Research & Development

• Instituto de Investigação em Arte, Design e Sociedade (i2ADS)

i2ADS – Research Institute in Art, Design and Society is a R&D unit based at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto (FBAUP), financed by the Portuguese agency Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT). It has the mission of promoting research in Fine Art, Performative arts, Drawing, Design and Arts Education. The core of its mission is the practical and educational impact of artistic research in society.

Its main goals are the development of a research culture shared among the several artistic areas that compose it to inform and develop its practices; the promotion of debate on the social, cultural and technological frameworks of art and design; the development of research careers in Art and Design and the support to young researchers.

It encompasses researchers in visual arts, performing arts, drawing, design and artistic education, who bring together specialized knowledge in the practice and teaching of art and design, in artistic practices of social engagement, in digital creativity, in technological archeology and innovation. This knowledge is fundamental to promoting active research capable of responding to the challenges of the cultural and creative sectors in promoting an inclusive, innovative and reflective society.

Currently, the Institute encompasses 44 integrated members from the Faculty of Fine Arts and the Faculty of Architecture, (University of Porto) and the Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo (ESMAE – Politécnico do Porto) and including the hiring of 1 assistant researcher , 3 junior researchers and 2 junior researchers. Its team also includes 49 scholarship members, 85 collaborating members from various Universities, Polytechnics and Cultural Institutions, and 2 senior technicians.

i2ADS is an institutional member of the Society of Artistic Research (SAR) and is part of the European Educational Research Association (EERA).

• Instituto de Investigação em Design, Media e Cultura (ID+)

ID+ is a research unit focused on Design, but which extends to other creative areas of Culture and Arts.

Since its foundation in 2007, ID+ has focused its activity on the following strategic guidelines

• Actively intervene in the production and application of knowledge, enhancing the function of cultural mediation that characterizes Design, alongside the social questioning and poetic innovation that Art allows;
• Demonstrate the structuring importance of Design and Art in the definition and multidisciplinary implementation of credible scenarios of sustainable growth, where quality of life is a condition for prosperity;
• Validate Design and Art as ethical agents of a demanding, critical and participatory citizenship, cultivating their appropriation and translatability at a social, cultural and economic level;
• Examine the contemporary nature of cultural heritage in its dynamic relationship with new technological and media paradigms.