Speaker
Description
The Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) (Foundation for Science and Technology) is the national public agency that supports research in science, technology and innovation in all areas of science. It is a public institute under responsibility of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, created in 1997, succeeding the Junta Nacional de Investigação Científica e Tecnológica (JNICT) (National Board of Scientific and Technological Research), created in 1967. The history of FCT has an important role in the history of science and technology and the organization of science in Portugal, holding a significant heritage related to this history with interest for all areas of knowledge.
The Arquivo de Ciência e Tecnologia (ACT) (Science and Technology Archive), held by FCT, preserves and promotes the archival heritage of FCT. Opened in 2011, has as its mission the treatment, preservation and dissemination of the archival heritage in the custody of the FCT, and others with scientific and historical interest, thus contributing to the preservation of the history and memory of science and technology in Portugal. It reserves and manages documentation of undeniable interest and historical quality, which reflects Portuguese cultural and scientific activity, essentially from the second half of the 20th century onwards, largely translated into thousands of support files to Studentships, institutions, research projects, among others.
This Archive is responsible for the treatment, organization, communication and preservation of all this documentary heritage, that represents, essentially, archives of management institutions and scientific research organization at a national level, but also personal archives of scientists and researchers with a relevant activity in national and international scientific scene, such as the collection of Professor José Mariano Gago, former President of JNICT and Ministry of Science and Technology and José Francisco David Ferreira, an important doctor and scientist who introduced new techniques in his field of knowledge.
We also have a Science and Technology Library with national and international editions on science policy and management and administration of science, which must be preserved, identified and made available, as it is essential to support the study and understanding of the Archive.
The main purpose of this Archive is to make all this documentary heritage available for research, promoting studies on scientific research in Portugal.
This summary aims to present an archive that manages and provides unique information on Portuguese scientific activity. Also, to learn more about other projects and experiences.
