Researchers Sara Monteiro Machado and Susana Ferrador, both members of CITCEM, the Center for Transdisciplinary Research on Culture, Space, and Memory (CITCEM research group “Information, Communication, and Digital Culture”), at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto, had their doctoral dissertations recognized at the fourth edition of the 2026 Paquete de Oliveira Award, organized by the Portuguese Association of Communication Sciences (SOPCOM). The two dissertations ranked second and third among the three theses recognized by the jury, out of 17 submissions.

The award was announced on October 27 by SOPCOM as part of a biennial national award that recognizes excellence in scientific research in the field of Communication Sciences. The 2026 edition considered doctoral dissertations defended between 2023 and 2025.

Second place went to Sara Filipa Monteiro Machado’s dissertation, titled “The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Voter Turnout Among Young Portuguese People.” This dissertation was completed as part of the Ph.D. program in Information and Communication on Digital Platforms, under the supervision of Vasco Ribeiro and Raquel Meneses.

Third place went to Susana Ferrador’s dissertation, titled “Community-Based Cyberjournalism: Mapping and Analysis of Online Media in Trás-os-Montes,” defended on November 25, 2025, as part of the doctoral program in Information and Communication on Digital Platforms—which has since been discontinued—developed in partnership between the University of Porto and the University of Aveiro. The research was supervised by Fernando Zamith and Pedro Jerónimo.

According to the rules of the Paquete de Oliveira Award, the jury may recognize, in addition to the winning thesis, up to two other works.

In the 2026 edition, first place and the grand prize were awarded to researcher Bianca Persici Toniolo, whose dissertation will be published as a book.