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On 8th May, Beatriz Vieite, a student on the Doctoral Program in New Media and researcher at DigiMedia, virtually attended the Annual Conference & AGM of the Natural Sciences Collections Association (https://natsca.org/natsca2025) held at the Manchester Museum (University of Manchester, UK). 

Beatriz presented practical recommendations to facilitate curator-led public engagement of science activities in university natural history museums. This presentation was based on a more in-depth study that is still being carried out as part of her PhD, where she’s looking at the current landscape of university natural history museums in terms of public engagement by the lens of curators, both in Portugal and in the UK.

The University of Aveiro hosted the international conference “WEB3: Tokenization, Technology and Culture” on April 11, bringing together 50 participants to discuss the digital future in light of emerging Web3 technologies.

Promoted by DigiMedia in partnership with the Value for Health CoLAB (V4H), the event featured scientific presentations and demonstrations of innovative industry-partnered projects focused on tokenization, NFTs, and decentralization. The conference highlighted the convergence of technology and culture, with a focus on applications in areas such as digital games, health, the environment, and online identity.

Organized within the scope of the BLOCKCHAIN.PT – PRR Agenda, the conference reinforced the University of Aveiro’s role as a space for interdisciplinary dialogue, bridging academic research with the practices and challenges of the tech industry.

Learn more about the event at web3.web.ua.pt.  

This Friday, April 11, 2025, the University of Aveiro will host an international event that aims to position itself at the forefront of discussions about the digital future: the conference “WEB3: Tokenization, Technology and Culture,” held within the scope of BLOCKCHAIN.PT – PRR Agenda “Decentralize Portugal with Blockchain.” 

At a time when decentralization, NFTs, and tokenization are gaining increasing relevance, this event represents a unique opportunity to explore the paths these technologies are opening across different fields of activity and expression. 

Web3 is not just a technological evolution, it is a cultural transformation. The conference aims to explore precisely this intersection between innovation, creativity, and impact. Organized by experts from the University of Aveiro, with the support of several academic and industry partners, the event will open space for dialogue around the uses and meanings of tokenization and NFTs in areas as diverse as digital games, health, environment, governance, entertainment, and online identity. 

Promoted by DigiMedia and Value for Health CoLAB (V4H), the event will feature scientific presentations, demonstrations of innovative projects, and workshops designed to bring academia closer to the realities of the industry. The bridge between knowledge and practice will be one of the key pillars of the conference, fostering an environment aimed at inspiring new ideas, partnerships, and research. 

More than just a conference, it is an invitation to explore the true meaning of tokenization — not only as a technological trend, but also as a cultural phenomenon with transformative potential. 

DigiMedia members, Nelson Zagalo, Ana Patrícia Oliveira, Liliana Costa and Gusatvo Ferrara, are part of the organization of this conference.

The digital future starts here! Learn more about the event at web3.web.ua.pt.  

The Game Jam: Fab Games Final took place at the Escola Secundária Sá da Bandeira, in Santarém, on 27th and 28th February. Over two days and one night, 14 teams developed a game on the theme – Across the 7 Seas: Camões, Vasco da Gama and the Future of the Oceans. Dalila Martins and Maria Ferreira, DigiMedia PhD students in New Media and Multimedia in Education, were invited by ANPRI (National Association of Computer Science Teachers) to be part of the jury of this competition. They accompanied the students during the game developement and at the end, they shared their opinion in terms of creativity, coherence with the theme, and design of the game. The winning team was “DevJogadores” from the Amadora Oeste Schools group.

Vanessa Pinto, a visiting researcher from the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO) at DigiMedia, organized an activity about Artificial Intelligence for senior citizens, carried out at the Aging Laboratory on February 19, 2025.

The 2-hour session, with conceptualization and practical laboratory was the last initiative of Vanessa Pinto in Portugal, and was part of Vanessa Pinto’s PhD Sandwich Internship (PDSE-CAPES) at the UA, in the Doctoral Program in New Media, under the supervision of Prof. Maria João Antunes, from the University of Aveiro (UA), and Prof. Tania Valente, from the UNIRIO.

More information here.

UA researchers promote debate about women in science on March 6

The American Corner Room at the University of Aveiro will host a conversation about “Women in Science”, on March 6, at 5pm. The event will bring together researchers from the university and will be open to the entire academic community. The objective is to discuss female participation in science, the challenges faced by women and their contributions to different areas of knowledge, also promoting dialogue between academia and the public.

