ICT for R&D+i

Teachers and researchers of the U.PORTO can access a set of ICT resources and services, to support research, development and innovation activities.

Communication Network

The netUP - U.PORTO connection network is a high speed connection network, providing a limitless response to the current needs of the academic community.

The netUP is connected to the Internet through the national research and education network, RCTS, at a rate of 10 Gbit/s.

The operationality of the network architecture, and the interconnection between U.PORTO faculties and its connection to the RCTS is the responsibility of the permanent maintenance and prevention services (24x7). Each faculty is responsible for defining service levels for local connection networks.

Wireless networks (eduroam)

Wireless coverage is available in the U.PORTO campus, in each Faculty, in the Rectorate and in SASUP, plus in the residence halls. This connection is provided by the e-U network, which is part of the eduroam European network.

For detailed information on the current coverage in each area, contact the SIGARRA information system, using the installation module (example).

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

The communication network at the U.PORTO also supports VoIP services, implemented within the VoIP@U.PORTO project coordinated with the national VoIP@RCTS project.

Computing

The U.PORTO offers its academic community a high performance computing environment, based on the use of grid computing.

The U.PORTO grid architecture is part of the European EGEE infrastructure - Enabling Grids for E-sciencE.

For detailed information on the U.PORTO Grid, see the specific area in the ICT Portal.

SIGARRA

SIGARRA is an integrated information system containing support components for the different scopes of a higher education institution, from the pedagogical and R&DI issues to administration and management.

In R&DI, SIGARRA provides support for:

Publications: A record of all publications produced by the members of the institution. Abstract or full texts are available provided you have access credentials. After this first entry, the university organizes bibliographies sorted by department, course, etc. (example). The system allows validation by the Library Services, and eventually an automatic register in the integrated management application of the U.PORTO (Aleph) and is connected to the U.PORTO Repository, to transfer automatically the intellectual production as a full text, accessed freely in this environment, which in turn is connected to the national repository RCAAP. Search can be done according to various criteria and the U.PORTO aggregation system.

Projects: Record and dissemination of research projects in progress or completed. The records contain the name and participants in the project, objectives, abstract, budget, etc. (example). Again, search can be done according to various criteria and the U.PORTO aggregation system.

Curriculum Vitae and Teaching Activity Reports: Since the system records all information on the academic qualifications, professional status, work schedule, publications, projects, etc. of each teacher, these documents are automatically produced and can be edited by the specific teacher. We expect this to be automatically connected to the DeGóis system, of the FCT (acronym for Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - Foundation for Science and Technology) in a near future.

In addition to these features, the installation module registers the spaces within the university, allowing you to easily identify the areas allocated to research. There are other modules, for e.g., online resource reservation (these may be laboratories or research equipment), the forums, wikis, dynamic mail, among others, which are extremely important support tools for teachers and researchers.

Reference must be made to the module that allows you to search funding opportunities for R&D+i projects, and to look up and submit ideas for projects devised by U.PORTO members. One of the functions of the tool is to support all those concerned in the process of preparing project research applications within the 7^th Technological Research and Development Framework Programme of the European Commission (FP 7).

Videoconference

The U.PORTO has two Videoconference Studios in the rectorate building, which can be used by teachers and researches of the University. These studios are located in Rooms GT434 and GT301. Room GT 301 (Douro Room) has a telepresence system.

The regulations for usage of these facilities are given in the relevant area in the ICT Portal.

The U.PORTO has other videoconference systems in several faculties. The regulations for usage of these systems are defined in each faculty..

Website and Equipment Hosting Services

You can request hosting services for computing equipment or the allocation of storage areas for the creation of websites.

To use these services, see the options in Server Hosting and Website Hosting .

Publications and other Online Resources

You can access these resources via the Publications section of the SIGARRA system of your faculty, where you can search scientific and technical articles and other documents published by teachers of your faculty. The U.PORTO SIGARRA system allows the search to cover the entire campus.

In the U.PORTO Repository you can obtain the full texts of the U.PORTO academic community, including publications in international journals, Masters dissertations and PhD theses.

Reference must also be made to the Virtual Library, which provides access to the main sources of knowledge to support research and innovation, the Digital Archive, which offers a large number of documents online, mostly of historical documents, and the Old Archive, consisting of a collection of works published before 1945.

You can take a virtual tour of the museums of the University of Porto at Virtual Museum.