António M. Cunha, former president of the School of Engineering, was yesterday elected president of the Northern Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N). The sole candidate was voted by a college of the North region made up of the mayors and municipal assemblies, town councilors and municipal deputies, including presidents of parish councils. The inauguration should be announced shortly.

CCDR-N is a public institution that aims at the integrated and sustainable development of the North of Portugal, contributing to the competitiveness and cohesion of the national territory.

António M. Cunha, has a degree in Production Engineering and a PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering from UMinho, where he is a full professor in the Polymer Engineering Department and a researcher at the Polymer and Composites Institute. He was co-founder and administrator of PIEP – Polymer Engineering Innovation Pole (2001-09), president of the School of Engineering (2005-09), rector of UMinho (2009-17) and also president of CRUP – Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities (2014-17), of the Patronage of the Foundation of Universities of Northern Portugal/Galicia (2010-16) and of the International Institute Casa de Mateus (2010-16). He was also a member of the National Education Council (2010-14) and the Research Policy Working Group of the European University Association (2013-17).

He is currently chairman of the DTx – Collaborative Laboratory in Digital Transformation, of the Guimarães Economic Transition Crisis Office and administrator of the CEiiA – Engineering and Development Centre. He is also curator of A3ES – Agency for the Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education and is part of the boards of the MIT-Portugal Program, the Bosch-UMinho Partnership, INL, MACC – Minho Advanced Computing Center and the Atlantic International Satellite Launch Programme, as well as the advisory board of COTEC, which he chaired between 2015 and 2018. A member of the Academy of Engineering, he received the medal of scientific merit from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, the Grand Cross of the Order of Public Instruction, the Braga Gold Medal and the University of Santiago de Compostela Gold Insignia. He is an honorary citizen and the medal of honour of Guimarães.