Numbers were up this year with 40 CEGIST folk participating in the second annual CEGIST Away-day on 18 July. As in 2022, this took place in a beautiful setting off-campus. While last year’s event took place in the Morgado Lusitano venue, some 15 km East of Lisbon, this year researchers and staff got together in the historic Quinta de Ribafria in the countryside near Sintra. The Quinta was built from 1536 to 1541 by Gaspar Gonçalves, a ceremonial official of the Portuguese Royal Household, on land donated to him by King Manuel I in 1515. The property is now owned by the Sintra Municipal Corporation.
CEGIST Executive Board President Tânia Ramos led off the day by presenting a timeline of CEGIST activity and achievements over the previous year. This was followed by a team-building activity where six teams competed in a strenuous Peddipaper challenge that comprised a scavenger hunt featuring over twenty questions relating to the history of CEGIST and of Sintra that were spread over 3 km of the Quinta’s extensive grounds.
After the buffet lunch there was a plenary talk by Joana Lobo Antunes, IST Science Communication Officer, outlining how CEGIST had been evolving in terms of communicating the impact of its research and real-world problem-solving to the outside world. This was followed by a lively discussion about how the centre can build on this activity using open days and outreach as well as traditional and social media.
The centre-piece of the day was a Focused Thinking Session facilitated by the Executive Board that addressed the internal structure of the centre. Six breakout groups formed to discuss how best to structure CEGIST and its research and the group reports generated a range of future possibilities. All of these contributions will be collated by the Board and conclusions will be presented in future strategic proposals.
The afternoon finished off with a social session accompanied by drinks and finger-food.
Financed by Portuguese funds through the FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., under the projects UIDB/00097/2020 and UIDP/00097/2020