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Raúl Fangueiro and Andrea Zille make up the new 2C2T management team

The swearing-in cerimony of the new management team of 2C2T – Centre for Textile Science and Technology of the School of Engineering of the University of Minho, took place on June 15th, with Professor Raúl Fangueiro as director and the researcher Andrea Zille as deputy director for the triennium 2021/2024.

The ceremony was attended by the remaining members of this new management team, namely Professors Miguel Ângelo Carvalho and André Catarino, as well as Dr. Isabel Cabral and Dr. Diana Ferreira. The session was also attended by the outgoing management team, several other members of 2C2T and the vice-president of the School of Engineering, Professor António Vicente.

In his speech, Raúl Fangueiro started by thanking all those present at the ceremony, and by stating that this was “an important moment, since I have been a researcher at this centre since the beginning of my academic career, and from today I will assume the function of guiding its destiny during the next few years. In fact, in the mandate that now starts, I will complete 30 years of contributions to the production of its history, which is already very long, and in some way is mixed up with the history of the University of Minho and its School of Engineering. Looking back, it is common knowledge that my path has been built based on uncertainty, on unpredictability, on this constant concern to contribute to the growth and to the affirmation of the University of Minho in general, and of the School of Engineering in particular, in each moment in a different way, thinking that it will obviously be the best one. However, in this journey there has always been and there will always be a common factor: the generation of technical-scientific knowledge that is welcomed within the Centre for Textile Science and Technology.  It is, therefore, with a spirit of mission and responsibility that I assume here today the task of leading the destiny of 2C2T for the next 3 years.”

For his part, the president of the School of Engineering began by referring the end of the mandate of Fernando Ferreira and Ana Maria Rocha, “whom I thank on behalf of the School of Engineering and whom I congratulate for the work that was done and for the results that 2C2T has presented over the past years”.

Pedro Arezes congratulated and welcomed Professor Raúl Fangueiro and researcher Andrea Zille and the rest of the team that will accompany them in this mandate, thanking them for making themselves available “for this task”. “I hope that in fact this is a moment of joy and that it lasts over time, at least until the next assumption of office”. He also referred the centrality that Research Centres in Portugal have gained in the new legal regiment, underlining the different roles that Centres and Departments occupy in the institutions and indicating that Professor Raúl Fangueiro is now more qualified to speak on this subject since he currently holds the position of director of a department and a research centre in the School of Engineering. In this context he also mentioned that research itself at EEUM has gained another centrality “which is very welcome for us, as teachers and researchers. This research also has an added importance because it is what supports our teaching projects”. The EEUM president also mentioned two challenges that EEUM is currently going through, namely the covid-19 pandemic, and the challenge of the recovery of the economy, which is also very much linked to the textile sector here. “I know that your work, looking at your portfolio of projects, goes far beyond the textile sector, but it has a great focus, and when I speak of the textile sector I also speak of related industries. And so we have a very important role in this industrial recovery.”

The president of the School of Engineering ended his speech by expressing the full availability of the School of Engineering to support the new management team in whatever is necessary for the success of 2C2T.