012023–2025
Funding expenditure
+60%+€434k absolute change
Re-election for Director of ISTAR 2026–2029
Catarina
Ferreira da Silva.
Audacity in pursuit of excellence and impact
Catarina is standing for a second term to strengthen interdisciplinary research, support the people behind it and extend ISTAR-Iscte’s scientific and societal impact.
Director electionMonday, 16 November 2026 · 10:00
Election details01 / The first term 2023–2026
ISTAR’s first-term results
During Catarina’s first term, ISTAR-Iscte expanded its research activity and grew its community. Each indicator shows its own comparison period.
022023–2025
Active projects and service contracts
+57.1%+16 absolute change
032023–2025
Funding applications submitted
+58.8%+10 absolute change
042023–2026
Total ISTAR members
+60.9%+81 absolute change
052023–2026
Integrated members
+28.3%+13 absolute change
062023–2026
Full-time researchers
3 → 5+2 absolute change
Rating retained, with 4 out of 5 in each of the three assessment criteria.
Secured in 2025 for infrastructure equipment, including laboratory equipment and a high-performance computing server.
Contribution margin at the close of the financial year, including overheads.
Management tools in development
The programme records a new institutional website in testing and a tool in development to give researchers access to their own fund balances and transaction history.
Source · Strategic Development Programme, section 1 (English PDF)
02 / Strategic direction
The ISTAR we want to build
Mission §02
Research centred on people
Bring fundamental, applied and interdisciplinary research together to design, develop and evaluate digital systems and technologies. Advance knowledge and responsible innovation through theoretical, methodological and experimental work.
- Computer Science
- Information Technology
- Artificial Intelligence
- Computational Mathematics
- Digital Architecture and Urbanism
Vision §03
An international reference for interdisciplinary research by 2036
Attract, develop and retain talent in a collaborative, inclusive and sustainable research unit. Lead strategic partnerships and turn scientific knowledge into lasting benefits for people, organisations and society.
§04 Values
How we work together
- 01
Excellence, integrity and scientific quality
Rigorous, original research with high standards for ethics and academic freedom.
- 02
Interdisciplinarity, collaboration and scientific community
Bring disciplines, groups and international networks together around complex problems.
- 03
Respect, equity, inclusion and valuing people
Promote equal opportunities, recognise merit and support professional development.
- 04
Audacity, creativity and scientific innovation
Make room for experimentation, exploratory research and new scientific agendas.
- 05
Responsibility, impact and sustainability
Use resources well and support research that benefits people, organisations and public policy.
- 06
Openness, knowledge sharing and advanced training
Advance open science and lifelong learning across the research community.
03 / The programme in action 2027–2029
Six strategic objectives
Open each objective to see its proposed targets and how the team plans to deliver them.
SO1Scientific excellence and internationalisation
18competitive international applications
Raise the quality and international reach of our research and prepare for the next FCT/AI² evaluation.
- Increase annual average Q1 publications per full-time equivalent researcher by 10%.
- Increase active interdisciplinary projects by 30% against the 2024 baseline.
- Coordinate at least six of the 18 applications and aim to secure funding for at least three projects.
- Hold two external reviews and implement 80% of priority, feasible recommendations.
SO2Valuing people, talent and scientific culture
100%of new early-career members offered induction and mentoring
Build a research culture that supports careers, recognises contributions and gives members a voice.
- Retain and support five full-time researchers and pursue funding for early-career researchers and doctoral students.
- Publish annual plans and reports with input from the Scientific Committee and Scientific Council.
- Aim for 80% overall satisfaction by 2029, with at least 60% participation in annual surveys.
SO3Scientific, technological and societal impact
≥6new projects with external partners
Work with external partners to put research into practice and document the benefits.
- Validate six research outcomes in real-world settings and promote the external adoption of at least three.
- Support two research-based start-ups or spin-offs with Iscte_CI and AUDAX.
- Document three contributions to public policy and run regular science communication activities.
SO4Institutional sustainability and operational capacity
+20%average annual revenue from commissioned research, innovation and scientific services
Diversify revenue and improve the tools, laboratories and services that support research.
- Prepare laboratory use and maintenance plans by 2028 and develop an equipment-loan tool.
- Provide structured support for all funding applications submitted in good time and for funded projects.
- Implement at least two digital tools for scientific and administrative management by 2029.
SO5Scientific audacity
3internal ISTAR seed funding calls
Create space for original, exploratory research that can grow into larger collaborations.
- Work with SocioDigital Lab on three exploratory calls, aiming to fund at least two projects.
- Support at least three applications to frontier research programmes and develop three exploratory initiatives with external researchers or organisations.
- Hold at least two broad discussions with ISTAR members to update the unit’s strategic research themes.
SO6Advanced training and the next generation of researchers
+15%annual average of completed PhD theses
Connect doctoral training with research and develop new opportunities for supervision, mentoring and professional learning.
- Seek at least two doctoral cooperation agreements with polytechnic universities and submit at least eight PhD scholarship applications.
- Monitor the progress of all doctoral students annually and organise two PhD meetings a year.
- Organise six international lectures or seminars and three seasonal schools, workshops or similar initiatives.
Percentage targets generally use the 2024–2026 annual average as a baseline. Interdisciplinary projects use 2024. Baselines will be validated at the start of the term.
Implementation and monitoring
- 2027
Launch
Set the baseline, start mentoring, plan laboratory use and launch the first seed funding call.
- 2028
Implementation
Expand mentoring, test management tools and negotiate doctoral partnerships.
- 2029
Consolidation
Assess targets and publish the scientific and financial review to support preparation for the FCT/AI² evaluation.
04 / Governance
The proposed team
The programme sets out how the leadership team and Scientific Board will coordinate with the research groups and the wider ISTAR community.
Director of ISTAR
Catarina Ferreira da Silva
Institutional coordination and external representation
Deputy directors and operational roles
Miguel Sales Dias
Deputy Director · Internationalisation and Fundraising
Valderi Leithardt
Deputy Director · People Development
Luísa Domingues
Management Tools and Information Transparency
António Raimundo
Servers and Equipment Loans
Scientific Board
Sérgio Moro
Information Systems
Manuel Alberto Ferreira
Systems Computational Modeling
Stefania Stellacci
Digital Living Spaces
Carlos Coutinho
Resilient and Secure AI-based Systems
05 / 2026 Director election
Support Catarina for Director of ISTAR
Support a second term for Catarina to build on the first term’s results and deliver the programme with the ISTAR community.