StaySafe in Portugal is up online

The Sperantis project, created by a group of i3S doctoral students, was recently selected by the Movimento Transforma Portugal for funding. The objective of the initiative is to educate Erasmus students and other non-Portuguese speakers, about the COVID-19 situation, the plan for the end of lockdown, and the contingency measures in force in Portugal. The information is already on Instagram and in English.

“We are all PhD students at the i3S and we often meet foreign colleagues here at the institute. We can easily understand the difficulties they feel following the reality of the country where they are working or studying”, explains Helena Ferreira, one of the mentors of the Sperantis project. For this reason, she adds, “when we became aware of Movimento Transforma Portugal, we thought of this idea and applied. We had a financing of 400 euros, the maximum amount that can be attributed”.

“As our target audience is young Erasmus students, we chose to create an Instagram page to communicate in a concise and captivating way, all the measures for leaving lockdown - what can or cannot be done and also to share suggestions for places to visit safely”, underlines Helena Ferreira.

In the scope of Sperantis, continues Diana Fonseca, another of the creators of the project, “we also wanted to appeal to continuous compliance with preventive measures and care”. It is also the intention of this group of six PhD students “to function as a logistical support line, in case any international student becomes infected with COVID-19, by providing a kit of essential goods”. To this end, a contact email will be released via Instagram and printed on the flyers that will be available at the various colleges of the University of Porto.

Movimento Transforma Portugal is coordinated by Fórum Estudante and is a partnership with Transforma Brasil, and has the support of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, as well as the La Caixa Foundation and the Missão Continente.