IPFN - Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear

To conclude the academic year, we celebrate the 13th edition of , IPFN’s summer school dedicated to plasma physics, intense lasers and nuclear fusion. 🙌

Two weeks ago, Lisbon became home to 44 students from 21 nationalities for a week of learning, discovery and exchange, combining lectures on frontier research topics with outdoor activities such as climbing, mountainboarding, kayaking and surfing.🏄‍♀️ 🌊

The week concluded with a visit to IPFN's laboratories, including ISTTOK tokamak, Plasma Engineering Laboratory (PEL) and the Cold Atom facility (MOTLab).

Thank you to all the students who took part in this edition and to everyone who contributed to making PlasmaSurf 2026 such a successful and inspiring experience. ✨

📸 Take a look at some of the highlights from the week.

🔗 Read the full story, including testimonials from the students: https://www.ipfn.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/news-and-events/news/281663955271805

From Colombia to Lisbon, Stefany Hernández Arrieta will join us in October for five months residency at Group of Lasers and Plasmas through the Science Journalism in Residency Programme, an ERC initiative supporting immersive experiences for science journalists at European research institutions.👏

Over the coming months, “Taming the Light” will be the image chosen by Stefany to give its name to the project that brought her to Instituto Superior Técnico. Between lasers, simulations and unanswered questions, there will be another look inside the laboratory. Not to do science, but to tell the story of those who do it every day.

🔗 Read the full story: https://www.ipfn.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/news-and-events/news/281663955271804

IPFN researchers and students, joined the 52nd European Physical Society (EPS) Conference on Plasma Physics, the annual meeting of the EPS Plasma Physics Division, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 29 June to 3 July 2026.

The event gathered researchers from around the world to discuss the latest advances in plasma physics, including magnetic confinement fusion, beam plasma and inertial fusion, low-temperature plasmas, and basic, space and astrophysical plasmas.

Our researchers contributed to the programme through talks, poster presentations, chairing sessions and participation in the Programme Committee.

In the first picture, from left to right: João Biu, Marco Costa, Maria Filomena Nave, Luís Gil, Carlos Silva, Paulo Rodrigues, Hugo Terças, António Figueiredo, Lucas Ansia Fernández, Bernardo Barbosa and Leonor Roque.

The conference also recognised Pablo J. Bilbao, who completed his PhD in Physics at Group of Lasers and Plasmas/IPFN, with the EPS Plasma Physics Division PhD Research Award for his thesis “Kinetic Instabilities in Extreme Plasma Physics: Laboratory and Astrophysical Dynamics”. 👏

🔗 Read the full story: https://www.ipfn.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/news-and-events/news/281663955271803

Thomas Grismayer, researcher at IPFN's Group of Lasers and Plasmas, coordinates a new European platform for the study of plasmas containing antimatter.

The PAIR (Plasma Antimatter Investigation and Realisation) project has received funding through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Staff Exchanges programme, under Horizon Europe, to investigate "pair plasmas", a unique state of matter composed of electrons and positrons.

The consortium, which brings together research institutions and industrial partners from Europe and the United States, aims to create, diagnose and model these plasmas in the laboratory, enabling the study of a state of matter that naturally occurs in extreme environments in the Universe, such as those surrounding pulsars and black holes.

Over the next four years, the consortium will develop reusable resources, including open-source software and benchmark experimental designs, contributing to the establishment of a permanent European capability for pair-plasma science.

The project will also train a new generation of researchers able to bridge high-power laser physics with advanced software engineering.

🔗 Read the full story: https://www.ipfn.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/news-and-events/news/281663955271802

📷 Image credit: Instituto Superior Técnico

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵?

At IPFN, five European students are taking part in research internships within the Engineering and Systems Integration Group/IPFN from April to September. Over these months, they are gaining first-hand experience of fusion and its challenges while working alongside IPFN researchers Alberto Vale, Jorge Santos and Raul Luís.

Their projects contribute to ongoing R&D activities in fusion technology, nuclear engineering and advanced simulation, including reactor modelling, mechanical design, neutronics studies and 3D electromagnetic simulation tools.

Read the full story 🔗 https://www.ipfn.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/news-and-events/news/281663955271801

António Costa visita ITER.

