Alice Semedo, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto (FLUP) and researcher at CITCEM—Center for Transdisciplinary Research on Culture, Space, and Memory—has been awarded the 2026 Special Mention for Professional Merit by the Portuguese Association of Museology (APOM) and co-opted to serve on the Editorial Board of Museus e Monumentos de Portugal, E. P. E., representing the academic community, for a one-year term.

The award was presented at the 2026 APOM Awards ceremony, held on October 30 at the João Mota Municipal Cinema-Theater in Sesimbra. In the same category, the following individuals were honored: Hugues de Varine, a historian and international authority on new museology and social museology; Francisco Lameira, an art historian; Paula Basso, a historian and specialist in museology and artistic heritage; and Luís Mendonça de Carvalho, a biologist and specialist in ethnobotany. The honor recognizes Alice Semedo’s career and her contributions to the development of museology in Portugal in the areas of research, education, and collaboration with the museum sector.

Since 1993, Alice Semedo has contributed to the establishment and consolidation of museology as a field of teaching and research in Portugal, through a career that combines education, knowledge production, and professional practice. Her work has contributed to the training of successive generations of professionals and researchers and to the development of critical and interdisciplinary perspectives on museums, their practices, and their cultural and social roles, with a particular focus on museum education and the relationships between museums and their local areas and communities.

His appointment to the Editorial Board, which was approved unanimously, also serves as recognition of his academic and professional career. Museus e Monumentos de Portugal, E. P. E., a public enterprise responsible for managing national museums, monuments, and palaces, plays a central role in the preservation, research, and promotion of Portugal’s cultural heritage. Alice Semedo’s participation on this Board provides an opportunity to strengthen the link between academic research and the institution’s publishing activities, contributing to the dissemination of knowledge and to critical debate on the contemporary challenges facing museology.