Strategic Project - UI 3 - 2011-2012

FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-022687 & PEst-C/FIS/UI0003/2011

Principal investigator
Mário J. P. F. G. Monteiro

CAUP's main objective is to provide adequate working conditions, contacts and interface for front-line research activities in Astronomy. These are carried out by a team of 30 researchers, with should grow in number within the next 2 years. CAUP hosts researchers of different nationalities, from various Universities, Institutions of Higher Education and private Foundations. It is its policy towards recruitment that has enabled CAUP to grow internationally in terms of visibility and also attract researchers of very high quality on a regular basis. It is considered to be of crucial importance for CAUP to participate in international collaborations as well as in exchanges of postgraduate students and training in Astronomy.

CAUP aims to maintain a balanced and critical mass of well trained human resources in areas of forefront research. Focusing on a small number of strategic scientific topics that correspond to mainstream and strategically relevant areas, enables a more sustainable and coherent growth for the research activities of CAUP. These have profited in ESA and ESO. Such initiatives will continue, also based on the establishment of active collaborations with other national teams in Portugal, namely CAAUL in Lisbon.

As a research institution CAUP has played a pioneering and successful role in the development of synergies born a close involvement between a research environment and a regular activity of promotion of scientific culture for the general public and schools. Our aim is now to sustain the level and quality of activity in the area of promotion of science and scientific culture through Astronomy, carried out for more than two decades. As the world changes with new generations having access to more information in very different formats, CAUP has evolved in the way it communicates with the student population and general public. The goal is to continue to serve the public mission we have set form the beginning of being an access door for all to enter the world of science and scientific culture.

The support of the strong training programme in Astronomy at the University of Porto (BSC, two MSC degrees, PhD) has been one of the key roles that CAUP has taken from the beginning. This support will continue, in particular the integration of students of all levels in CAUP, with main emphasis on research. This unique contribution to the training of successive groups of professional astronomers continues to be a central objective for the future.

Funding institution
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Start: 1 January 2011
End: 31 December 2012