Conversas Sábias com Elvira Fortunato e Rodrigo Martins

The Challenges for a Better World with Responsibility

This presentation aims to discuss the challenges we have to improve a world that brings comfort and welfare to people, identifying the wholes we have today and what science may do to promote equity and avoid the erosion the planet is facing today. In this respect, we will have to fix what the world looks like today, once we do not live on an isolated island! What we do will impact globally and vice versa is also true. So, the discussion is focused not on science and technology per si, but on how we can bring together synergies to make things happen fast and with a strong impact in making the development ground on sciene.

Elvira Fortunato has a degree in Physics and Materials Engineering (1987, NOVA FCT) and a PhD in Materials Engineering (1995, NOVA FCT). She is Professor at the Materials Science Department and between 2017 and 2022 she was Vice-Rector of NOVA, where she has coordinated the research area. She was Director of the Associated Laboratory of the Institute of Nanomaterials, Nanofabrication and Nanomodelling (i3N) betwee 1998 and 2022. From 2015 to 2020 she was selected to be part of the first Group of Chief Scientific Advisors in the European Commission, the Scientific Advice Mechanism. In 2022, she was part of the group of 27 inspiring European Women, elected by the current French Presidency of the European Union. She is an elected member of the Engineering Academy, the European Science Academy, the Lisbon Science Academy, and the Europaea Academy. She has been on the Luso-American Foundation for Development Board of Trustees since 2014 to 2022. In 2022, she become Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education from the Portuguese Government until March 2024.
She is a pioneer in European research on transparent electronics using sustainable materials and environmentally friendly technologies. In 2008, at the 1st edition of the European Research Council ERC grants, she was awarded an Advanced Grant for the project INVISIBLE, considered in 2011 by the European Commission a success story. This year 2024, INVISIBLE project was again selected by ERC and considered as a scientific breakthrough during the ex-post per-review evaluation done by ERC (to be published before summer).
Following her target on sustainable electronics, she showed with her group the possibility of manufacturing the first paper transistor, starting a new field in the area of paper electronics. In 2018 she was awarded a second Advanced Grant for the project DIGISMART. Following on from the exploratory results of the DIGISMART, she obtained a Proof of Concept with the e-GREEN project: From forests to Green Electronics, focusing on exploring environmentally friendly and low-cost materials and technology exploration.
With over 900 scientific papers published (some highly cited from Web of Science), in the last few years she has been awarded national and international prizes and distinctions for her work.
She is an elected member of the Engineering Academy, the European Science Academy, the Lisbon Science Academy, and the Europaea Academy.