Rui Coelho wins the “Professor Mário Costa” Young Researcher Award at EJIL2025

Rui Pedro Cardoso Coelho was awarded the "Professor Mário Costa” Young Researcher Award at the 6th Meeting of Young Researchers of LAETA in Porto on 27–28 October 2025.

The award recognises the winner's outstanding scientific contribution, presented under the title "Composite Bayesian Optimisation for the Analysis and Design of Materials and Structures”. 

This work addresses a key challenge faced by modern industries requiring the rapid development of materials with enhanced mechanical properties under tight technological and time constraints. 

During his presentation, Rui Coelho explained that simulation-based design, made possible by advances in high-performance computing and accurate numerical modelling, has become a cost-effective and flexible alternative to experimental testing.

These approaches reduce costs, accelerate development, and can be fully automated for unsupervised execution. 

The "Professor Mário Costa” Young Researcher Award honours excellence in research carried out by early-career scientists within the LAETA community. LAETA congratulates Rui Pedro Cardoso Coelho on this well-deserved distinction and acknowledges the high scientific quality of the work presented at EJIL2025.