Limelight

In a universe of more than 1200 collaborators, there are many months when there is more than one collaborator with a performance suitable for “Limelight”. An example of this is the fact that for several months we receive more than one nominee. This led to a change in the publication policy: BIP has started to highlight all nominees, without considering the merit (because all nominees have much merit!). Additionally, considering the criteria for news opportunity, an interview with one of the nominees is developed.

This month we spoke with Catarina Fernandes, Paula Rodrigues and Lídia Vilas Boas (HASLab)

1. You have different stories here at HasLab/INESC TEC. Tell us a little about how you got here and your journey so far. 

We are three women. Three women with distinct roles that complement each other. Three women with different tempers and profiles but that get along 'très bien'.

In the beginning, there was only Lídia. She works at INESC TEC for almost 20 years now and has been part of several services here in the institute, at CESE and also at the secretarial coordination. Currently, she's working as secretary of the Board of Directors. In 2012, and focusing on the collaboration with HASLab, Lídia was put in charge of the secretarial duties of this Centre.

Sixteen years later and with the reorganisation of the HASLab as an integrated R&D centre of INESC TEC, Paula was brought in to represent the communication service (SCOM) of INESC TEC's pole in the University of Minho (HASLab). This intended to facilitate the interaction between the communication service and its own centre and the Communication, Information and Image Office (GCII) of the University of Minho.

Finally, in 2015, Catarina was hired through the University of Minho to give support on financial management of HASLab's projects, which were until then assigned to the IT department. Since then, the Centre has grown and once again, after its reorganisation within INESC TEC's community, there was the need to have someone at full time responsible for secretary tasks. This way, Lídia shifted all this tasks to Catarina.

As you can see, we are three women with different backgrounds and duties.

Catarina Fernandes

2. We all work with HASLab in one way or another. How are your tasks split?

Even though we all work towards the same goal, when it comes to our duties, everyone has a different one.

Catarina is responsible for all tasks inherent to HASLab's secretarial work, namely human resources management, trips, requisitions, budgeting, support to the financial management of projects, among others.

Related to these tasks are the ones from Lídia at HASLab. As secretary from Professor Rui Oliveira, INESC TEC's member of the board and senior researcher at HASLab, Lídia supports Catarina whenever necessary. 

As for Paula, she is responsible for the interaction between HASLab and INESC TEC's SCOM as well as between SCOM and the GCII of the University of Minho. Besides this, she's responsible for the communication and spread of two of the Centre's European projects. Among other tasks, Paula is also responsible for its internal communication.

Paula Rodrigues

3. This is the second time that Paula and, and third time that Lídia, are nominated for Limelight. What is the feeling of once again having your work recognised? 

Paula: It is always a pleasure to have our work recognised! Whether in a task that lasts for a day or in a work that lasts for a year. I do my very best to represent the Centre in all the tasks that I have in hands! Sometimes there are variables that are rough and that can have not so great consequences, but it's important to improvise and to solve the problems! 

Lídia: Whatever the work that we're doing, either organising a conference or doing our everyday tasks, it's good to know that we're doing a fine job. It's not always possible to do what we intend to, either because of difficulties of our own or not. No one's perfect. We make mistakes, just like everyone. All in all, this is a recognition that leaves me, in all modesty, pleasantly satisfied. 

Lídia Vilas Boas

4. This nomination comes from the EuroSys'18 conference. How and when did this work started? 

The organisation of EuroSys 2018 started in April 2017 with Paula's trip to Serbia with the goal of talking to that year's members of the organisation. The idea was to get to know all of the event's details in order to be able to raise the bar for the 2018 edition. It seems it was possible, afterall! :) 

In fact, now that I think about this, the organization started in 2016 when we had to book the space. The same space that, meanwhile, ceased to have effect. But we're actually glad things went this way!
The clock was exactly at 09h00 on the 23 April 2017. There was just one year to go for our edition, the one that would end up being remarkable! Remarkable because of the city, the atmosphere, the detail of organisation, for the novelty factor and of course because of the spectacular gastronomy and quality of the wines. 

Given the amount of work this kind of organisation demanded, there was a need to rearrange everyone's agenda in order to balance everything related to the event to it along with the everyday tasks. 

5. We will end this interview by asking you to comment on your nomination by the HASLab Coordination and of the event: 

“We nominate Catarina Fernandes, Paula Rodrigues and Lídia Vilas Boas for Limelight due to their exemplary competence and pride with which they organized EuroSys'18. HASLab's Coordination/ Rui Oliveira

At first, we were speechless. But shortly afterwards, we were very proud to read those words! It is with great enthusiasm and satisfaction that we see our work being recognised. Because afterall, the effort is always worth it!

We could not end up not mentioning the incredible team of 17 volunteers that helped us during the event! EuroSys'18 wouldn't have been so successful if we didn't have this team! Thank you all who collaborated with us, namely Fábio Coelho, Rui Miguel, Diogo Couto, Nuno Machado, Francisco Neves, João Paulo, Ricardo Macedo, Rogério Pontes, George Younes, Vítor Enes, Adriaan Leijnse, Leandro Gomes, Francisco Cruz, Francisco Maia, Stéphanie Gonçalves, Rafaela Gomes and Daniel Monteiro.