Check out our recent events
launch of the report Communication and Public Relations Professionals & Artificial Intelligence
On 16 December at 5:00 pm, at Auditorium B1 of FCSH, the Observatório Social para a Inteligência Artificial & Dados Digitais of ICNOVA presented the report Communication and Public Relations Professionals & Artificial Intelligence: Perceptions, Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities. This study analysed, for the first time in a systematic manner in Portugal, how communication and public relations professionals are integrating Artificial Intelligence into their work, identifying impacts, ethical risks, skills gaps, and strategic opportunities for the sector. The study was developed in collaboration with APECOM and APCE, which also took part in the roundtable discussion that followed the presentation.
launch of the White Paper on AI Applied to Journalism
On 15 December, the first national study on the adoption of Artificial Intelligence in Portuguese journalism was presented in Lisbon. The study was funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation through the European Media and Information Fund. Coordinated by NOVA University of Lisbon and developed in partnership with several Portuguese and Brazilian higher education institutions, the White Paper on Artificial Intelligence Applied to Journalism was publicly presented at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation at 3:00 pm. The document aims to support the development of public policies and editorial strategies that promote an ethical, transparent, and public-interest-oriented integration of AI in newsrooms. Read more at the project’s website.
From Signal to Disruption: Trends, Labs, and Strategies to Create Futures
ICNOVA / iNOVA Media Lab hosted the open lecture From Signal to Disruption: Trends, Labs, and Strategies to Create Futures, which took place on 9 December 2025 at NOVA FCSH (Av. de Berna Campus). The session was delivered by Ana Cecília Bisso Nunes and Ana Marta Flores, authors of the book Innovation in the Creative Industries. The lecture presented a practical approach to transforming emerging signals into innovation strategies, discussing how trends and media labs can support continuous processes of experimentation and the anticipation of change. Tools such as the Trend Research Kit and the Media Lab Canvas were explored, fostering reflection on how organisations can act in a more proactive and future-oriented manner.
Signs in Circuit: Ethical and Creative Challenges of AI
The Observatório Social para a Inteligência Artificial e Dados Digitais (OSIADD) and iNOVA Media Lab hosted the online conference Signs in Circuit: Ethical and Creative Challenges of Artificial Intelligence, in, Portuguese, delivered by one of the most influential thinkers in semiotics and intelligence technologies, Lucia Santaella. A Full Professor at PUC São Paulo (Brazil), Lucia Santaella is internationally recognised for her extensive body of work on semiotics, digital design, cyberculture, and artificial intelligence. The conference was moderated by Ana Cláudia Munari Domingos, a researcher at OSIADD and a professor in the Graduate Programme in Letters at UNISC, as well as a recipient of a CNPq (Brazil) Research Productivity Fellowship. It was a unique opportunity to reflect on the meanings and ethical challenges of artificial intelligence in contemporary culture.
III Trends and Culture Management Colloquium
The III Trends and Culture Management Colloquium is an international, open-access online event focused on contemporary cultural change. On November 22, 2025, we brought together researchers and practitioners, it explores how digital transformation, nanotrends, and emerging cultural dynamics are reshaping communication and cultural management, with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary dialogue and applied insights. More at the event website.
Synthetic Imaginaries: The Cultural Politics of Generative AI
Synthetic Imaginaries: The Cultural Politics of Generative AI took place at the University of Siegen from 8 to 12 September 2025 and invited researchers to submit proposals exploring the cultural, political, and methodological impacts of generative AI and synthetic media. Participation in the event was free of charge. A limited number of travel grants were made available by the NFDI4Culture consortium for early-career researchers and doctoral students. The event was organised by the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centers Media of Cooperation and Transformations of the Popular, in partnership with the Center of Digital Narratives (Bergen) and the Digital Culture and Communication section of ECREA, with the involvement of researcher Ana Marta Flores (ICNOVA / iNOVA Media Lab). More at the Summer School website.
AI & Education conference
On September 30, 2024, at 3 PM, we will host a free conference titled Artificial Intelligence and Education: A Critical Studies Approach, presented by Wayne Holmes from University College London. The conference will explore key aspects of AI in education, addressing ethical considerations, human rights, and social justice issues. It will provide a critical analysis of how AI technologies are being integrated into educational settings and their impact on teaching and learning practices.
data & us
Data&Us – Series of Talks about Data is an initiative organized by researchers and professors from the Faculdade de Design, Tecnologia e Comunicação (IADE) – Universidade Europeia and the Instituto de Comunicação of the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ICNOVA). The coordination of the initiative is in charge of Ana Viseu (IADE – ICNOVA).
sci-vi seminar
The Sci-Vi Seminar is a one-day-long event every October since 2021 that welcomes all interested to join the conversation about the emerging question about the importance of visual dissemination in science communication! The event explores research and industry updates about visual storytelling in science dissemination. The organizers wish to create a bridge not just between science researchers and visual storytellers but between Portugal, Denmark, and beyond! The event has the support of iNOVA Media Lab, ICNOVA NOVA FCSH, Sci-Vi Initiative, and The Animation Workshop in Denmark.
smart data sprint
SMART Data Sprint is an intensive hands-on work driven by online data and digital methods. Throughout an entire week, from 2016 to 2022, participants from all over the world develop experimental and inventive ways of reading, seeing and analysing platform data. Experts and researchers with different backgrounds have the chance to attend keynote lectures, short talks, and parallel sessions of practical labs. The main goal of the SMART Data Sprint is to achieve concrete outcomes, creating the opportunity for knowledge production and providing an environment in which participants can equally contribute and benefit from one another’s expertise. More at website.
Algorithms, Audiovisual and Cinema
The development and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in the audiovisual sector has been growing in recent years. Over-the-top services (OTT), distributed directly to viewers via the Internet, are particularly associated with a shift towards automation through algorithmic mediation in audiovisual content, led by platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, among others. In a series of talks along 2022, international experts will share state-of-the-art knowledge about the impact of algorithmic systems on the design, production, and reception of audiovisual content. We want to initiate a conversation between researchers, professionals, and viewers that, being directly about the audiovisual and cinematic experience, inevitably touches themes such as the datafication of society, the transformation of the meaning of culture, and the governance of automation systems.
reboot fest
Reboot is a festival of Digital Arts and New Media that aims at challenging the idea that scientific research and art are typically opposite. The program features exhibitions, a doctoral symposium and a series of immersive experiences. The third edition of Reboot is entitled “Reboot the Future” and is an invitation to gather speculative, critical, refreshed scientific production, and trans-disciplinary artistic interventions. The four day New Media and Digital Art festival will host an exhibition and parallel events, keynote talks by invited experts and a doctoral symposium. This year’s theme focuses on how to create sustainable futures that encompass all areas of society. We want to expand the prevailing notion that sustainability relates only to environmental issues and think of it as vital for all areas of society. For this purpose we base this year’s theme upon the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).