From October 19 to 22, Nuno Henriques (DEM/ISEL), an ISEL faculty member accredited as a EUR-ACE evaluator, joined the team of experts appointed by the CAAAE (Central Asian Association for Accreditation of Education), an accreditation agency of ENAEE (European Network for Accreditation of Engineering Education), to conduct a EUR-ACE accreditation visit to TECNUN – School of Engineering, University of Navarra (Spain).Nine engineering education programs at that institution were submitted for international accreditation with the EUR-ACE label, including the Bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, in which the ISEL professor was directly involved.The delegation included specialists from Portugal (ISEL and ISEP), as well as from universities in Spain, Colombia, Kazakhstan, and Ecuador.The EUR-ACE label is a European quality mark for engineering programs, certifying their compliance with European quality standards and recognizing the excellence and high standard of the education provided.

On October 28, the signage identifying one of the 86 Emergency Meeting Points across the city of Lisbon was installed in the ISEL parking lot. This initiative is part of the Lisbon City Council’s policy to implement and identify designated safe areas where the population should gather in the event of major accidents or disasters, facilitating the coordination of rescue operations and the assistance provided by emergency teams.The occasion was attended by representatives from the Lisbon Municipal Civil Protection Service (SMPC) — Margarida Castro Martins, Director of the SMPC Lisbon; Raquel Milho, Head of the Public Prevention and Awareness Division; and engineers Edgar Vaz and Luís Mesquita. ISEL was represented by Vice-President Alexandra Costa, Vanda Pacheco, Head of the Infrastructure and Equipment Management Service, and Paula Castro, Head of the Hygiene, Health, and Safety Unit.See the photo album on Flickr.

ISEL and the Portuguese Criminal Investigation Police (PJ) have developed the educational game “Rage Quit”, an interactive experience that will be implemented nationwide in secondary schools. The game “transforms an ordinary school day into a series of episodes in which the player is responsible for the consequences of their decisions,” as stated by the PJ in a press release.The platform on which the game was developed was created by students João Pires and Tiago Neves as part of the Project course unit of the Bachelor’s Degree in Informatics and Multimedia Engineering.The initiative was presented on October 14th, as part of the celebrations of the PJ’s 80th anniversary. The conference “Cybercrime in Focus: Trends and Prevention in the Digital Age” featured the participation of ISEL’s President, Professor José Nascimento, representing the institution.

On October 15th, Professor Nuno Cruz (DEI/ISEL) took part in the SR Experts Portugal event, where he presented the results of the strategic partnership between ISEL and Nokia, which focuses on practical and advanced training in Network Technologies.During the presentation, the professor highlighted the key benefits of the collaboration, such as the laboratory equipped with Nokia technology and training programs aimed at network automation. These courses cover areas like automated network administration and technical content, following a hands-on training approach that prepares students for the job market.Nuno Cruz also shared examples of final-year projects completed in 2025, emphasizing that several former students who took part in this training are now working at Nokia. Some have even returned to ISEL as guest lecturers, further strengthening the link between education, innovation, and industry.

The most recent update of the World’s Top 2% Scientists Network ranking, compiled by Stanford University (California, USA), has been released. This ranking highlights the most cited scientists worldwide.Among the more than 100,000 researchers listed, three professors from ISEL stand out:- Prof. João Gomes, cited in the fields of Energy - Environmental Sciences - Enabling & Strategic Technologies, affiliated with ISEL- Prof. Luís Evangelista, cited in the fields of Building & Construction - Materials - Built Environment & Design, affiliated with ISEL- Prof. Mário Véstias, cited in the fields of Computer Hardware & Architecture - Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing - Information & Communication Technologies, affiliated with INESC-IDThe publication, released on September 19th, is based on citation data from Scopus, a renowned online research database.

ISEL continues to establish itself as one of the national leaders in the field of quantum technologies. As part of the European project PTQCI – Portuguese Quantum Communication Infrastructure, the ISEL team has successfully completed two of the tasks it was responsible for, culminating in the submission to the European Commission of the reports “PTQCI Ground Station Report” and “PTQCI Training Activities Report”.Since 2023, ISEL has been part of the national PTQCI consortium, which is supported and coordinated by the National Security Office (GNS) along with several scientific and technological partners. The project's goal is to lay the groundwork for a national quantum communication infrastructure — an essential technology to ensure communication security in the future, once quantum computers become a reality and threaten current encryption methods.Recognizing the strategic importance of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), the European Union has been promoting the development of quantum networks across all Member States. ISEL was invited to join the national consortium due to its long-standing track record in training and research activities in quantum technologies, developed at the Institute since 2008.Under the coordination of Prof. Manfred Niehus (DF/ISEL), ISEL led two key areas in the PTQCI project:Development of the Ground Station – a prototype for optical and quantum communications with low Earth orbit satellites;Academic Training – including the organization of summer schools and capacity-building activities in quantum technologies. A Portuguese Ground Station for Quantum CommunicationsThe most technically challenging component was, without a doubt, the development of the optical ground station — an experimental system that combines hardware and software for tracking, optical communication, and single-photon detection — key elements for future satellite-based quantum networks. The prototype developed at ISEL includes a high-precision telescope mounted on a system capable of fast and extremely stable movements. Instead of observing stars, this telescope is designed to track low Earth orbit satellites (at around 500 km altitude), establishing optical and quantum links with them. Between August 19th and September 1st, 2025, the team carried out a testing campaign at the Alqueva Lake Observatory (OLA), taking advantage of the excellent conditions of the Dark Sky Alqueva, one of the best astronomical observation areas in Europe.The system tested included:A 43 cm CDK17 telescope;A high-precision PlaneWave L-500 mount;Control systems, automatic focusing, and image acquisition. During this phase, the integration of the various subsystems was consolidated. The success of the Alqueva mission marked an important milestone in the validation of ISEL’s optical ground station, confirming the national capability to design, install, and operate a research infrastructure with the potential for integration into future European quantum communication networks. Research, Training, and CollaborationIn addition to its technological aspect, the project strengthened ISEL’s training and collaborative dimension, bringing academia, industry, and national scientific infrastructures closer together. The system developed—a testbed—will continue to be used in applied research, student projects, and future collaborations with companies in the space and telecommunications sectors.ISEL and its partners are already preparing new testing campaigns and the public presentation of the system, scheduled for November 2025, either at ISEL or nearby.Before that, the team will take part in the National Workshop on Quantum Technologies, to be held in Coimbra on October 24th, where they will present the project's main results and further highlight ISEL’s role in the national quantum technology landscape.Portugal Preparing for the Post-Quantum FutureThe European Union and national authorities are recommending that companies and institutions begin adopting post-quantum cryptography (PQC) measures now, in preparation for a secure digital future.More information about the PTQCI project or the adoption of PQC measures can be obtained from Prof. Manfred Niehus, project coordinator at ISEL.