Dear Alumni, Students and Members of the School of Engineering:

On occasion of its 35th Anniversary the School of Engineering of the University of Minho decided to publish abstracts and full papers related to the themes of on-going PhD thesis. With this initiative, it is intended to acknowledge the whole university and scientific community about the themes that are involved and covered by the present research at our School.

Every PhD student enrolled in the 2nd and subsequent years of the PhD programmes in 2009/2010 were challenged to prepare an extended abstract. The directors of the Research Centres of I&D made a selection of the PhD studies in an advanced stage to publish a full paper related to the theme of the School Week 2010 “Engineering for the Quality of Life”, which encompasses three sub-themes: i) Mobility and Energy; ii) Health, Leisure and Environment; iii) The City. The PhDs who did not fit in any of these sub-themes were categorized under “Other”, so that all ongoing projects can be reported.

The annual selection of a specific theme aims to: encourage emerging areas, reward areas with outstanding works and results and identify priority areas. Each school year, prizes are awarded for the Best Lecture (selected from the full papers published), for the Best Poster (selected from the extended abstract published), for the Best PhD Thesis and for the Best MSc Dissertation.

The School of Engineering of the University of Minho has a universe of nearly 5100 students among whom 511 belong to the 3rd cycle of studies and nearly 800 are preparing their MSc Dissertation. In 2009/2010 the School graduated 400 students from the 1st and 2nd cycles of studies and Integrated Masters, and awarded 70 PhDs.

The interaction with society, namely through PhD thesis and MSc dissertations developed in collaboration with external public-private institutions as well as the development of semi-annual curricular projects in companies is intense and continues to expand as evidenced by the number of external institutions and partners in large scale projects submitted to QREN, FCT and European Community Programmes in general. Such interaction is also reflected in the numerous protocols and agreements with institutions and companies which regulate research services and technology and knowledge transfers.

The School of Engineering of the University of Minho believes and continues to dedicate and strength its leading role in supporting the industry and national services, but also in passing on the legacy transmitted to its Graduates, MScs and PhDs, in order to promote sustainable development for the benefit and improvement of the life quality of society in general.

Academic Greetings

Paulo Pereira

Dean