Paulo Quaresma talked about internationalization and natural language processing
The Vice president for Research and Development, Innovation and Technology Transfer of the University of Évora (Portugal) and professor at the Department of Computer Science, Paulo Quaresma, came to PUCRS from Sep 11 – 13 and delivered lectures on the practices of internationalization in his institution as well as artificial intelligence and natural language processing projects.
As of today, the university has attracted students from 72 different nationalities, accounting for 14.5% of the total number of students. Most of them (62%) come from Portuguese-speaking countries, out of which 43% are from Brazil. At the doctoral level, international students account for as many as 40% of the total number (9% of the country). For the next scholastic year, more than 100 academic mobility agreements with Brazil, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, will be in effect. “One thing we would like to work on is the establishment of agreements for double degree programs and research projects. I would like to take this opportunity to pose this challenge”, claims he.
On the very first day, Dr Quaresma discussed the University of Évora’ strategic plan, to be in effect until 2020, and which is segmented into three areas — knowledge production, socialization of knowledge and knowledge transfer — in four different orientations — the establishment of key areas, internationalization, sustainability and the educational model. During the event, he went on to talk about the orientation that is intended to strengthen internationalization actions, with special attention to the impact this strategy has on teaching and research in IT, as well as on technology transfer.
His second lecture addressed natural language processing as he presented projects he developed in partnership with companies. One of such projects, which took off early this year, is intended for the preparation of a technological infrastructure to support the development of computer resources and tools for the Portuguese language. The event was offered in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the School of Computer Science.
From problems to solutions
Check out Dr Quaresma’s interview of the strategic plan of the University of Évora to encourage internationalization. He also told us about the experience he had with partner companies and the need for a cross-sectional approach, going from “problems to solutions”. One of the projects developed resulted in a spin-off in the area of precision agriculture seeking to design methods for analysis of satellite images and for warning messages to be sent to farmers concerning potential problems related to water shortage or other risks for plant development.
What policies and actions has the University of Évora set up and enforced to encourage internationalization, for the benefit of student mobility and consolidation of joint research?
In 2015, the University of Évora approved a strategic plan which has identified internationalization as one of its main four orientations. The mission of UEvora is as follows: 1) knowledge production by means of scientific and artistic investigation, experimentation and technological and humanistic development; 2) socialization of knowledge, by means of academic training, either in the form of formal programs or continued training; and 3) knowledge transfer for society. In order to accomplish these goals, four orientations have been selected: the establishment of key areas, internationalization, sustainability and the university’s educational model. Therefore, these goals related to internationalization can be achieved from the actions resulting from the strategic plan assumed by the entire university: promote internationalization of teaching and research and prepare students for international careers. The actions established to reach these goals are essentially as follows: a) the increase in the number of agreements with international institutions and in and out mobility programs for students and professors; b) double degree programs; and c) joint research projects and knowledge transfer.
Can you tell us a project involving technology transfer and another impacting teaching?
A very interesting project in teaching is the partnership we have with the Universidade de São Tomé e Príncipe. This collaboration made it possible to deliver conditions for Master’s and Doctoral level programs in S. Tomé once we were granted government authorizations from both countries. Now we have almost 200 graduate students in an “airbridge” between Évora and S. Tomé e Príncipe. It has been a very positive experience! When it comes to technology transfer, it is important to mention University of Évora’ spin-off in the area of precision agriculture: Agroinsider. Resulting from research carried out the University, this company has developed methodologies to analyze satellite images and send farmers warning messages of potential problems associated with the shortage of water and others associated with plant development. Precision agriculture plays a crucial role at a time in which the use of natural resources is of utmost importance. The company was one of the centers of attention at one of the most technological events in Europe, the Web Summit. Actually, I would say that these methodologies can be applied in Brazil, a country that relies on large farming areas and needs to optimize the use of natural resources.
Are there any new projects jointly developed with natural language processing and artificial intelligence companies? Is there a chance for any products or services in these areas to be licensed?
We have many ongoing projects with companies. One of such projects relates to the development of a system to analyze information shown by the media (television, radio, newspapers) and social networks (Facebook and Twitter) and automatically spot likely offenses. The project is being developed by a consortium headed by a technology company from Portugal and includes universities and natural language processing research centers, for written and spoken language. This project will certainly originate new licensed products. There is also another initiative of great magnitude that began in July and is intended to develop an infrastructure for computer resources for the Portuguese language. This project is funded by the program Portugal 2020 and is intended to embrace and publish studies carried out by research groups in computer processing of the Portuguese language, including those groups from Brazil. Several Brazilian research groups and institutions, including PUCRS, have designed protocols and shown interest in it.
These investigations will probably require the expertise of a group of researchers and students from several areas and specialties. How do they integrate?
Sure enough, we have felt the ever-growing need for a cross-sectional approach to deal with the problems we are faced. In this sense, we are opening a new research center at University of Évora, which employs a cross-sectional method to go “from problems to solutions”. This center features researchers from distinct areas, such as Design, Architecture, Engineering, Linguistics, Psychology, Sociology, Business Management and Philosophy! Both the researchers involved and the companies and entities we work with have been very open to it and we have new challenges “at hand”. We think this is the right path to tread as it is in line with the major international trends, and we expect a lot from this center in the near future!
