Since scientific research is considered to be a foundational element of its activity and the quest to articulate the research and teaching activities in COFAC’s education institutions, Lusófona University created ILIND – Lusophone Institute for Research and Development. This is a research organic unit, with the following goals:

• To foster research and development (R&D) initiatives, and disseminate knowledge in the different scientific areas it addresses;
• To coordinate and systematize the research activities carried out by the R&D research units of the above-mentioned education institutions, ensuring, namely, that the process of preparing, submitting and managing research projects is followed, as well as support to the processes undertaken by individual researchers;
• To coordinate the R&D and advanced training process at the level of doctoral programmes in the different research units of the education institutions, taking as starting point the common scientific areas of training;
• To promote the scientific exchange with institutions and researchers, national, foreign and international;
• To apply to obtain logistic and financial resources suitable to the undertaking of the R&D activities directly carried out as well as those that come under the purview of the units of the education institutions whose research activities it coordinates;
• To foster the submission of interdisciplinary projects, involving the research units of all education institutions;
• To create networks for scientific and cultural outreach and for the provision of services to the community.

"Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge." - Stephen Hawkings

In a context of marked transformation in Higher Education and at a time when the European Union is defining a European agenda for Universities, Universidade Lusófona has taken as the centrepiece of its mission the square of knowledge that integrates Teaching, Research and Innovation, Connecting with Society and Providing Services.

Aware that scientific research and technological development are a goal of Universities - which must contribute to the development of culture and science with internationally recognised quality - Universidade Lusófona develops and implements a strategic policy for the area of Research and Development (R&D) that will make it an increasingly important centre for innovation and scientific research in Portugal and abroad, reinforcing the attractiveness of the project for highly regarded national and international teachers and researchers.

Universidade Lusófona aims to research and build knowledge in the scientific areas in which it teaches. Teaching and research are complementary parts of the education we provide and are inseparable elements of our university mission.

Strategic Plan 2022/2025 (PT)

Responsibilities and Duties

Aware that scientific research and innovation are a goal of Universities - which must contribute to the development of culture and science with internationally recognised quality - Universidade Lusófona intends to develop and implement a strategic policy for the area of Research and Development (R&D), and the Pro-Rectory for Research is responsible for:

1. To strategically manage research and development (R&D) activities, research policies and scientific infrastructures;
2. Representing the university in national and international R&D institutions;
3. Proposing and signing R&D contracts and agreements;
4. Monitoring the university's innovation, research and development activities, namely its research units and centres;
5. Stimulate and valorise research activities, namely through their integration and articulation with teaching;
6. Promoting the creation of a knowledge transfer plan, including intellectual property regulations;
7. Stimulating R&D capacity building;
8. Promoting and managing incubators and skills centres;
9. Promote an open science agenda;
10. Promote and ensure an information management plan for the university, units, research centres and ongoing projects;
11. Organise and ensure the implementation of a gender equality plan in research activities;
12. Develop projects and policies to attract and retain talent;
13. Designing career plans for researchers in collaboration with each research unit;
14. Ensure the dynamisation and structuring of scientific areas not covered by research units;
15. Diversify and broaden funding mechanisms for research, publicising available funding instruments, strengthening support mechanisms for submitting applications and strengthening relations with the business world in order to promote cooperative projects or projects under the auspices of donations, legacies, sponsorships or patronage;
16. Strengthen and manage incentive programmes for research and science in partnership with the Lusophone Institute for Research and Development (ILIND);
17. Disseminate the scientific knowledge produced, increasing the visibility of the research carried out at the university, by producing and managing a science communication system, in conjunction with ILIND.