On July 1, student Laura Joana Espinosa Fortes Ferreira dos Santos successfully defended her thesis entitled "Analyse&Act: Automatic metrics and innovative protocols in robotics for children with ASD", developed under the supervision of Professors José Santos-Victor (DEEC/IST) and Alessandra Pedrocchi (PoliMI). She was awarded a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico and a PhD in Bioengineering from Politecnico di Milano, under a joint supervision agreement.

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).