COPELABS in a Nutshell

COPELABS is an interdisciplinary, private, not for profit research unit,  headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal, University Lusófona, focused on the promotion of well-being via pervasive networked systems.

In the last FCT evaluation (2013), COPELABS has been accredited with the grade of "Good" in the quality of small (less than 40 PhDs) interdisciplinary research unit with high laboratorial intensity, for the period of 2015-2020.

Under the motto “People-centric solutions for improved life experience”, COPELABS brings into life disruptive and yet simple concepts and mechanisms that shall change the way social networking is both developed and applied. Therefore, from a technology innovation perspective, COPELABS aims to pursue a roadmap for the introduction of emerging and disruptive technologies showing how they can benefit its research as well as the strategy of its associated institutions; customers/partners; and relevant standardization bodies.

Our team consists of computer scientists and psychologists (social, neuro and clinical psychology) that are employees of Grupo Lusófona. The team integrates also PhD and MSc students hosted in COPELABS, as well as researchers participating in projects managed by COPELABS. In 2016, we count with a work-force of 30 elements, 23 of which hold a Ph.D.

Vision and Mission

COPELABS pursues the vision of improving the day-to-day living, including the psychological well-being and functioning of citizens, based on an interdisciplinary approach that uniquely combines paradigms derived from computer science as well as from psychology, to develop pervasive and user-friendly technology with the ultimate goal of improving capabilities of human behaviour and of human routine.

Our mission is to design, to develop, and to validate pervasive, low-cost, and user-friendly technological solutions that are both useful in the context of psychological and cognitive intervention as well as capable of placing the citizen in the heart of the social structure that today encompasses the Internet.

Associated Schools

COPELABS pursues innovation both from an advanced (40%) and from an applied perspective (60%), being associated to two different schools of ULHT: ECATI and EPCV. COPELABS intertwines with these schools by providing support to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cycles and by working as host institution for master and PhD students of University Lusófona.

COPELABS researches and develops both tailored solutions based upon specific requirements provided by partners and/or customers, as well as advanced innovation aiming at keeping leadership in scientific and technological fields of interest related with two main R&D tracks:  Internet Science (social interaction and human behaviour impact on the Internet), and Cyperpsychology (technologically-based mental health intervention and assessment).

Being associated with two of the most relevant schools of University Lusófona, COPELABS has an extremely forefront and enriching interdisciplinary environment, that mixes two research lines, as mentioned before, which are today fundamental for a better understanding of how technology and society benefit can benefit each other. Two areas of study, that stem from the interconnection between Internet Science and Cyperpsychology, are key to the research in COPELABS, namely, social interaction and human behaviour inference and assessment. It is our belief that these two aspects are essential to improve the day-to-day living and psychological well-being of citizens.