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Nigerian Minister of Science visited INL

Nigerian Minister of Science and Technology Ogbonnaya Onu visited INL. Deputy Director-general of INL, Paulo Freitas, hosted the visit, that was also accompanied by the Susana Catita, advisor for the Portuguese Ministry for Science Technology and Higher Education. The Nigerian Minister learned about the INL Scientific Programme and capabilities.

INL is opening a call of 19 new positions to strengthen its research lines for highly qualified researchers

(4) Senior Staff Researchers (4) Staff Researchers (11) Postdoctoral Research Fellows This call is cofunded by NORTE-45-2015–02 – “Projetos Estruturados de I&D&I”, funded by Norte 2020 – Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. INL – The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, was founded under an international legal framework to perform interdisciplinary research and to deploy and articulate nanotechnology for the benefit of society. INL aims to become the world-wide hub for nanotechnology addressing society’s grand challenges with specific emphasis on Aging & Wellbeing, Mobility & Urban Living and a Safe & Secure Society. The work undertaken by our researchers has a significant impact on people’s lives and societal benefit. The objective is to ensure that staff is employed on the basis of skills and requirements for the job and that there is a mutually beneficial relationship between INL’s expectations and the staff personal and professional career development. INL recruits from all over the world. We find the diversity and multiculturalism of our teams as well as family friendly working practices and benefits to be a great asset and an essential element in cultivating an attractive and inspiring workplace. Call General Conditions: INL encourages researchers with a distinctive profile at the highest international […]

INL participates in the fabrication of the smallest hard disk to date

A collaboration between the Dutch University TU Delft and INL leads to the fabrication of a laboratory prototype of digital memory with atomic-scale bits that outperforms the storage density of current technologies by a factor of 500. The results were published in Nature Nanotechnology A kilobyte rewritable atomic memory (authors: F. E. Kalff, M. P. Rebergen, E. Fahrenfort, J. Girovsky, R. Toskovic, J. L. Lado, J. Fernández-Rossier & A. F. Otte) Every day, modern society creates more than a billion gigabytes of new data. To store all this data, it is increasingly important that each single bit occupies as little space as possible. A team of scientists at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University, in collaboration with the theory group at INL, managed to bring this reduction to the ultimate limit: a memory of 1 kilobyte (8,000 bits), where each bit is represented by the position of one single chlorine atom. “In theory, this storage density would allow all books ever created by humans to be written on a single postage stamp”, says lead-scientist Sander Otte, from TU Delft. Records The fabricated memory breaks several records. “It is, by far, the largest structure fabricated by assembling atoms 1 […]

Delivering Nanotechnologies, advanced Materials and Production to REGional manufacturing

Nanotechnologies and new materials (NMP) are a cornerstone of EU policy for innovation and advanced manufacturing. As one of the Key Enabling Technologies, the EU believes that NMP can reverse negative growth trends in manufacturing and foster growth and jobs. The statement is clear, but the road from intent to transfer, application and exploitation of NMP in manufacturing are long. NMP is dealt with in research. However, the common challenge is to ensure that innovation actors cooperate to deliver research results to the manufacturing sector, with subsequent benefits for regional growth. NMPREG groups partners from 5 regions, who want to face this challenge together. Their overall objective is to improve regional policies for the delivery of innovation in NMP to manufacturing. NMPREG focuses on policy actions that can support innovation delivery, using coordinated action from key players. Changes are particularly expected in projects funded by policy instruments (3 ERDF ROP / 2 other key policy tools for innovation), particularly in cluster support, financing for innovation actors and other horizontal innovation delivery measures. Partners also hope to influence policy management, in terms of monitoring and evaluation criteria for innovation delivery. NMPREG achieves this through exchanging experiences and Good Practices in a […]

NanoTRAINforGrowth II – INL’s Post-Doctoral COFUND Fellowship Programme Open!

