• Co-promoter Entity COFAC – Lusófona University
• Coordinator (UL-CUL) Hilda de Pablo
• Team Members (UL-CUL) Hilda de Pablo, Vítor Antunes, João Canto, Pedro Sampaio
• Funding Institution Interreg Atlantic Area, European Regional Development Fund (European Union)
• Budget TOTAL BUDGET: 3 765 474,20 euros; UL-CUL BUDGET: 405 570,02 euros
• Partners Centro Tecnológico del Mar – Fundación CETMAR (Control and Management of the Marine Environment and Resources) (Spain) (Project leader) Instituto Tecnológico para el Control del Medio Marino de Galicia( Unidad de Documentación y Apoyo Científico/Unidad de Modelado Oceanográfico) (Spain), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (CRETUS, Cross-disciplinary Research in Environmental Technologies) (Spain), ARDITI – Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação, Tecnologia e Inovação( Projects Department) (Portugal), Direção Regional do Ambiente e Alterações Climáticas (Direção de Serviços de Alterações Climáticas e Sustentabilidade) (Portugal), Centre of Documentation Research and Experimentation on Accidental Eater Pollution (CEDRE) (France), Université Bretagne Sud (Plateau technique ComposiTIC) (France), Universidade Lusófona (Faculdade de Engenharia) (Portugal), Marine Institute (Ocean, Climate & Information Services) (Ireland), Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Instituto Español de Oceanografía del CSIC) (Spain), Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (ODE – UL) (France), An Taisce, Clean Coasts (Clean Coasts) (Ireland), Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental (CIIMAR) (Portugal), OSPAR Commission (Committee) (Unated Kingdom), Direção-Geral dos Recursos Naturais, Segurança e Serviços Marítimos (Marine Environment Monitoring) (Portugal).
• Period of funding November 2023 to November 2026
• Website Under construction

Free-LitterAT will achieve litter-free coastal communities by combining knowledge, tools and technology with pilot actions with multi-stakeholder engagement. It tackles marine litter, a transnational challenge demanding an integral approach involving prevention, monitoring and removal when feasible of the already accumulated marine litter. The overall objective is to protect biodiversity by implementing innovative approaches to prevent and reduce marine litter, with special emphasis on ALDFG and microplastics. Free LitterAt will contribute to reducing inputs, locate sources and hotspots, enhance monitoring capabilities and raise awareness. Main outputs include guidance, tools and joint solutions for waste management, marine litter monitoring, modelling, clean-up and removal as well as action plans transferred to the competent authorities and maritime stakeholders. The project will build on previous results and alliances, developing new solutions to be implemented through pilot actions.

• Funding Institution COFAC
• Coordinator Maria Manso
• Team members Elói Figueiredo, João Canto, Vítor Antunes, Rúben Teixeira
• Period of funding January 2023 to December 2024
• Website buildingadapt.com

Climate Analytics has estimated that within 80 years maximum summer and autumn temperatures may increase up to 8ºC in Portugal. Also, in spring and winter temperatures may rise between 2ºC and 4ºC. The increase in urban temperature will have a major impact in buildings energy consumption and their occupants´ environmental comfort.
This study focuses on the growing concern about how university teaching buildings can adapt to climate change and how the environmental comfort conditions of their occupants can be guaranteed in future scenarios. Building A of Lusófona University – Lisbon University Center will be used as case study, considering the urgent needs for its rehabilitation and maintenance of its character.
The aim of this project is to identify the best rehabilitation strategies to improve occupants´ environmental comfort considering the present and future climate conditions. First, it will be created a 3D model of the building based on a 3D Point Cloud survey. Then a data acquisition system and environmental comfort sensors will be installed in Building A to monitor its thermo-hygrometric conditions along the year. This data will be used to calibrate the computational models to be developed. After, the 3D model will be used to develop computational models based on current climate conditions and future climate scenarios. Different passive design solutions will be tested within the computational models to improve the thermal performance of the buildings´ envelope. Also, carbon negative solutions, as green walls, will be analysed to enable capturing greenhouse gases over the building lifetime and promote comfort and well-being to the Campus users. At the end an optimal cost methodology will be implemented to identify the best solutions to be implemented.
The results obtain along the project will help Lusófona University – Lisbon University Center to make an informed decision on how to adapt to climate change and invest in more cost-effective rehabilitation strategies.

• Period of funding 2021
• Website app4shm.com

Development of a smartphone application to monitor the structural health of buildings and special structures (like bridges) after catastrophic events.

This application will be able to interrogate the phone’s internal sensors, or other paired devices via Bluetooth or USB, and to analyze and compare the data collected through intelligent algorithms properly trained in order to detect damage and quantify the structural risk in real time. As it is a mobile application with access to a server, it is possible to create a networked system of several nodes through the simultaneous use of several smartphones.

This is a R&D project funded by COFAC and involving students and professors from ULHT’s civil engineering and computer science courses: Eloi Figueiredo, Hugo Rebelo, Ionut Moldovan, Luís Silva, Nuno Penim, Paulo Oliveira, Pedro Alves.