The Staff Week brought together 11 participants from the Universities of Cádiz (Spain), Gdańsk (Poland), Kiel (Germany) and Split (Croatia), including academics, researchers and administrative staff. The programme fostered debate on the historical, cultural and symbolic importance of the sea in the Algarve region, as well as on the various forms of preservation and representation of maritime heritage.
The programme began at the Gambelas Campus, with a welcome session and an institutional presentation of UAlg, the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences (FCHS) and CIAC, followed by a tour of the campus and several cultural sites in the city of Faro, including the Municipal Museum, the Almirante Ramalho Ortigão Maritime Museum, Faro Cathedral, and the University Library and Archives.
Activities continued with thematic panels dedicated to different dimensions of Algarve’s maritime heritage, with contributions from João Pedro Bernardes, Andreia Fidalgo, Sara Vitorino Fernandez, Sílvia Quinteiro and Carlos Simões (ICArHEB), who explored various perspectives on history, identity, culture and the arts.
On the second day, the Staff Week featured a special session dedicated to the finalist short films of the second edition of the SEA-EU Film Festival, organised this year by CIAC at the Penha Campus. The Festival received nearly 30 submissions from students across the alliance’s universities, of which 13 were selected by an international jury that evaluated the artistic and technical quality of the works.
At the closing event in Faro, the Pro-Rector for SEA-EU, Patrícia Pinto, awarded the prize for Best Film to UAlg/ESEC Animated Image students Beatriz Puga and Isabela Mendes, authors of “Purring Memories” (Ronronar de Lembranças), distinguished for its narrative sensitivity and aesthetic quality. The second edition of the Festival strengthened the importance of cinema as a tool for artistic and intercultural communication within SEA-EU, contributing to the promotion of young talent and to reinforcing connections between partner institutions.
By hosting this Staff Week, the University of Algarve reaffirmed their commitment to the mission of SEA-EU: to promote knowledge, innovation and international cooperation, while valuing the coastal identity shared by all universities in the alliance.
