Paulo Novais, full professor of the Department of Informatics, took office as the new director of the department, on June 23rd, with António Sousa, as deputy director.
In addition to the President of the School of Engineering, Professor António Vicente, the Vice-Presidents, Professor Hélder Puga and Daniel Oliveira, were present at the ceremony. This ceremony was also attended by dozens of members of the department, the director and other members of the Department of Information Systems, elements of other subunits of the EEUM and other UOEI, as well as Alumni, retired professors and several partners of the department that this year celebrates its fiftieth anniversary.
In his speech, Paulo Novais began by thanking the presence of all the guests, in particular those who contributed the most to the legacy of the Department of Informatics, namely, the former Rector and professor Sérgio Machado dos Santos, Professor Maia Neves, José Machado, Pedro Henriques, Luís Soares Barbosa and Jorge Sousa Pinto (outgoing direction).
Continuing his speech, entitled “A legacy that projects the future”, the new director said that this legacy translates into a “reputation built with rigor, demand and seriousness, our most valuable asset”, adding that “a legacy is not inherited passively. It is projected. And that’s exactly what we’ll try to do.”
In projecting the future of the department, Paulo Novais said that he will maintain the legacy based on four pillars: “Rigor that defines us. A method that sustains us. Intelligence that differentiates us. Ambition that takes us further.”, which will be the basis of the new training offer that includes four master’s degrees – Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Advanced Computing and Computer Networks -, and the degree in Artificial Intelligence.
In addition to the training offer, the speech focused on the need for greater investment in people “the living legacy of DI and its greatest strength for the future”, and in the facilities, and the ecosystem “the department asserts itself by what it does, by who it trains and by the impact it generates. And it is this impact that we want to go further.”
The challenges (external, internal, training offer, conjunctural) were also succinctly listed and the intentions of the new department management to face them were pointed out.
Paulo Novais ended his speech on a personal note: “(…) Anyone who knows me knows that I am a man of values. And it is because I believe in values, loyalty, responsibility, the word given, that I understand memory not as nostalgia, but as commitment. A commitment to what we were and, above all, to what we can still be. And that’s how I would like this department to work. Not carrying the weight of what went less well (which is natural to happen) but building, every day, experiences and memories that are worth remembering. Count on this new DI Board. Because the legacy is not preserved. It is projected.”
In turn, the President of the School of Engineering, thanked the commitment and service provided by the outgoing board, and wished the new board many successes, assuming the commitment to support the department, as far as is within the reach of the EEUM, to fulfill the designs of the DI.
