| About ISCE Douro's research policy
The ISCE Douro development project embodies, as identified in its educational, scientific, cultural, artistic and sporting mission and project, a focus on guided and practice-based research , as expected from a polytechnic higher education institution.
ISCE Douro directs its investigative activity, firstly, from and to its territory of insertion, seeking, in conjunction with the living forces of the region, to promote the local and regional development of Tâmega e Sousa and the greater Douro region .
In this very important dimension of its institutional activity, ISCE Douro seeks to respond, through the constitution of its research centers, to the development of an investigative activity articulated with the identified needs , based on which defines the programmatic lines of the institutional research policy.
In time, the institutional expectation is to have a sufficient investigative dimension that allows the creation of the necessary conditions for the establishment of an ISCE Douro research center. To this end, the institution counts on deepening existing partnerships with other HEIs and with the research centers of other HEIs with which it cooperates, and is also determined to expand, in quantity and quality, its network of national and international partnerships with aimed at developing R&D activities.
The institutional research policy is based on three main pillars :
research as a core process in fulfilling ISCE Douro's mission and educational project at the service of society, in general, and the region, in particular;
the valorization and transfer of knowledge; It is
the articulation between training and research.
Over a longer time horizon, the aim is for research to become an instrument of recognition that goes beyond the region, asserting itself nationally and internationally, but always focused, first and foremost, on local and regional development. To achieve this objective calculated in the medium and long term, ISCE Douro is already developing negotiations with international partners, involving, for this purpose, the Center for Cooperation and International Relations (CCRI).
| About the priority strategic objectives in the field of research
encourage the participation of our teachers in Research Centers evaluated by the FCT and rated as Excellent or Very Good;
promote research, innovation and technological development work from the perspective of regional development, in all areas of knowledge at ISCE Douro;
foster interdisciplinarity between the research centers at ISCE Douro, between the research groups at ISCE Douro and ISCE, with research centers at other HEIs and with other HEIs;
promote the aspect of research projects with funding, as well as the provision of services to the community, as privileged routes for the affirmation of ISCE Douro in the field of R&D, both at a regional and national level, as well as internationally;
encourage the dissemination of scientific and technological knowledge, particularly from an applied perspective;
guide research work towards the transfer of knowledge and technology in areas of regional priority;
promote initiatives that enable ISCE Douro researchers to learn about and leverage different funding opportunities for their research projects;
promote the international dimension of R&D activity, mobilizing transnational scientific cooperation networks, whether around the preparation and execution of projects or in the joint implementation of international scientific dissemination initiatives;
imprint a culture of quality in the research field at ISCE Douro.
The institution's research policy must, therefore, necessarily reflect the institutional matrix, its response capacity, which in the short, medium and long term is intended to be implemented as a research model primarily based on practice, without this implying neglect favoring fundamental research.
ISCE Douro already has a network of partnerships that is sufficiently broad to enhance the development of research projects with local and regional projection and is capable of establishing scientific cooperation mechanisms that can be considered in the future, which allows us to envisage, in the long term, deadline, priorities, synergies and areas of affirmation of ISCE Douro in research.
It is also important to reinforce the need to promote the carrying out of projects and other R&D activities of an inter and transdisciplinary nature , enhancing, for this purpose, the current and possible future research centers at ISCE Douro, through the creation of opportunities for the creation of teams of researchers with diverse and complementary skills .
In this context, the institution understands the importance of guiding the research to be carried out at ISCE Douro, namely that based on practice, through a set of technical-scientific domains that support the training activity and transfer of knowledge to society, in general, and for the particular region.
In accordance with this policy and continuing its path, the research centers of the departments were established, specifically:
Sports and Physical Exercise Research Center – NIDEF
Research Center for Arts and Multimedia – NIAM
Transdisciplinary Research Center in Educational Sciences – NITCE
As recommended in ISCE Douro's strategic priority objectives for research, several ISCE Douro teachers carry out similar activities in research units based in other higher education institutions, some of them in research centers of excellence evaluated by the Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Foundation for Science and Technology) ( FCT).
In this exchange , these teachers bring with them knowledge and innovative investigative practices, disseminating and sharing knowledge, mobilizing accumulated experience , allowing the transfer of good research practices and thus contributing to the development of institutional R&D activities, favoring the development of the institution and its territory.
This participation of ISCE Douro teachers in research centers at other higher education institutions is very important for the development of the institution's R&D activities, as it allows the increase, in quantity and quality, of ISCE Douro's partnerships with other institutions. higher education, entities and companies.
The participation of students , from the earliest years, in institutionally developed R&D activities is encouraged and privileged within the scope of practice-based guided research. All research centers count on the participation of students as collaborating researchers in research project teams under development at the institution.