INL is launching the first call for the NanoTRAINforGrowth II – Post-Doctoral Cofund Fellowship Programme. This programme aims to provide an opportunity for experienced researchers (from all over the world and all nationalities) to sketch out a research project and work on their own research idea at INL´s facilities. We will provide the selected applicants the opportunity to develop and carry out a research project in a highly stimulating and multicultural environment, which includes access to state-of-the-art equipment and personal career assistance. Candidates should submit an innovative research proposal with relevance to the key strategic areas of INL being energy, health, food & environment and ICT. Proposals incorporating emerging fields such as meta-materials, plasmonics, quantum science & technology, bionics, advanced nanopatterning, 3-D printing, among others are welcome. All applications will be evaluated by a Selection Committee. Candidates are evaluated on multiple parameters, including but not limited to: Postdoctoral experience, scientific outcome (publications, patents, contribution of the candidates to the field as appropriate to their career stage), quality of the RTD projects and international standing. The closing date for applicants to send their application for the NanoTRAINforGrowth II – Post-Doctoral Fellowship is 14th of August and they are advised to read […]

Lifeng Liu was awarded the SPE Young Researcher Prize 2015

Lifeng Liu – Researcher and Head of the NESCS group at INL – was recently awarded by SPE – The Portuguese Electrochemical Society the Young Researcher Prize 2015. The award was created in 2010 by the SPE in order to promote scientific research in electrochemistry in Portugal and distinguishes researchers under 40, who have made a substantial contribution to the electrochemistry research during the past three years while working in Portugal. Lifeng Liu will deliver an oral presentation at the XXI Meeting of the Portuguese Electrochemical Society held at Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, in September 2016.

The Urban Algae Folly project comes to its end

The Urban Algae Folly project has now come to its end. The Urban Algae Folly was installed in a collaborative project comprising the INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, the City of Braga, and the Foundation Francisco Manuel dos Santos. During the month of March, the live structure will be dismantled. Since November 17th 2015, the day of the inauguration, many people have visited the Praça da República, in the centre of Braga, to look at the Folly and to try to find out more about this live architecture. For over four months the Folly stirred the curiosity and attention of passers-by, locals and tourists alike. At first sight, each visitor was confronted with an alien object that later on motivated discussion and debate about science and sustainable development. To raise awareness about the project and increase its impact in education, the Center of Biological Engineering and the Center of Molecular and Environmental Biology from the University of Minho joined the project to support it with their invaluable expertise. The project ended with the Folly Week, a week of open classes that involved students from six different high schools in Braga and closed with a dedicated Science Café. The school […]

Brazilian Minister of Science visited INL

The Brazilian Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Aldo Rebelo, visited INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory to analyze the collaboration agenda that Brazil has with the INL. The Brazilian delegation, accompanied by Portugal’s Secretary of State for Science, Leonor Parreira, met with the Director General of INL, Lars Montelius, the Deputy Director General and Scientific Director, Paulo Freitas, and Brazilian researchers who are developing various projects in collaboration with scientists at the INL. INL has already received more than 25 Brazilian researchers from research centers dedicated to research at the nanoscale, from the north to the south of Brazil. Most of the ongoing collaborations are the result of the agreement signed between the CAPES (Ministry of Education of Brazil) and INL, following the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Spain, Portugal and Brazil. “One of the great advantages of this collaboration relates to the complementarity of laboratories. The sharing of knowledge and scientific instruments have allowed important advances in different research projects “, stressed Paulo Freitas «The collaboration with research institutes from Latin American countries is a strategic priority for INL», says the Director General of INL, Lars Montelius, who expects to widen the range of the current agreement with […]

INL community observed a minute of silence in memory of Mariano Gago

With the flags at half-mast INL joined the Portuguese scientific community and observed a minute of silence in memory of Mariano Gago. The former minister of Science passed away April 17th. Mariano Gago played a significant, indeed an essential role in the setting up of INL, driving the project forward with much determination and strength. He led this political project but he also had an important role in defining the scientific programme in order to make INL internationally competitive. Mariano Gago fostered research that is now increasingly carried out in a framework of international cooperation, as an opportunity for Portugal to develop new products and provide new types of knowledge-intensive services. He graduated as an electrical engineer from the Technical University of Lisbon’s Instituto Superior Técnico and did advanced research work in Paris at the École Polytechnique as a high-energy physicist. When Professor of Physics at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, he worked at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva for several years. He was a member of the CERN Council (1985–1990), the EC Joint Research Centre Board of Governors (1986–1989), President of the Portuguese National Board for Science and Technology (1986–1989), and was chair of the European […]