MIT Portugal Program organizes its annual Program Governing Committee (PGC)

On April 9, the Program organized its 2nd Program Governing Committee (PGC) meeting since the implementation of Phase 3, to report the activities of 2019 and get approval for its work plan for 2020.  

Due to the current situation driven by COVID-19 pandemic and all its impact in travel bans, the 2020’s PGC meeting took place by Video-Conference. The meeting was chaired by Prof. José Paulo Esperança, Vice-President of FCT, and included the PGC members from MIT senior administration representatives, Richard K. Lester, MIT Associate Provost for International Activities, and Maria Zuber, Vice President for Research at MIT; António M. Cunha, Representative of the Portuguese participating entities and President of the Digital Transformation CoLab; and also Isabel Furtado, Portuguese Industry Representative and CEO of TMG Automotive. 

The opening remarks were followed by a presentation given by Profs. Dava Newman and Pedro Arezes. The MPP directors focused their attention to research updates, considering 2019 was a year where MPP had 3 research calls (Flagships; Exploratory and Seed Calls), and highlighted the activities that were organized during 2019. 

Throughout 2020, the Program plans included calls, idea-sprints, outreach, and also other activities not organized by MPP, but with its participation. MPP also presented the call for PhD Grants which will award 40 grants/year for 3 years. 

Due to the COVID-19 situation, the calendar needed to be revised, and some events were canceled, while others were postponed. With the target of amplifying the reach capacity of the program within the different institutions and research groups, MPP established a new group of faculty members from different universities and different departments of MIT involved in the program (the area-leaders). 

The PGC reviewed and approved the annual plan and budget allocation for the proposed activities.