G[ai]A-ALFA
Action and Logic for Adaptable Futures
An ITI/LARSyS – UMa research project building applied AI for the challenges of an outermost region: the energy transition, health and wellbeing, and citizens’ capacity to take part in the decisions technology shapes.
A small region is a real-world laboratory.
Islands experience first, and more sharply, what the rest of Europe will face later: energy dependency, climate pressure, ageing, resource isolation. That scale is also an advantage — it allows solutions to be tested end to end and their effects measured with a closeness other settings rarely allow. Over 36 months, a multidisciplinary team will work across four complementary pillars, with Madeira as the research ground and the region’s people as participants.
Four pillars
The first three map onto the AI dimensions defined by the G[ai]A Centre of Excellence — ecological, physical and civic. The fourth cuts across all of them.
Digital Twins for Sustainable Energy
Digital replicas of the Port of Funchal and its surrounding energy communities, to simulate and optimise the energy transition.
Ecological AI · Activity A1
Health and Wellbeing for Resilience
Digital solutions for prevention, active ageing, sustainable tourism and epidemiological surveillance.
Physical AI · Activity A2
Interaction for Civic Preparedness
Experiences and co-design processes that give citizens a voice in, and an understanding of, the AI that affects them.
Civic AI · Activity A3
Ethical and Sustainable AI
Explainability, bias mitigation and reducing the energy footprint of the models we build.
Cross-cutting · Activity A4
36
months
4
pillars
7
activities
15+
publications
Latest news
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Workshop: AI in health, wellbeing and sport — ethical, legal and social challenges
A half-day workshop at the Reitoria in Funchal on 3 December 2026, with keynotes from Rui Garcia (University of Porto) and Maurício Corrêa da Veiga, and a participatory round table on civic engagement with AI. Held in Portuguese.
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Study with informal caregivers wins best poster at MobileHCI 2026
Beatriz Jardim Peres, Hildegardo Noronha, Pedro F. Campos and Élvio Rúbio Gouveia evaluated a commercial emotional well-being app with ten informal caregivers. The paper received a best poster award at MobileHCI ’26 in Swansea.
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G[ai]A-ALFA workshop brings Coimbra and Lisbon researchers to Funchal
Three days of laboratory visits, fieldwork on the Ponta de São Lourenço trail and scientific sessions at the Rectorate — closing with concrete lines for joint applications to national and European calls.