Lab2PT — Presentation
About Lab2PT
Lab2PT is an R&D unit at the University of Minho that integrates researchers from the School of Architecture, Art and Design and the Institute of Social Sciences. Established at the end of 2013, Lab2PT began its first funding period supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in 2015 and it is currently comprised by 66 PhD researchers, 23 collaborating researchers and 71 PhD students, who carry out research in the areas of Arts and Humanities, covering Architecture, Urbanism, History, Archaeology, Design, Visual Arts, Geography and Geology. Its guiding principle is the convergence of knowledge in order to establish its prominence in the fields of Landscape, Territory and Heritage, alongside Society, Technology and Representation.
The emphasis on the intersection of concepts, study questions and methodologies constitute its identity mark, which represents the basis for facing global socio-environmental challenges and seeking innovative solutions that guide the sustainable development of communities and territories. Its activities are distinguished by the simultaneous pursuit of fundamental and applied research, carried out across an extensive range of projects and outputs, which includes active participation in the Associated Laboratory IN2PAST.
Such diversity is accompanied by a comprehensive transversality across spatial and temporal scales, with the aim of uniting a critical understanding of the past with purposeful intent. This approach is particularly reflected in design practices, artistic creation and heritage preservation, together with a commitment to addressing social and civic mobilization agendas.
The innovation is marked by the established themes, considered territories and groups, often tangential to research canons, as well as by the variety of activities and the outcomes achieved, significantly leveraged by its laboratory’s capacity. The impact of these outputs is enhanced through direct engagement with communities, institutions and stakeholders, shaped within a network of relationships with municipalities and cross-border and international connections.
The breadth, variety and transdisciplinary scientific nature achieved is revealed through its 3 research groups, organized around distinct identity principles and specific objectives: LandS/Landscapes and Societies; DeTech/Design and Technology; SpaceR/Space and Representation.