SPECO) and Amadeu Dias Foundation that aims to reward the best PhD thesis in any area of Ecology defended in Portuguese Universities, regardless of the nationality of the candidates. The first three winners receive a cash prize (1st- €3000; 2nd-€2000 and 3rd-€1000).
