28-02-2023
Maria Paula Diogo, professor at the Department of Social and Applied Sciences of NOVA School of Science and Technology, has joined the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Science and Technology, as a member.
The full professor of History of Technology and Engineering at FCT NOVA and member of CIUHCT-Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Technology (which she coordinated for 15 years), the only research unit dedicated dedicated to the History of Science and Technology in the country, was a pioneer in the teaching and and research in the History of Technology in Portugal, teaching this subject in undergraduate , master's and doctoral programmes at FCT NOVA. She has accumulated several distinctions throughout her career, among which we highlight the Leonardo da Vinci Medal in 2020 and the Kranzberg Memorial Lecture, the two most notable international distinctions awarded to a historian of technology, both attributed for the first time to a Portuguese.
"I accepted the invitation because participating in the design of scientific policies defined by the Foundation for Science and Technology is a extremely interesting challenge. I have been involved in scientific management activities for over three decades, in various instances, and it has always been an area that I have enjoyed. I believe my background in History of Science and Technology, which allows me to have a longue-durée view on research in Portugal and its interrelationships with the political economic and social dimensions may be useful in the debate and resolution of the most problems that currently affect teachers and researchers in academia", states the Professor.
Her research work focuses on the study of engineering and Portuguese engineers, particularly between the mid-nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, and more recently, on the concepts of techno-scientific diplomacy and the Anthropocene. She was co-founder of the open access journal HoST and of the Journal of Engineering Studies, being, in both cases, member of their Editorial Boards, as well as of the research groups STEP (Science and Technology in the European Periphery), ToE - Tensions of Europe/Technology in the Making of the 20th century Europe and INES (International Network on Engineering Studies). She is also member of several other research networks and international societies, having participated and still participating in their scientific management structures (e.g. SHOT (Society for the History of Technology). In this context, she has led several research projects on science, technology and empires, the training of Portuguese engineers and the construction of their national identity. She has organized numerous conferences and workshops in the area of History of Technology and regularly publishes in foreign journals specialized in this domain and ranked in major international indexes. She is also the author, co-author and co-editor of several national and international volumes from leading publishers.
The Foundation for Science and Technology moreover counts with Maria Ascensão Reis, professor of the Department of Chemistry, in its organization. The professor was recently nominated memberof the Scientific Council of Exact Sciences and Engineering. The Scientific Councils are an advisory body supporting the FCT Board of Directors, with an extremely significant role in terms of strategic advice and recommendations on the development, implementation and adequacy of support programs for science and technology.
