The Opening ceremony of the DECivil Academic Year took place on October 19, 2023, the program of which is available in the news on October 9, 2023.

At the opening of the session, Professor Pedro Brogueira, President of the IST Scientific Council, highlighted the importance of students' academic training in innovation at the service of society. In particular, he emphasized the academic excellence of the Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, and how it stands out among the various IST departments in the international rankings.

Professor José Saldanha Matos gave the lecture “The Lisbon General Drainage Plan 2016-2030: Challenges, Strategies and Solutions”. In this he drew attention to the societal challenges that engineering will face in the future and the importance of knowing and knowing how to transmit/communicate:

Investigate to Know, Know to Solve.

He then exemplified these concepts with the multidisciplinary challenge of designing the Lisbon General Drainage Plan, currently being implemented in various parts of the city of Lisbon.

The representative of the Architecture Student Association (NucleAr), Tomás Ribeiro, challenged those present to discuss the future of the Integrated Master's Degree in Architecture at IST, and how to take advantage of the framework of this course, created within an engineering school.

Inês Lopes, the representative of Association of Civil Engineering students (Fórum Civil), presented the mission of this team and described its main initiatives: Under Construction, the Jornadas de Civil, workshops, conferences, company fairs, technical visits and Estrutural magazine.

Then the President of the Student Association of Instituto Superior Técnico (AEIST), Bernardo Santos, brought a more comprehensive vision of what it means for a student to study at Técnico, their aspirations, expectations and challenges that you face.

The DECivil Awards were then handed over.

The winner of the Professor Edgar Cardoso Award was alumni Verónica Ribeiro Gama, who stood out for her academic performance in several curricular units in the area of Structures in the Bologna Degree in Civil Engineering and the Bologna Master's in Civil Engineering. The award was presented by Professor Pedro Brogueira.

The winner of the Álvaro Machado Architect Award was alumni Jaime de Almeida, distinguishing his performance throughout his academic career in the Integrated Master in Architecture. The Prize was presented by Professor João Vieira Caldas in the presence of the Executive Administrator of the Montepio Foundation, Dr. Carlos Beato.

The winner of the Professor João Martins Award was alumni Luís Guilherme Simões da Silva Tão Espírito Santo. The award was presented by Professor Luís Calado. This award distinguishes the author of the best dissertation of the Bologna Master's Degree in Civil Engineering in the area of Structural Mechanics and Structures with particular emphasis on the field of Computational Mechanics. The dissertation Reduced Order Models for geometrically parameterized beams and shells was supervised by Professors José Paulo Baptista Moitinho de Almeida (IST) and Pedro Díez Mejía (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya , UPC).

The winner of the Professor Manuel da Costa Lobo Award was alumni Liliana Maria Grade Calado. This was delivered by Professor Maria do Rosário Partidário. In the area of Urbanism, Planning and Spatial Planning and aimed at students of Masters in Spatial Planning and Urbanism (carried out and supervised at IST), Civil Engineering (Urbanism, Transport and Systems profile), Environmental Engineering, Architecture, and other master's degrees Relatedly, this award distinguishes students who demonstrate solid scientific and technical training demonstrated by master's theses carried out on the subject. Liliana Maria Grade Calado's dissertation is entitled Contributions of social services to Aging in Place - the case of Aveiro and was supervised by Professors Eduarda Pires Valente da Silva Marques da Costa (IST), Ana Isabel Matias Louro Martins (Centro de Estudos Geográficos da Universidade de Lisboa, IGOT).

The winners of the Professor Alberto Abecasis Manzanares Award were students Diogo Martins Godinho, João Maria Xavier Damião and Rafael da Silva Francisco. This was delivered by Professor Maria Manuela Portela. This award in the area of Hydraulics, Environment and Water Resources is aimed at students of the Bologna Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Civil Engineering and involves the classifications obtained in the disciplines of Hydraulics I, Hydraulics II, Hydrology and Water Resources and Sanitary Engineering.

Throughout the award ceremony, several interventions were made to clarify those present, especially the winners, about the origin of the awards, their history, their objectives and facts, sometimes personal, about the honored personalities. These interventions were carried out by Professors Luís Calado, Maria do Rosário Partidário, Maria Manuela Portela, José Oliveira Pedro and Dr. Carlos Beato.

The closing of the session was carried out by Professor António Pinheiro, President of DECivil, who congratulated the winners and those responsible for the Awards. He then highlighted the challenges that Civil Engineering and Architecture face in a society undergoing permanent transformation and pointed out some of the measures being implemented by the Department's Management.

The ceremony ended with a snack for the participants.