News
Sofia Almeida, a PhD student in New Media and researcher at DigiMedia and at Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), presented her latest study at the 18th Global Brand Conference (GBC), which took place at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa – Porto, from 7th to 9th May 2025.
Sofia presented the paper “Designers’ Perspectives of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Visual Identities and Contemporary Branding”, which pioneers how design professionals are integrating Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) into the creation of visual brand identities. The research discusses the impacts of this technology on creative processes, co-creation practices and brand personalization, contributing to emerging debates on the future of design practice in AI-mediated contexts. This work is part of Sofia’s PhD project, supervised by Catarina Lélis (DeCA) and Diogo Gomes (DETI, IT).
GBC is recognized as one of the world’s leading meetings of the scientific community dedicated to branding, bringing together experts, academics and internationally renowned researchers. The acceptance of this study at a prestigious international event such as GBC represents an important academic and scientific recognition of the current status and relevance of the research developed within DigiMedia and IT.
Project n. 4 – Explorar o oceano com a CoBI / Explore the Ocean with CoBI
This project is coordinated by Beatriz Vieite, a DigiMedia PhD student, with the participation of Cláudia Jamal (Degree in Multimedia and Communication Technologies) and Sara Martins (PhD student in Multimedia in Education). They are developing educational digital games about marine biodiversity, using the Scratch platform. At the same time, illustrations of marine organisms and scenarios are being created to be applied in these games.
What do they expect from participating in the initiative?
“To promote synergies between the Biology and CTC areas, give visibility to the Biological Collection to support Research (CoBI) and, of course, work towards increasing scientific culture in the area of Marine Biology” (Beatriz Vieite).
More information about students@DigiMedia here.
More information about this edition here.
The Unboxing_AI: an introduction workshop took place on May 21, in an online format and was attended by faculty members, researchers, PhD students, and other DigiMedia collaborators.
Joaquim Santos, an invited Assistant Professor in the Communication and Art Department, and researcher at DigiMedia, led the workshop, which main goal was to provide an accessible yet informed introduction to Large Language Models (LLMs), covering their evolution up to the Transformer architecture and the Generative Pre-Trained (GPT) models. The workshop explored codeless prompting techniques and the use of LLMs in academic research, including their limitations, risks, and the current regulatory framework.
The discussion also included the use and deployment of local LLMs versus cloud-based LLMs, weighing their advantages and disadvantages. A set of useful resources was presented to facilitate more effective interaction with AI systems.
In the hands-on session was an opportunity for participants to build knowledge using Open WebUI, integrate it into a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system, and create a functional chatbot based on that knowledge.
This PhD is for those who want to go further and develop innovative digital solutions in Education, entertainment, healthcare, by exploring how technology and media are transforming society.
Students will dive into the challenges and opportunities of these areas with an interdisciplinary
approach and work with the latest methods and technologies in digital media and
communication.
Applications are open until June 6, 2025.
More information here.
On May 16, DigiMedia researcher Mónica Aresta presented the talk “Resourcefulness, Art and Digital Literacy: Anticipating the Future with Intention” at the Jornadas de Ciência de Arouca, at the invitation of the “Círculo Cultura e Democracia” and the Municipality of Arouca.
Drawing on Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”, the talk emphasized how modern technologies, often seen as neutral tools, silently shape our behaviors, relationships, and choices. The audience was encouraged to critically reflect on the role of technology in their everyday lives and to take a more intentional approach to their digital future.
Rather than advocating rejection of technology, the talk stressed the importance of becoming conscious, creative users. Mónica shared examples from her research, including educational projects in which students design video games with environmental themes. She emphasized that digital literacy is an essential tool for maintaining human agency in an increasingly algorithm-mediated world.
María Luz Castro Pena, the coordinator of the Master’s Degree in Design, Development, and Marketing of Video Games at the University of A Coruña, visited the University of Aveiro to explore potential collaborations in the field of Digital Game Development. This initiative aimed to foster faculty and student exchanges, share best practices, and strengthen academic ties between the two institutions.
