It is one of the most robust packages ever to support scientific infrastructure and Research & Development projects in the North Region” and is mainly aimed at the University of Porto. Of the 61 million in EU funding – already approved or in the final stages of approval under the NORTE 2020 program – announced on Tuesday by the Regional Coordination and Development Commission of the North (CCDR-N), more than half – about 35 million euros – will go to scientific structures and research projects led by the University of Porto.
The three R&D units based in the Department of Chemical Engineering of FEUP (DEQ) participate in five and lead three of the approved projects, namely:
- Healthy Waters, project that aims to contribute to the improvement of water quality in the North region through a strategy that combines laboratory work with intervention and environmental education within the community and that results from a partnership between the Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Processes – Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials (LSRE-LCM), the Laboratory of Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy (LEPABE) and Transport Phenomena Research Center (CEFT) with the Centre for Educational Research and Intervention (CIIE/FPCEUP) of the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences (FPCEUP);
- S4Hort_Soil&Food, project which proposes to develop, test, validate and demonstrate new products and methods to remediate soils used for production that present high concentrations of metals/metalloids and salts. All this through collaboration between researchers from the Research Centre for Sustainable Agro-Food Production of FCUP (GreenUPorto), the Research Centre for Chemistry of the University of Porto (CIQUP), LEPABE and LSRE-LCM;
- HyGreen&LowEmissions, which will involve teams from CEFT, LEPABE, LSRE-LCM and from the Centre for Economics and Finance of the University of Porto (Cef.up) in the production and promotion of “green” hydrogen (a fuel with high potential for use in energy generation);
- 2SMART, designing “intelligent materials” with applications in branches as diverse as energy, the protection of air quality, but also the diagnosis and therapy of cancer is the aim of this project, which joins LEPABE, LSRE-LCM e CEFT with the Research Institute of Art, Design and Society;
- ClimActiC – CidadaniaPeloClima, which brings together CIIE/FPCEUP, the Physics Centre of the Universities of Minho and Porto, the Centre of Psychology of the University of Porto (CPUP) and LSRE-LCM in the creation of “bridges between Citizenship and Science for Climate Adaptation”.
The presentation session of the projects now approved under the NORTE 2020 programme was attended by the Minister for Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, the Minister for Science and Technology, Manuel Heitor, the President of CCDR-N, António Cunha, as well as representatives of the various institutions involved.
For the Rector of the U.Porto (on the left, in the photo), the affirmation of the North Region “can only be urgently achieved through sustained investment in Science and Innovation”. (Photo: CCDR-N)