«A transformação de conhecimento em tecnologia e em valor económico requer equipamentos científicos, novas metodologias experimentais, prototipagem, ensaios e validação; todas estas dimensões dependem de investimento público continuado em equipamentos e infraestruturas científicas que, nos últimos anos, tem sido escasso e territorialmente assimétrico. Assim, e existindo já uma base significativa de investigadores, o maior desafio da nova agência AI2 é criar os instrumentos e as condições de financiamento que permitam transformar esse potencial em novas ideias, novas tecnologias e valor para o país, para que nenhuma ciência seja perdida.»

Neste artigo de opinião, Luís Oliveira e Silva, professor do Técnico, discute receios relacionados com o financiamento competitivo na ciência em Portugal, abordando o exemplo norte-americano, o contexto europeu e os obstáculos que a nova agência AI2 tem pela frente.

🔗 Artigo completo no Semanário SOL: https://tinyurl.com/3zj4dy7h

GTechPlasma, the first spin-off based on research developed at IPFN, Instituto Superior Técnico and hosted by Tecnico Venture Lab, was featured by Euronews Português in an article highlighting its graphene-based electromagnetic shielding technology.



🔗Read the English version: https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/06/30/from-lab-to-sky-portuguese-graphene-that-hides-jets-and-drones-may-transform-defence

🔗Portuguese version, including video: https://pt.euronews.com/next/2026/06/30/do-laboratorio-para-o-ceu-grafeno-portugues-que-esconde-avioes-e-drones-pode-revolucionar-

Ana Cravo Sá, researcher at IPFN’s Group of Engineering and Systems Integration (GESI), received the Best Paper Award at the International Symposium on Radiation Exposure Monitoring in Medical Imaging (REM 2026), on behalf of the team she leads. The symposium was held in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 11 to 13 June 2026.

The awarded work, developed within the scope of Ana’s project, was presented as an oral communication entitled “Variability of Cone Beam Dose Index in Cone Beam Computed Tomography Protocols: A Multicenter Assessment and National Survey”.

The study stands out for its relevance to the optimisation of radiological protection and the assessment of patient doses associated with the use of Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT), an imaging modality that enables more accurate treatment planning and greater personalisation of radiotherapy treatments.

The team includes specialists from several healthcare and academic institutions, including fellow IPFN members Pedro Vaz, Salvatore Di Maria and Yuriy Romanets.

REM is a leading international conference dedicated to radiation exposure monitoring in medical imaging, bringing together specialists in dose management, automated exposure data collection and digital healthcare integration.

Congratulations to Dr Ana Cravo Sá and her team! 👏



Read the full story here 🔗 https://www.ipfn.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/news-and-events/news/563138931982710

𝗜𝗣𝗙𝗡 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗖𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲

IPFN hosted the 1st kickoff conference of the EXPAND COST Action — Extreme Plasma Network for Advanced Discovery from 1 to 3 June at the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa.

Coordinated by Frederico Fiuza, Group Leader of the Astrophysical Plasmas Group (GAP) at IPFN and Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico, EXPAND is a European network dedicated to the study of plasmas under extreme conditions, such as those found in the magnetospheres of black holes and neutron stars.

These relativistic plasmas play a central role in energy transport, particle acceleration and high-energy radiation emission, yet they continue to pose major challenges across theoretical, computational, observational and experimental physics.

Over three days, the conference brought together international experts to discuss the field’s key scientific challenges and foster new collaborations between theory, simulations, astronomical observations and laboratory experiments, including those using high-intensity lasers and particle accelerators.

The programme featured several contributions from IPFN/IST researchers, including Frederico Fiúza, Luis Silva, Marija Vranic and Thomas Grismayer. It also included a contribution from Joana Lobo Antunes, Assistant Professor and Head of Communication, Image and Marketing at Técnico, who gave a presentation on science communication and outreach.

Alongside the scientific presentations, the event included discussions, networking opportunities and poster sessions.

Funded by the European Union through COST, EXPAND aims, over the next four years, to strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration, develop new tools, support the training of early-career researchers and bring science closer to both the scientific community and the public.



Read the full story here 🔗 https://www.ipfn.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/news-and-events/news/563138931982709