FCT NOVA was one of the entities responsible for this year's edition of the European Union Science Olympiad (EUSO). There were 53 teachers and researchers from FCT NOVA and 93 volunteers who accompanied 150 high school students who came from all over Europe to the Caparica campus to compete in the 17th edition of EUSO.
"EUSO has shown that a critical mass of increasing visibility already exists in Portugal, which enabled the selection of a national university - FCT NOVA - to organize a large and complex competition, both logistically and scientifically. The preparation of this operation required the intervention of two hundred professionals (teachers and technicians) over a year, which contributed to the great success of the result: the country strengthened its capacity and image of involvement in the international arena of science, technology and innovation. All the international participants (students and mentors) were unanimous in recognizing to the exemplary way everything was planned and organized - we heard several students say that it had been the best week of their lives, declared the Director of FCT NOVA, Virgílio Cruz Machado.
From May 4 to 11, the young scientists had an intense week of work and leisure. For FCT NOVA Teachers and Researchers, the work began much earlier, from the design of the tests to the preparation of the Portuguese teams, who came for ten Saturdays to the faculty labs to study with FCT NOVA teachers.
The closing session took place on May 10, with the delivery of the medals. Portugal won two silver medals and Germany came out as the winner, with both teams winning gold medals and the B team won the trophy.
EUSO 2019 was highly sponsored by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who also presided over the Honor Commission.
The organization of the 17th EUSO was in charge of the Ministry of Education, through the Directorate General of Education, with the partnership of FCT NOVA, Almada City Hall, the Order of Biologists, the Portuguese Society of Physics and the Portuguese Society of Chemistry.
Source: FCT NOVA