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The Portuguese Association for Pattern Recognition (APRP) has, as one of its objectives, the promotion of advances, both in theory and in practical applications, of the scientific discipline of pattern recognition.

In accordance with this objective, the APRP sponsors the APRP Awards for Best Doctoral Thesis and Best Master's Dissertation, with the aim of distinguishing works of high merit in the area of Pattern Recognition, and encouraging young Portuguese researchers to disseminate their work. The attribution of the prize is governed by the following regulations:

Best Master’s Dissertation

RequirementsApplicationsAssessmentValueHistoric
  • The dissertation was defended in a Portuguese higher education institution
  • The dissertation is in the area of pattern recognition
  • The candidate must be under 30 years of age at the time of the defense
  • The dissertation must have been defended between September 1, 2022 and August 31, 2023
  • The dissertation must be written in Portuguese or English
  • The works must have a single author, and submitting an application to this prize is a commitment of honor and authenticity.
Until August 31, 2023, by sending a zip file to aprp@fe.up.pt containing:

a) A copy of the Master’s dissertation in pdf format;

b) A letter of recommendation from the supervisor;

c) A letter of recommendation from the examiner (optional but encouraged);

d) Curriculum Vitae of the author;

e) Certificate of completion of the degree. The ‘subject’ of the email must be “APRP Best Master’s Dissertation Award“.

The works, which must be submitted individually, are evaluated by a jury of Portuguese scientists of international prestige and recognized leaders in the main areas of knowledge to which the Prize is associated, and by a representative of the APRP.

The Jury reserves the right not to award any prize if it decides that none of the works presented meet the requirements of quality and innovation or comply with the regulations. The Jury is sovereign in the decisions taken and reserves the right to request any clarification, which may go as far as verifying the results or devices described, if applicable.

The Award will be announced at the RecPad 2023 Scientific Meeting and publicly disclosed.

  • Certificate
  • RecPad 2024 Registration
  • Cash prize of 150 Euros
  • 2024 “Adapting Biased Teachers for Fair Knowledge Distillation in Face Recognition” – Maria Eduarda Loureiro Caldeira
  • 2023Whispered speech segmentation based on Deep Learning” – Gonçalo Duarte Nunes
  • 2022 “Differentiable Causal Discovery under latent interventions” – Gonçalo Faria
  • 2021: “A privacy-preserving framework for case-based interpretability in machine learning” – Helena Montenegro
  • 2020: “Producing Decisions and Explanations: A Joint Approach Towards Explainable CNNs” – Isabel Cristina Rio-Torto de Oliveira
  • 2019: “RobotChain: Artificial Intelligence on a Blockchain using Tezos Technology” – Vasco Ferrinho Lopes
  • 2018: “Gait Characterization and Classification in Lower-Limb Amputees” – Filipe Daniel Rodrigues
  • 2017: “Deep Learning Applied to PMU Data in Power Systems” – Pedro Emanuel Almeida Cardoso
  • 2015: “Supervised Topic Models with Multiple Annotators” – Mariana Rodrigues Lourenço
  • 2014: “Analysis of Expressiveness of Portuguese Sign Language Speakers” –  Maria Inês Coutinho Vigário Rodrigues

Best Doctoral Thesis

RequirementsApplicationsAssessmentValueHistoric
  • The thesis was defended in a Portuguese higher education institution
  • The thesis is in the area of pattern recognition
  • The candidate must be under 36 years of age at the time of the thesis defense
  • The thesis must have been defended between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2022
  • The thesis must be written in Portuguese or English
  • The works must have a single author, and submitting an application to this prize is a commitment of honor and authenticity.
Until January 31, 2023, by sending a zip file to aprp@fe.up.pt containing:

a) A copy of the PhD dissertation in pdf format;

b) A letter of recommendation from the supervisor;

c) A letter of recommendation from an examiner (optional but encouraged);

d) Curriculum Vitae of the author;

e) Certificate of completion of the degree. The ‘subject’ of the email must be “APRP Best Doctoral Thesis Award”.

The works, which must be submitted individually, are evaluated by a jury of Portuguese scientists of international prestige and recognized leaders in the main areas of knowledge to which the Prize is associated, and by a representative of the APRP.

The Jury reserves the right not to award any prize if it decides that none of the works presented meet the requirements of quality and innovation or comply with the regulations. The Jury is sovereign in the decisions taken and reserves the right to request any clarification, which may go as far as verifying the results or devices described, if applicable.

The Award will be announced at the IbPRIA 2023 International Conference and publicly announced.

  • Certificate
  • RecPad 2023 Registration
  • Cash prize of 250 Euros
  • 2021: “Emotion-based Analysis and Classification of Audio Music” – Renato Eduardo Silva Panda
  • 2019: “Automatic Detection of Melanomas Using Dermoscopy Images” – Ana Catarina Fidalgo Barata
  • 2017: “Probabilistic models for learning from crowdsourced data” – Filipe Manuel Pereira Duarte Rodrigues
  • 2015: “Organizing Data Combining Multiple Sources Of Information” – André Ribeiro Lourenço

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