A adaptação e integração dos estudantes no Ensino Superior tem sido largamente abordada  pela investigação, nomeadamente no que diz respeito ao impacto do processo de adaptação  no sucesso e abandono escolar. A integração dos novos estudantes num novo contexto social  e académico pode constituir-se como um momento crítico nos processos de adaptação, sendo  que o período de chegada e os primeiros tempos de permanência na instituição são o momento-chave para intervir preventivamente. O acolhimento de novos estudantes é uma  prioridade do Iscte. As relações entre a integração nas relações sociais do ambiente académico (dentro e fora da  sala de aula), saúde mental e desempenho académico tornou-se particularmente evidente no  contexto mais recente do período COVID-19. Os efeitos do isolamento social e da  aprendizagem exclusivamente on-line são duradouros, sendo fundamental investir na  recuperação através do reforço das iniciativas de acolhimento. A aposta em estratégias de prevenção, com carácter universal, são uma forma eficaz de obtenção de resultados positivos  com os estudantes quer ao nível da sua saúde mental, quer no ajustamento à universidade.  

AI4PA Portugal's strategic objectives and action plan are clearly aligned with the main focus areas of the Digital Transition Action Plan:    Pillar I - Empowerment and digital inclusion of people    Pillar II - Digital transformation of the business fabric    Pillar III - Digitalisation of the State    The Centre's activity will pursue six strategic objectives, aligned with the Digital Transition Action Plan, namely: optimising public policies in the various areas of governance based on Artificial Intelligence and the promotion of innovative digital technological solutions; improving the interaction of public services with citizens and businesses; assessing the social impacts and ethical implications of technologies, including Artificial Intelligence; increasing the digital skills of public entities and the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that provide them with services; disseminating good practices and reusable solutions of national and international origin; and improving governance for the digital transition at the various levels of state intervention.    AI4PA Portugal aligns its intervention with the model established in the European network of Digital Innovation Hubs, targeting the priority services of the Digital Innovation Hubs described in the Digital Transition Action Plan,    1- Experimentation and testing of digital technologies in the phase prior to the investment decision; 2- Qualification and training in digital skills; 3- Support in finding funding for investment in digital technologies; 4- Acting as a facilitator bringing together different actors.  

Despite the Union’s effort to fight against online hate speech (OHS), several reports showed an increase in OHS during 2020-21. The current pandemic provided a context for increased scapegoating and stigmatization, and minority groups are disproportionally targets of hatred discourse. OHS is a persistent threat to the Union’s values and there is a need for more knowledge on its content, detection and countering, as highlighted in the current Call. Portugal, as other member states, has seen an escalation of hate speech against immigrants, racial/ethnic groups, and LGBTIQ communities. However, there is no systematized knowledge nor tools designed to detect, monitor and prevent OHS against these communities. Our project aims at addressing this need, offering a comprehensive, participatory and culturally sensitive approach to analyse, detect, and counter, direct and indirect OHS in Portuguese language. 

The ubiquity of mobile devices in societies is leading to the acknowledgement of the businesses regarding the critical importance of having a mobile solution to be near their targeted audience. However, in 2017, Google Play Store had 2.8 million mobile applications available, Apple App Store had 2.2 million and the Portuguese Aptoide currently has more than 1 million apps in its repositories, which leads to a massive competition among apps. In what concerns transaction volume, in 2016 a total of 149.3 billion apps were downloaded, number that is expected to double by 2020. However, many of these downloads consist of several tries to find the right app, many apps downloaded are never used and, in 77% of the cases, apps are never used again 72 hours after the installation. This shows a considerable misalignment between the apps offered by the app stores (distribution services) and the finding of the right app from the consumers according to their needs (discovery). Due to this misalignment and the massive competition among mobile apps, Gartner predicts that less than 0.01% of mobile developers will have commercial success by the end of 2018. Moreover, in our current digital era, 52% of the apps are discovered through word-of-mouth among friends or family, and only 40% are discovered using app store’s digital services. These inefficiencies make the distribution and discovery of apps a considerable and important challenge on an industry with massive penetration in societies that is still growing fast. To face this challenge, the AppRecommender project has the strategic goal of researching and developing technologies capable of offering the right app to the right user at the right time, optimizing thus the current app distribution and discovery services, and allowing companies to get closer to their target customers. To do so, the main technologies proposed are a fusion-based recommender system and a semantic search engine. With this strategic goal, the project aims to ...