Maria Gabriela Jordão Oliveira, a final-year student on the Master’s in Physical Engineering, is the winner of the 2025 Alcino Lavrador Award, which recognises the best final-year student on any Master’s programme taught by the School of Engineering at the University of Minho. This is an annual award with a cash prize of €2,500 (two thousand five hundred euros).
The Alcino Lavrador Award was launched in November 2024 as an initiative to honour the best Master’s and Bachelor’s students in the fields of Information, Communication and Electronic Technologies (TICE) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) from universities and polytechnics that are partners of Altice Labs.
The award pays tribute to the legacy of Alcino Lavrador, former director-general of Altice Labs, a figure noted for his leadership and dedication to innovation. This recognition reflects Altice Portugal’s commitment to valuing academic excellence and emerging talent, fostering the connection between academia and industry.
In Maria Gabriela’s words, “seeing my commitment and hard work recognised through the Alcino Lavrador award is an honour, and I am obviously very grateful to have received it. Having developed a career in the field of computing, it is a privilege to receive an award that recognises the best students in Information, Communication and Electronic Technologies (TICE) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in 2025, the international year of quantum science and technology proclaimed by the United Nations. Incentives and recognition such as this are not only of particular importance for academic and personal development, but also crucial for improving the country’s technologies, as they encourage their development.
Maria Gabriela scored 20 points in her master’s thesis and is currently pursuing her doctorate in Denmark. She was also one of the winners of the UMinho Prize for Initiation into Scientific Research in 2021, and one of her articles was published in the renowned journal Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence.
The award ceremony will be scheduled and announced shortly.
The School of Engineering congratulates Maria Gabriela on receiving the Alcino Lavrador Award and on her entire academic career, wishing her continued success in all her academic and professional endeavours!
