The Universidade de Lisboa (ULisboa) / Caixa Geral de Depósitos CGD) Scientific Awards ceremony took place on 23rd November, at 5.30 p.m., in the ULisboa Great Hall. On that Thursday afternoon, Luís Oliveira e Silva, professor at Instituto Superior Técnico and researcher at Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion (IPFN), gave the lecture “Ser cientista em Portugal no século XXI” (“Being a scientist in Portugal in the 21st century”). Later on, and throughout the ceremony, several Técnico professors were awarded for their research work.
Luís Oliveira e Silva’s lecture focused on the progress and challenges of Portuguese science throughout the 21st century, using statistical indicators that reveal the effectiveness and productivity of Portuguese researchers, despite the lower investment when compared with other European countries. The professor shared his personal view that contrasted with “what has already happened in the 21st century” and some of the challenges for the coming years, based on his “status as a scientist working in Portugal since 2001” and his experiences of teaching, mentoring and collaborating on research projects in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. In his opinion, many of these challenges “must be resolved by all of us, members of this [academic] community, who have responsibilities and hold different positions”.
The Técnico professor shared that “The spleen of science in Portugal in 2023” was an alternative title for his lecture, referring to the term used by the poet Charles Baudelaire to describe a “cosmopolitan melancholy at the end of the century”. Originally applied to the city of Paris, the word “spleen” was this time invoked by Luís Oliveira e Silva to describe the melancholy he says he feels about science in Portugal, “a transitional hiatus” that, on the other hand, also brings “some hope for a new qualitative leap, a new overcoming of major challenges that will allow us to refocus on the ambition that has brought us this far”.
Luís Oliveira e Silva quoted Mariano Gago, former Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education (and Técnico alumnus) and called for the need to promote attractive attractive and sustainable scientific careers. At the end, he congratulated the award winners.
The ULisboa/CGD Scientific Awards, presented at this ceremony, consist of a €6,500 incentive for research and aim to recognise scientific research and encourage the submission of papers in prestigious international journals.
