CERENA members, staff, and PhD students gathered for a 3-day annual meeting in Foz do Arelho. The program was designed to bring everyone together, meet in person after a long time, and discuss strategies to improve as a research center and become more competitive scientifically and internationally. It was also a very important moment to create connections that go beyond the usual emails and zoom meetings. Hard work was alternated with moments of conviviality, relaxation, and games – which are fundamental in strengthening social bonds in any community.
On the first day, all participants met at INATEL in Foz do Arelho for dinner—4 people representing the CERENA-FEUP group and around fifty coming from Lisbon, including 4 members from ISEL. The evening was cheerful, with a team game organized by the PhD students called Un-sustainable Trivia, a provocation to reflect on the true meaning of the word "Sustainability," which is sometimes overused today. The winners received flower seeds, which will bring color to their windowsills and happiness to pollinating insects.
The second day was full-on. The entire morning was dedicated to discussing the strategic plan for the next 5 years, in an interactive meeting format where everyone’s contributions and opinions were valuable. Thanks to this participatory assembly, both weaknesses and strengths of the center emerged. Again, the interaction and willingness to collaborate from all attendees — PhD students, professors, and staff—was remarkable. The base document for this conversation was the 2018-2023 period evaluation by FCT, which last month rated CERENA as Very Good. Among the various topics discussed were how to improve internal communication and how to achieve impactful scientific results with the resources we have. Many constructive criticisms were raised, showing a strong desire from everyone to contribute to the decision-making processes of the center and improve together as a team.
After lunch, Mariana Santa-Marta, head of the Pre-Award office, presented the importance of this office in attracting national and international funding. Specifically, she focused on the Horizon Europe program and the application procedures, and on the benefits of having a functional Pre-Award office supporting researchers – especially at their early career.
Next came the team-building activities. The first activity, designed to improve mutual listening and collaboration, was a Portuguese bombos orchestra. Divided by instruments—some with the “tarola”, others with the bombos—the facilitators created a real CERENA orchestra, teaching and rehearsing some typical Portuguese rhythms. After rehearsals, the CERENA orchestra put on a show. The second activity, building a marshmallow-spaghetti tower with limited resources, further strengthened team spirit and design thinking – and some healthy competitiveness.
After dinner, participants listened to Marta Candeias (Head of Research & Innovation Funding Support of IST-ID), who, in an informal and engaging way, spoke about European funding opportunities and how to attract international funds in innovation and research.
On the final day of this fourth annual meeting, two activities took place in the morning. PhD students met with Abeer Mohtar, a member of the executive committee responsible for doctoral students, to express doubts, issues, and specific requests regarding their condition. This activity is extremely important to identify and improve communication between PhD students and researchers, staff, and the executive committee.
The last activity, led by Francesco Turco from the communication office, was a hands-on session where small mixed groups of researchers, students, and professors created short, slogan-type messages for the non-scientific community , explaining what CERENA is in a nutshell. The union of minds with often different expertise resulted in alternative and very original slogans that reflect the many true facets of our multidisciplinary center.
The meeting came to a close with an overall very positive balance. These days served as a catalyst for collaboration, bonding and reflection. CERENA is ready to move forward doing its best with a renewed sense of community.
