LASIGE had its Welcome Day annual event today, October 07, 2026. The event was organized by LASIGE’s PhD Student commission and aimed at being a warming and informative welcome reception to our new members.
Tiago Guerreiro, LASIGE Director, began with a some welcoming words and then provided an overview of the constitution, organization and scientific and social events held at the centre. Guerreiro also highlighted the obligations and duties of LASIGE members, as well as the benefits they enjoy.
Rúben Gouveia, LASIGE Executive Commission Member, presented the PhD Individual Development Plan Initiative, explaining the rationale, motivation and potential benefits for PhD students and their supervisors.
The keynote speaker Isabel Neto, LASIGE integrated member, spoke about her 20 years’ experience in the industry and what she had learnt since turning her attention to work in academia.
Then it was time for the group photo, the coffee break and the poster session, followed by a brief presentation by the PhD student committee and a call for new members to join this team, dedicated to hard work and fun.
Tommaso Tragno, Frederico Cerqueira, Filipa Rocha and Joel Samper gave their lightning talks about their work and then, in a round-table discussion, discussed their experiences, some with a greater social impact, others with a greater focus on innovation, whether international or as international students.
There was still time to distribute the certificates of participation and awards for the five best projects, according to the assessment panel comprising Hugo Figueiras, Manuel Fonseca, Mattia Petrolo, and Rúben Gouveia, in the LASIGE Summer of Research 2026:
- “A Recommender System for Biological Control Agents in Agriculture”, Daniel Carvalho and Márcia Barros;
- “Knowledge-Augmented Reasoning Under Conflict”, Aarthi Perumpillichira, Laura Balbi, and Cátia Pesquita;
- “HELM: Dynamic Semantic Routing for Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Systems”, Vlad Digori, Luís Pinto, and João Pedro Carvalho;
- “My AI Mirror – Designing Self-Awareness Tools for Youth AI Interactions”, Beatriz Guerreiro, Rúben Gouveia, and Tiago Guerreiro;
- “A Playground for FreeST”, Tiago Vicente and Bernardo Almeida.
On the way to dinner, a much-appreciated team-building activity took place: a themed ‘peddy-paper’ game, which put the participants in good spirits that brought to this event a cheerful close.