The mediator of the conversation circle will be Tatiana Pereira, teacher and researcher, with a degree in Portuguese/Spanish, a master’s degree in Teaching Portuguese from the University of Porto, with extensive experience in primary, secondary, professional education and teacher training. Tatiana is currently a PhD student in Language Sciences at the University of Aveiro, with a scholarship funded by FCT, and is part of the ProTextos Research Group (Department of Education and Psychology), as well as the Languages and Learning project of the Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures (Department of Languages and Cultures) at UA.

The conversation will feature the participation of Renata Frade, a researcher and a DigiMedia PhD student, and other several UA researchers and doctoral students, including:
Ana Ramão, doctoral student linked to the Department of Civil Engineering at UA;
Márcia Rodrigues, doctoral student linked to the Department of Environment and Planning;
Lotina Burine, PhD student in Economic and Business Sciences at the Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism;
Gabriela Nicolau, post-doctorate in Cultural Studies at the UA Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures;
Lara Almeida, PhD student in Energy Systems and Climate Change, as well as a member of the Women in Engineering collective.
This event promises to be a significant moment for exchanging ideas and experiences, reflecting on the advances and barriers that still persist for women in the field of science.

This Wednesday (26th February) the PhD Student Group of DigiMedia (NEDD) organized an information session for the upcoming call for FCT PhD Studentships. This session was led by professors Maria João Antunes and Nelson Zagalo, who were previously part of the evaluation panels in the field of Communication Sciences in the regular and non-academic environment lines of application, respectively. It was attended by 4 current PhD students and a prospect PhD student, all from the Communication Sciences field.

From January 24 to 26, the University of Aveiro (UA) hosted its 8th local edition of the Global Game Jam (GGJ). Held in hundreds of countries worldwide, this event challenges participants to create games in just 48 hours, based on a theme provided by the global organizers. The local event was organized by the Department of Communication and Art (DECA) and the Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics (DETI). Professors, researchers and students from both departments and the Masters in Digital Game Development at the University of Aveiro participated in the organization of the event.

This year, more than 40 participants from different parts of the country worked in teams to develop 8 unique games, which were showcased at the end of the event. For more details and to explore the games created, visit: https://globalgamejam.org/jam-sites/2025/ggj-2025-universidade-de-aveiro.

Check out some moments from the development marathon at:

https://www.instagram.com/mdjd.ua.pt

On December 20th 2024, the students in Multimedia and Communication Technologies, Pedro Loyola, Pedro Henriques, Isis Coutinho and Júlia Köche had their final project entitled ‘Viral Passion: Until Immunity Do Us Apart’ awarded Best Animated Movie in the Art Film Awards Festival. This project was supervised by Liliana Costa and Hélder Caixinha, with the participation of the INIAV researchers Margarida Duarte and Teresa Nogueira.

 The animation ‘Viral Passion: Until Immunity Do Us Apart’, by Pedro Loyola, Pedro Henriques, Isis Coutinho and Júlia Köche, which was awarded Best Animated Movie in the Art Film Awards Festival, follows the journey of Victor, a virus that invades a young woman’s body, facing natural barriers like nasal hairs and mucus. In search of an ideal host cell, Victor deceives a naive cell, triggering a battle with the NK cells, the body’s natural defenders. This microscopic adventure reveals the surprising resilience of the human body in an intense, internal war.

The animation was part of the student’s final project from in 1st cycle degree in Multimedia and Communication Technologies – PLAYMUTATION DOC: Development of an animated documentary to foster youngsters’ awareness of pathogens, and it can be watched here (https://playmutation.web.ua.pt/)

The Art Film Awards is an annual event that awards, supports, and promotes filmmakers. The results from Autumn 2024 can be consulted on the following page: https://artfilmawards.com/autumn-2024

The DigiMedia researcher, Joaquim Santos, took part in a round table discussion in the Escola Superior de Saúde do Porto, to talk about technologies in health, in the scope of the II Jornadas de Ciência e Inovação em Terapia da Fala, on 13 and 14 December 2024.

This topic is part of Joaquim’s PhD thesis “Semi-Autonomous And Secure Tangible Media Interfaces: Framework And Prototype For Home Use By Children With Speech Sound Disorders” (2023).

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