Paulo Sampaio, Associate Professor at the School of Engineering’s Production and Systems Department and researcher at the ALGORITMI Centre, was elected president of the Portuguese Association for Quality (APQ) last week.
A lecturer and researcher in the areas of Quality and Organisational Excellence, Paulo Sampaio, who has received several awards, including the distinction by the American Society for Quality with the category of Senior Member, recognition as one of the “40 New World Voices of Quality”, and the Feigenbaum Medal, awarded by the same association, will take on the role for the 2024-2026 triennium. The UMinho professor presented the candidacy “An APQ of All and for All”, which aims to bring the association’s members closer together and increase their value. The professor believes that the APQ “plays a fundamental role in promoting quality in Portuguese society and the economy” and that it must therefore “continue on its path of individual and collective mobilisation, which is inclusive and differentiates it from its members and the surrounding society”.
“This election means the realisation of a project that I had been putting off for some time. After some reflection, I felt it was the right time in my career to take this step. I had already been vice-chairman of the APQ Board between 2010 and 2015, and returned in 2021 for the term that has now ended. The APQ plays a very important role in promoting quality, not only among companies, public organisations and universities, but also among civil society. That’s what I’m committed to in the mandate I was elected to. The APQ, in its own space, must contribute to helping Portugal continue to grow and evolve through the creation of value,” he said.
The EEUM professor has already set challenges for the term ahead, namely the transformation that the APQ itself will have to make in order to be able to prepare its future in the face of a changing world. “We want to build an APQ for the future, a future that goes far beyond the next fifty years,” explained Paulo Sampaio, who assumed that his Board of Directors will be aligned with principles guided by respect for everyone in the structure, ethics in the work to be carried out, the sharing of knowledge and the value created for members.
APQ is a non-profit organisation founded in 1969 and recognised as a Public Utility Institution in 1984. Its purpose is to promote and disseminate theoretical and practical knowledge in the field of Quality and Excellence in Portugal. It carries out its activities individually or in partnership with other entities, seeking to present innovative and mobilising solutions, creating value for its Members and contributing to the sustained development of Portuguese society. Headquartered in Lisbon, the APQ has regional offices in Porto and Faro, and in the Azores and Madeira archipelagos, and currently has around 1,000 members, including individuals and organisations.
