Dear CESAM Community,
We welcome you back after the summer break and at the start of a new academic year.
This is a short yet intense moment of renewed energy and preparation for a cycle that promises to be particularly demanding for the national scientific and technological system.
Just before the start of the August holidays, on 29 July, an unexpected announcement of new challenges was made. We are living through a period of profound transformation, marked by the announced extinction of the FCT, the creation of the Agency for Science and Innovation (AI2), the revision of the RJIES, and the preparation of a new Science Legislation, which is expected to be widely debated in the coming months. These ongoing processes will shape the future of research in Portugal, confronting us with major uncertainties but also with opportunities to strengthen the relevance and impact of the science we produce at CESAM: whether fundamental or applied, often designed to support public policies, always with an eye to the future.
CESAM, true to its mission of promoting transdisciplinary and integrative research of excellence and of transferring knowledge to society, will continue to affirm itself as a place of rigorous scientific production, of researcher training, and of active contribution to policies that value knowledge.
In this new year, we must reinforce internal cohesion, foster collaboration across scientific areas, and support our teams in securing new projects, partnerships, and international networks. Without prejudice to other initiatives that will soon be announced, among them a new editorial activity, I inform you that CESAM will compensate the projects that were approved with a 15% cut, thereby allowing them to proceed as originally budgeted.
We will also take advantage of the opportunity provided by the EQUIPAR+2 call (National Investment for the Strengthening of Scientific Equipment in Research Units) to strategically reinforce CESAM’s scientific infrastructure and to complete the adaptations initiated last year in our central laboratories. In this way, we will enhance our capacity to respond to the new and emerging challenges of science and society. Based on project ideas that have been put forward, we will likewise continue to strengthen the equipment base in certain areas, opening up new prospects for the fulfilment of our mission in all its dimensions.
More than ever, it is essential that we maintain the resilience, creativity and critical spirit that characterise us.
Recognising the importance of everyone, integrated members, technical, administrative and management staff, doctoral candidates, collaborators, and our External Advisory Committee, in fulfilling our mission, and as Director, supported by the Vice-Directors and always drawing on the participation and critical insight of the coordinators of our research lines and clusters, while never neglecting individual consultation, I reaffirm my trust in your commitment to facing this period of change together. Only in this way will CESAM continue to stand as a centre of excellence in research and a fundamental pillar of the scientific landscape.
Welcome back! May this be an inspiring, constructive and fruitful year for all.
Despite, or perhaps precisely because of, the challenges ahead, let us continue together: Caring for the Future.
Amadeu Soares,
Diretor of CESAM