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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.

Francisco Regalado, a PhD student at DigiMedia, is doing an 3-month internship at the Department of Computer Science, University of York in the UK, under the scientific supervision of Professor Paul Cairns.

Last week, on 11 February 2025, and as a way of further contextualising his time in the department, he was invited to give a seminar to the HCI research group. Focusing on “Enhancing Older Adults’ Digital Competences through Social Games in an Online Community”, this was a great opportunity to receive further feedback about his thesis and the work he has been developing.

The visiting researcher from the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO) at DigiMedia, Vanessa Pinto, led the workshop “The new Digital World for Seniors – Aging and transformations in the search for information”, at the Socio Educational Building of Gafanha da Encarnação, as part of the Senior Program from the Municipality of Ílhavo.

The session took part on February 7, 2025, and challenged participants to explore the digital world and the way in which aging influences the search for information. The workshop provided a sharing and learning space for curious and eager seniors exploring the digital world.

This initiative is 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 photos: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15pjQysFJE/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The DigiMedia laboratory, UAInclusive, recently received a visit from Professor Beatriz Sanchéz Herráez, a researcher from the University of Salamanca specializing in the areas of disability, support and employment support for people with disabilities.
The main goal of the visit was to get to know the space and the projects developed within the scope of UAInclusive, with special emphasis on the research carried out by Francisca Rocha Lourenço, a PhD student in Multimedia in Education, and Filipe Silva, a PhD student in New Media. Francisca’s work focuses on understanding strategies and developing an innovative communication model to promote assistive technology centres, contributing to a more inclusive society. Filipe’s project aims to develop a virtual assistant using Artificial Intelligence to improve communication and support inclusion in higher education.
During the visit, opportunities for collaboration between the institutions were discussed, with a view to strengthening research in the area of inclusion and accessibility. The sharing of experiences and good practices between the University of Aveiro and the University of Salamanca reinforces the commitment of both institutions to promoting innovative solutions to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities.

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

Sofia Ribeiro, a DigiMedia PhD student, delivered a fifty-hour accredited training course for 3rd Cycle and Secondary school teachers, as part of her doctoral research. The course entitled “Dig2Phy: Capacitação digital docente através da criação de recursos educativos tangíveis” was promoted by the Centro de Formação da Associação de Escolas dos Concelhos de Aveiro e Albergaria-a-Velha (CFAECAAV), between the 9th October 2024 and the 15th January 2025. Teachers from schools in Aveiro, Murtosa e Oliveira Oliveira do Bairro attended the training.

The teacher training aimed to improve the digital competencies of teachers, namely training on how to plan, implement and share educational resources using the Dig2Phy platform (https://dig2phy.web.ua.pt/), multimedia copyright licenses, cybersecurity and the promotion of phygital pedagogical approaches in the teachers’ classrooms.

Sofia Ribeiro’s doctoral research is supervised by Professors Pedro Beça and Mónica Aresta (DigiMedia members), who also contributed to the preparation of this training course.

The Yo-Media project has developed a set of free educational tools to engage students and support teachers and educators.

Educators, teachers and students can now explore digital and board games designed to educate while promoting critical thinking and creativity. There are perfect for using in the classroom, in a fun model of learning through play.

For professionals, the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) offers development opportunities to improve teaching strategies.

These resources are an asset for the different players in the school community, including teachers, educators, pupils, parents’ associations and other organisations that promote activities with young people.

You can read the booklet for an overview of the project here.

Explore Data Defenders and take your first steps in media literacy. Play now.

Get in touch and transform the future of education. Find out more.

Yo-Media is a project that joins Aveiro Media Competence Centre (Portugal), the University of Aveiro (Portugal), the University of VIC – Central University of Catalonia (Spain) and the Catholic University of Sacro Cuore (Italy), in a consortium led by the Portuguese Press Association and financed by EMIF (European Media and Information Fund).

You can follow the project on LinkedIn, Instagram and use the #yomedia tag to keep up with us. Contact info@yomedia.a-mcc.eu for any questions.

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