External Review Committee (ERC) met to assess MPP progress
This month, on March 3rd, the External Review Committee (ERC) of the MIT Portugal Program (MPP) met to evaluate the progress of the activities developed by the MPP during the last year. The ERC noted that “MPP has been working well, productivity has been good, and the future looks exciting.”
The President of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Madalena Alves, and the MPP Directors (Douglas Hart, John Hansman, Pedro Arezes, and Zita Martins) were also in attendance to discuss with the ERC the Program’s progress. The meeting took place at Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon.
Throughout the day the ERC had the opportunity to evaluate the Program’s activities and assess its overall performance. The first session of the meeting consisted of a full presentation of the program given by the MPP Directors, followed by a discussion with the ERC. Then, the ERC had the opportunity to interact with researchers and PhD students working on MPP projects or with MPP funding, in a scientific session, and afterwards the Committee met internally to discuss the recommendations that they would provide to the MPP Management and to the President of FCT.
The ERC congratulated the Program for its high productivity, stating that they “were impressed with the way the MIT Portugal Program has been evolving with regular calls for projects and PhD grants, and many outreach activities and meetings organized”. The ERC was also impressed with the scientific presentations provided by researchers and PhD students saying that they were “very well focused, and showed the impact and scientific production of the projects”. On a final note, the ERC mentioned that “MPP has been working well, productivity has been good, and the future looks exciting”.
Every year, the ERC meets to review the research, activities, and outputs of the program and make recommendations to the Directors and the Program Governing Committee (PGC). The ERC is composed of independent members from the international scientific community with relevant expertise, namely:
– Sir John Beddington, Former UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser and ERC Chair;
– Professor Pascale Ehrenfreund, President of the International Space University, Research Professor of Space Policy and International Affairs at the Space Policy Institute/George Washington University;
– Professor Mohan Munasinghe, 2007 Joint Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Vice Chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change;
– and Professor Melany Hunt the Dotty and Dick Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Caltech.
