It is not a novelty or recent discovery, that science is the ultimate vehicle for conducting diplomacy, launching bridges, and uniting peoples and communities.
In order to celebrate the 100 years anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations between Portugal and Switzerland, it seemed therefore quite obvious that we should also celebrate science and innovation by organizing a congress to highlight and emphasize the excellence of scientific research for the benefit of the people, carried out in the two countries.
There are numerous similarities between the two communities of scientists, in fruitful exchanges of ideas and results as well as in working environments with Portuguese researchers in Switzerland and Swiss scientists in Portugal. But they would not be scientists if they did not know how to learn from the differences as well, even with the obstacles that sometimes separate them.
During the congress on May 2nd and 3rd, at the Champalimaud Foundation, Swiss and Portuguese scientists and science policy players will discuss the institutional and administrative aspects that determine the course of research in each of the two countries on the first day. On the second day, the word will be given to the executors of meticulous and startling investigations that will tell us of new discoveries and future hopes.
We invite all interested parties to participate in the congress and we hope to count on the interest of a large audience in the discoveries of Swiss and Portuguese scientists who share a fascination with the unknown, just as the famous Portuguese physician and professor António Egas Moniz who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology with Swiss brain researcher and cartographer Walter Rudolf Hess, exactly 70 years ago!
For more information, here.