This was part of a Mobility program of ERASMUS +, organized by the DigiMedia researcher Liliana Vale Costa. This visit was an opportunity to reflect on teaching and learning practices to enhance the subject curricula on Digital Games and Consolidation of partnerships between departments of both Universities to prepare future publications and projects on digital games.
The DigiMedia researcher Hélder Caixinha presented the video “I Want to Play the piano”, in the CHI Conference (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), that took place in Yokohama – Japan, on April 25.
The video was based on the Doctoral Thesis of the DigiMedia researcher Davys Moreno, “Inclusion of children with cerebral palsy in arts education programmes: from research to action”.
You can watch the video here.
You can read the thesis here.
More information here.
Catarina Lélis has just completed her mobility program at KU Leuven, in Belgium, where she had the opportunity to strenghten the existing network. The DigiMedia researcher gave a lesson on visual strategies for UI/UX, a taster on the Impact Plan and led a workshop on dynamic Visual Identities.
In addition, Catarina Lélis participated in a workshop organized by Mintlab, a research unit of the Faculty of Social Sciences, with whom DigiMedia share several research interests.
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.
Francisco Regalado, a PhD student at DigiMedia, was recognized with the Cooperation Award at the UA Awards Ceremony, in the Scientific Specialization Area of Health, Biotechnology and Food, which took place at the Renato Araújo Auditorium – Central Building and Rectory of the University of Aveiro, on April 16, 2025.
Francisco, a PhD student in the Doctoral Program in Information and Communication in Digital Platforms at the University of Aveiro (UA), competed for the award with his research entitled “Jogos Sociais Digitais na Comunidade Online miOne: O Impacto nas Competências Digitais do Cidadão Sénior“ [“Social Digital Games in the miOne Online Community: The Impact on Older Adults’ Digital Competences”].
In particular, this project condenses the work he has been developing over the last almost 4 years, under the scientific supervision of Professor Ana Isabel Veloso (UA), and the co-supervision of Professor Carlos Santos (UA) and Professor Paul Cairns (University of York).
This research is guided by the National Innovation Agency’s National Strategy for Intelligent Specialization 2030, in particular with the transformative activity “Digital health solutions for chronic diseases and active and healthy ageing”, focused on creating innovative and creative solutions for active and healthy ageing, in terms of inclusion and effective quality of life. Therefore, it reinforces the commitment to developing new digital solutions for an increasingly ageing population.
This recognition highlights the scientific quality, innovation, and societal relevance of Francisco’s work, which bridges the fields of health and digital communication technologies.
FCT announced the provisional results of the evaluation of the Multiannual Program for Financing R&D Units (UID) for 2025-2029, on April 15, 2025. DigiMedia was classified as Very Good by the Computer Sciences and Information Technologies Panel.
This result was possible thanks to the effort and dedication of the entire team, demonstrating the quality of the work and research carried out in the area of Digital Media and Interaction.
The DigiMedia PhD student, Cátia Silva, carried out the first pilot tests of the APP “AlmeidAR”, developed within the scope of her doctoral project “Digital Communication of Participatory Activities in the Context of Cultural Tourism”.
The App, aimed at a young audience, aims to promote a fun cultural visit to Vila de Almeida, including the history of the village and various activities, such as a Quiz, a Treasure Hunt, recipes and selfies in themed frames, among others.
These tests were developed in Almeida, on April 23, with students from the Dr. José Casimiro Matias Basic and Secondary School, with the collaboration of the Almeida School Group, and in partnership with the Digital Ambassador of the Training Center of the Guarda School Association, Hélder Martinho, and representatives of the ICT Competence Centers of Aveiro and Viseu, Maria José Loureiro and António Lucas.
This App was developed by Cátia Silva, within the scope of the Doctoral Program in Multimedia in Education, supervised by Professor Nelson Zagalo and Professor Mário Vairinhos. The APP has also the collaboration of a student of the Masters in Design, Inês Barbosa, supervised by professor Gonçalo Gomes.
