About
About
CEMMPRE - Centre for Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Processes is an interdisciplinary R&D Unit of the Foundation for Science and Technology - FCT (nº 285).
The mission of CEMMPRE is to advance scientific and technical knowledge and capabilities, through interdisciplinary collaboration across disciplines and scientific areas that can lead to breakthroughs and innovation, in order to contribute to a more sustainable world.
Members of CEMMPRE have different backgrounds (chemistry, physics, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, physics engineering, electrical engineering, and materials engineering, among others) and all together bring different points of view to bear on joint scientific issues. The majority of the researchers of CEMMPRE belongs to the University of Coimbra and they teach in a considerable number of undergraduate, graduate ad post-graduate programs, mainly MSc and Ph.D., whose curricular structure contains all the CEMMPRE scientific areas (e.g. Mechanical engineering, Materials engineering, Chemical engineering, Biomedical engineering, Industrial engineering and management, Tribology of surfaces and interfaces, Advanced materials and processing, Design for intelligent manufacturing).
The research activity of CEMMPRE is aligned with the four innovation platforms of Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) of the central region of Portugal, that interact with CEMMPRE’s areas of research on Intelligent Manufacturing; Design & Testing, Surface and Interface Engineering, Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, Bioengineering, and Advanced Sensor Systems (CEMMPRE keywords).
CEMMPRE’s general policy is based on cooperation between universities and research centres with the business sector and society in general, promoting innovation, dissemination of scientific and technological knowledge, advanced training, and strategies for regional, national and international development. The relationships between CEMMPRE and other institutions, such as Instituto Pedro Nunes (IPN) have led to stimulating new ideas for new mechanical processes, materials, technologies, prototypes and products to be directly transferred to enterprises, mainly through its laboratories “LED&MAT - Laboratory for Wear, Testing & Materials” and “LEC - Laboratory for Electroanalysis and Corrosion”, headed by researchers from CEMMPRE. IPN – Incubator is also a strategic partner for starting new enterprises based on strong and promising ideas.
Brief History
In 1991, ICEMS-Institute of Science and Engineering of Materials and Surfaces (Coimbra) was founded; this R&D Unit was focused mainly on materials science and engineering. In 1994, CEMUC-Centre for Mechanical Engineering was founded being focused on mechanical engineering. In 2008, these two R&D Units, with the GMM/IMAT - Metallic Materials Group of the Materials Institute (University of Porto) were gathered together and kept the name CEMUC.
In 2017, a new name (CEMMPRE) was adopted as the result of the restructuring plan implemented, considered the main criticisms of the evaluation panel of the FCT evaluation in 2013; the main objective is to cover, in a consistent way, the different scientific activities of the previous R&D Units: mechanical engineering, materials and processes.
During the period 2013-2019, CEMUC/CEMMPRE comprised three different participant institutions (University of Coimbra - UC as host institution, University of Porto - UP, and University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro - UTAD). It was organized into seven scientific groups: Advanced fabrication systems; Bioengineering and polymer synthesis, Mining and raw materials, Nanomaterials and microfabrication; Sensors and nanoelectrochemistry; Structural integrity; and Surface engineering. In 2017, these seven groups were merged into the two current groups: Mechanical and Intelligent Manufacturing, and Materials and Processes. After 2020, CEMMPRE comprised just one participant institution, the University of Coimbra, although gathering researchers from other research institutions.
In 2021, CEMMPRE with four more R&D Units (CDRSP – Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development, ISISE – Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering, ISR-UC – Institute of Systems and Robotic, and SYSTEC - Research Centre for Systems and Technologies) created the Associated Laboratory ARISE- Advanced Production and Intelligent Systems.
In 2018, CEMMPRE was ranked as “Excellent” in the evaluation of R&D Units by FCT.
Objectives and Strategy
The Top 9 General Objectives (O), Implementation Strategy (IS), and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of CEMMPRE are Based on Two Main Pillars:
- Consolidation of the new structure/organization and maintenance of successful performance
- Reinforcement of excellence by enhancing international visibility.
KPIs will be monitored annually, aiming to archieve the indicated values by 2029.
Organization
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Scientific Committee comprises all Integrated PhD members
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Internal Advisory Board
Composed of the Coordinator, the two Vice-coordinators and the following six integrated PhD members (three from each group) elected by the Scientific Committee:
External Advisory Board
João Rocha
Centre for Research in Ceramics and Composite Materials (CICECO), University of Aveiro, Associated Laboratories Board, Portugal
Mohammad Taherzadeh
Swedish Centre for Resource Recovery, University of Borås, Sweden
Sandrine Thuillier
Brittany Materials Engineering Laboratory (LIMATB), University of Bretagne Sud, France
Sónia Calado
DRT Group, Portugal
Tim Hosenfeldt
Schaeffler AG, University of Erlangen–Nuremberg, Germany
Institutions
