Biographical note

Alexandra Cruchinho

Alexandra Cruchinho is a Full Professor and Researcher at the School of Communication, Architecture, Art and Information Technologies of the Lusófona University o- Centro Universitário de Lisboa, since January 2021. She is an integrated researcher at the Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture and New Technologies (CICANT) DOI 10.54499/UIDB/05260/2020. She completed her PhD in Textile Engineering - Design Management, at the University of Minho, with a dissertation on "Design - The continuous construction of competences", in December 2009. She completed a Master's degree in Art Theory at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon and a degree in Visual and Technological Education, Primary School Teachers, at the School of Education of the Castelo Branco Polytechnic Institute, in 1999. She undertook international training in Art Direction for Fashion at Central Saint Martin's - University of the Arts London. She has been teaching in higher education in the area of Design, Fashion Design and Photography since 1999. Since 2000, she has been coordinating different 1st and 2nd Cycle Studies, namely in the areas of Design, more specifically in the area of Fashion Design. She is currently the director of the BA and MA in Fashion Design and Production at Universidade Lusófona - Centro Tecnológico de Lisboa and the BA in Fashion Design and Production at Universidade Lusófona - Centro Universitário do Porto. Since 2000, she has coordinated several initiatives in the area of Fashion, namely the organisation of Fashion Shows, both at the academic level and at the professional level with several national designers in the main fashion weeks. Her photography work, both fashion and artistic, has also been a constant feature of her professional career. Her line of research is directed towards Fashion Design - Production, Fashion Photography and Editorial, Contemporary Fashion Design, Cultural heritage and sustainability in fashion. In the areas of intervention and research, she has been invited to take part in thematic panels, round tables, moderations and is a member of the Scientific Committee of various national and international conferences.

José Carlos Neves

José Carlos Neves has in the physical interface and interactive art his main focus of research, subjects he follows on his artistic work and post-graduation studies: he accomplishes a PHD in Communication Studies and a Master in Multimedia Communication Systems with dissertations on those frame studies. With a degree in Communication Design, he has a solid professional experience in the Graphic Design field; he was senior designer and founder associate of a design studio for several years. Currently he manages subjects related to design and technologies at ULHT. As a lecturer, he teaches subjects in the areas of Interaction Design, Digital Arts and Communication Design in several bachelor degrees (Design, Videogames, Cinema, Applied Communications) and in one Master Degree (Teaching Visual Arts in the third Cycle). Believing in the principle of «learning-by-doing», where real projects can benefit the learning process, he is currently involved in two projects involving Game Based Learning: a) Co-IR and investigator at GBL4deaf – Game-Based Learning for Deaf (funded by FCT/Lisboa 2020) — the project aims to explore the value of digital games in the mathematics learning process of deaf students of 2nd and 3rd cycles of Basic Education, contributing to a more inclusive and equalitarian education; b) Coordinator at EducaçãoAcessível.pt — an ongoing project (started in 2015) integrated on the ULHT Videogames Bachelor Degree, that aims to teach mathematics to deaf children through video games with integration of original physical interfaces. As interaction designer and project manager, he has in Gulbenkian’s “Centro Interpretativo Ribeiro Telles” his most relevant project: a multimedia space dedicated to Gulbenkian garden, in which he coordinated the CICANT-ULHT team (CECL-UNL was a project partner) and conceived the physical interface of the main room.