COST ACTION VOICES ANNUAL MEETING 

University of Minho (Braga, Portugal) April 8-9, 2025

Committee Lead: Edna Costa

The VOICES Annual Meeting brings together young researchers, policymakers, and academic leaders to foster dialogue and drive systemic change towards gender equality in research and innovation. Through discussions, workshops, and collaborations, the event aims to highlight challenges, share best practices, and create actionable strategies for a more inclusive research ecosystem across Europe.

VENUE

Founded in 1973, the University of Minho welcomed its first students in the academic year of 1975/76. At present, the University is renowned for its competence and quality of teaching staff, excellence in scientific research, wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses offered and for its high level of interaction with other institutions. Located in the north of Portugal, the University has a campus in Braga and two others in Guimarães, Azurém Campus and Couros Campus. For these reasons, UMinho has a central role in the region and is an important reference for the country and a recognised partner in the European and global scene.
The venue for the Voices annual meeting will be the Braga campus, specifically the Faculty of Economics, Management and Political Science. Originating from the ancient Roman town of Bracara Augusta, Braga is currently the third largest city in Portugal.   In addition, this year 2025 Braga is the Portuguese Capital of Culture with many activities proposed to get closer to Portuguese culture.

Conference Programme 8-9 April (Upcoming)

Travelling to, from and within Braga (Portugal)

Practical information

How to get to Braga

  1. Fly to Porto

The closest airport to Braga is Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, in Porto, which stands some 50 Km away from Braga. For GPS users, the coordinates to UMinho are (according to Google Earth): 41°33’41.00″N and 8°23’54.45″W. TAP and several major airlines have direct flights connecting Porto and many European airports. Ryanair has a hub at Porto. It has cheap flights to a large number of European cities. EasyJet and other low-cost airlines also fly to Porto.

  1. From Porto to Braga

The easiest way to get to Braga is by using the Getbus shuttles or Flixbus, which offers daily transfers from Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport to Braga. The cost is 9€ or 4€, and the journey takes approximately 50 minutes to Braga.

As an alternative, you can take the subway on Violeta Line to Campanhã Station, which takes about 33 minutes, between 6:00am and 1:30am]. From there you should get the train to Braga. Information on train prices and timetables can be found in the CP website. Braga train station is 5 minutes walking distance from the city centre.

From Porto airport to Braga participants can also:

  • rent a car;
  • take a taxi: cost around 60€ and take 40 minutes. Uber prices tend to be similar or slightly lower;
  • a bus service is also available from downtown Porto (Rua Alfredo Magalhaes).

About Braga: https://visitbraga.travel/

Accommodation

Where to Stay:

  • Close to Campus (5 to 10 minutes walking)
  • Bom Jesus (2.6 km, 35 min. walking down to campus, 45 min. walking up, or 20 min. by bus)
  • Downtown (about 2.5 km, 30 min. walking, 15-20 min. by bus).

We have negotiated rates with several hotels in Braga (Link here)

Note: A tourist tax of 1.50€ per day will also be charged.

Broadcasting

Information to be updated

Family Photo

Information to be updated

Conference Dinner and Social Programme

Braga is the Portuguese Capital of Culture for 2025, so there’s an amazing program of events happening right now. Take a look at https://braga25.pt/en/program/ and https://www.cm-braga.pt/en for ideas.

Conference Dinner (to be updated)

Catering

Participants according to COST rules will be asked to pay for lunch themselves.

Organised by

Funded by

This Conference is based upon work from “Making Early Career Investigators’ Voices Heard for Gender Equality” (VOICES) CA20137, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a funding agency for research and innovation networks. Our Actions help connect research initiatives across Europe and enable scientists to grow their ideas by sharing them with their peers. This boosts their research, career and innovation.