Research integrating different backgrounds in interdisciplinary work

Systems Engineering
Decision Support in Complex Problems

Mathematics, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Informatics Engineering, Civil Engineering (Urban, Transport, Hydraulics, Mechanics), Environmental Engineering, Geomatics Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Economics, Management

• Because reality is dynamic, uncertain and multidimensional •

Keywords

Management Structure & Research Areas

About

The Institute of Systems and Computer Engineering at Coimbra (INESCC) is a private non-profit institution recognized as a public utility, dedicated to scientific research, technological development, and knowledge transfer to society. It is affiliated with the University of Coimbra, INESC, and the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria. INESCC is an interdisciplinary R&D unit gathering 100+ researchers and graduate students from ten higher-education institutions with expertise in multiple branches of engineering (electrical, civil, informatics, geographic, mechanical), embodying a systems engineering approach.

Activities combine theory and methodology, and technical and human factors to tackle complex problems in relevant application domains, to address scientific challenges issued from the needs of industry and public institutions taking into account vaster societal concerns framed by the UN sustainable development goals (reliable, efficient and clean energy; resilient infrastructures; sustainable cities and communities; water access; health). This interdisciplinary nature has enabled addressing new challenges in traditional application domains, namely network infrastructures (electricity, telecom, transport, hydraulic), and in emerging fields as consumer empowerment in smart grids, radiotherapy planning for cancer treatment, use of geospatial data to monitor coastal marine litter and forest fires, networks for disaster resilient communication services and water-energy nexus. A balance is sought between fundamental and applied research, innovative models and algorithms being proposed as a basis for applied research in traditional and emerging fields. The global objectives in accordance with the statutory mission are:

• To design more efficient and effective systems by integrating competences in several Engineering Sciences to address problems from operational to strategic levels.
  

• To support basic and applied research and postgraduate programs.

• To transfer knowledge and have impact on the economic fabric and society by providing scientific and technical support to public and private organizations.
  

These objectives have been achieved by developing interdisciplinary research, leading to publications in top scientific journals, R&D projects, contracts with industry and public administration, and international cooperation, in the areas:

• Decision support systems and methodologies: multicriteria analysis and multiobjective optimization, modeling uncertainty, efficiency evaluation, optimization methods for hard combinatorial problems
  

• Energy systems and policy: energy efficiency and sustainable energy planning, demand side management and demand response, energy efficiency in buildings, energy-environment-economy studies, electricity markets, quality of service, electric mobility

• Telecommunications networks planning: performance optimization, advanced multicriteria routing methods, survivability and robust design, and simulation
  

• Spatial decision support in regional, urban & transport planning: optimization and decision models based on geographical information, network optimization problems, location of infrastructures and facilities
  

• Geospatial information: collection of geospatial data using positioning and remote sensing technologies and crowdsourced approaches, geospatial data processing and integration in information systems, data analysis for geospatial information extraction
  

• Computational mechanics applied to structural systems: nonlinear structural analysis, numerical-computational methods for largescale systems, safety evaluation of structural systems
  

• Planning and management of hydraulic infrastructures and water resources: optimal design and operation of water distribution networks and drainage systems, integrated management of water sources for multipurpose allocation at river basin level, computational intelligence in water resources, water-energy nexus.
  

• Advanced robotics and smart factories
  

Mission

INESC Coimbra's statutory mission is to perform scientific research, technological development, and knowledge integration and transfer, based on several disciplines of Engineering and Management Science / Operations Research, aiming at contributing to a better performance of businesses and institutions and to the progress of knowledge, within an engineering systems approach, by creatively combining theory and methodology, technical issues and human factors to tackle complex problems.

Researchers

INESC Coimbra currently integrates more then 100 researchers, from three departments of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of UC (Electrical Engineering and Computers, Civil Engineering, and Mathematics) and the Faculty Economics, as well as from the University of Beira Interior, Open University and the Polytechnic Institutes of Leiria, Coimbra, Setubal, Bragança, Viana do Castelo and Viseu.

The different backgrounds (mainly in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Civil Engineering, Geographical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Management and Mathematics) and scientific interests allow INESC Coimbra's researchers to collaborate, to challenge each other and to learn from each other in addressing complex problems. On the one hand, sciences of engineering are used to address management and performance analysis problems (e.g. planning, controlling, project analysis and system evaluation). On the other hand, management science's decision aiding techniques are used to address engineering problems (energy planning and rational use of energy, telecommunication networks analysis and planning, teletraffic engineering, urban and regional planning, computational mechanics). The joint projects, papers, and thesis supervisions demonstrate this synergy.

History

INESC Coimbra continues the activities of the former Coimbra branch of INESC, which dates back to 1986 through an agreement between the University of Coimbra and INESC and a specific protocol for the Operational Research area. Since that date onwards, research and development activities have evolved from that initial core related to Operational Research through the collaboration of new researchers and progressively covering new research areas. INESC Coimbra started its activities as an autonomous institution in January 2002.