Portuguese government officials and officers from top English and Portuguese universities will join academics to discuss current and future challenges for research and higher education in the UK, Portugal and Europe.

The one-day conference, LUSO 2018, on 16 June at Lancaster University will also provide an opportunity to engage with academics and professionals who have crossed borders in research and developed their work at the interface of different knowledge fields.

LUSO is the annual meeting of the Portuguese Association of Researchers and Students in the United Kingdom (PARSUK).

Speakers on the future of higher education and research will include:

• Tiago Brandão Rodrigues (Portugal’s Minister of Education)

• Professor Sharon Huttly (Pro Vice-Chancellor Education, Lancaster University)

• Professor Robert Geyer (Lancaster University Academic Director (International)

• Mike Galsworthy (Scientists for EU)

• Francisco Veloso (Dean of Imperial College Business School)

• Luís Oliveira e Silva (Professor of Physics at Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal)

• Joana Lobo Antunes (Head of Science Communication Office at ITQB Nova University of Lisbon)

• Helena Carreiras (President of ERGOMAS – European Research Group on Armed Forces and Society)

• Maria João Valente Rosa (Director of Pordata, the Database of Contemporary Portugal)

The event is supported by the University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences International Fund and is a joint initiative of Portuguese academics at Lancaster University (Dr Ceu Mateus FHM, Dr Patrick Rebuschat FASS, Dr Elizabete Carmo-Silva LEC, and Dr Ricardo Zózimo LUMS) and PARSUK.

Dr Céu Mateus said: “LUSO 2018 will provide a unique opportunity for all those interested in reflecting about challenges in higher education in providing students with the skills required to face a world in permanent mutation where people are likely to pursue more than one career throughout their lives.”

• LUSO is a familiar prefix referring to all things Portuguese and is an abbreviation of the ancient Roman province of Lusitania.