On July 1, student Laura Joana Espinosa Fortes Ferreira dos Santos was awarded her PhD with distinction and honors in Electrical and Computer Engineering by Instituto Superior Técnico and in Bioengineering by Politecnico di Milano, through a joint supervision agreement (co-tutelle). Laura Santos defended her dissertation titled “Analyse&Act: Automatic Metrics and Innovative Protocols in Robotics for Children with ASD”, under the supervision of Professors José Santos-Victor (DEEC/IST) and Alessandra Pedrocchi (PoliMI).

The examination committee was chaired by Professor Pedro Lima (DEEC/IST), and included Professors Yukie Nagai (International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo, Japan), Angelo Cangelosi (School of Engineering, University of Manchester, United Kingdom), Franca Garzotto (Politecnico di Milano, Italy), João Sanches (DBE/IST), as well as the supervisors, José Santos-Victor (DEEC/IST) and Alessandra Pedrocchi (PoliMI).