SPEE Board visited ISEC and FCTUC, on November 19, 2018, morning and afternoon, respectively, with the objective of presenting the Society to the professors of both Engineering Teaching Institutions.

The Board took advantage of this open sessions of dissemination of the Society to attract new members, as well as to initiate a dialogue with the individual members of these Institutions, on current aspects of Engineering Education.

In addition to the open session, brief working meetings were held between SPEE Board and the Presidents of ISEP and FCTUC, Dr. Mário Velindro and Dr. Luís Neves, respectively.

The SPEE President met informally with his counterparts from the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Stephanie Farrell of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education (A2E2), Tom Goldfinch, and the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), Mike Murphy, having shared topics of common interest.

The SPEE Board met with the President and Vice President of SEFI (Mike Murphy and Luis Sánchez Ruiz, respectively). At the meeting, points of interest were discussed between the two Societies, namely the possible interaction of working groups and membership of SPEE as an associate member of SEFI.

Bill Williams organized the Engineering Engineering Research Workshop WG @ SEFI 2018 (September 19 in Copenhagen, Denmark) which hosted more than 40 participants. The working group explored the theme “key references in engineering education research”. Each participant studied in detail an article, followed by a discussion of the topic in a small group, and finally a joint session to compare and discuss the different articles. This session gave life to one of the pillars of high quality research in Engineering Education: read and discuss scientific publications!

During the conference Bill Williams also participated in meetings of the Direction of the SEFI Working Group on Engineering Education Research (WG-EER) and the editorial team of the European Journal of Engineering Education where he serves as Associate Editor.

Gustavo Alves and Filomena Soares, from SPEE Board, were present at a working meeting promoted by the Portuguese and Spanish chapters of the Education Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), which was held at the School of Telecommunications Engineering, University of Vigo, on December 19, 2018.

In addition to the Presidents of the Portuguese and Spanish Chapters of the IEEE Education Society, the meeting was also attended by the junior Past President, President, and President Elect of this Society, respectively Manuel Castro, Claudio da Rocha Brito, and Edmundo Tovar. Claudio da Rocha Brito is also a member of SPEE.

The meeting discussed topics of mutual interest to both Societies, and the current state of the protocol between SPEE and IEEE EdSoc was also discussed.

This activity is part of the 3rd axis of work defined by SPEE Board, namely to promote the Society to its international counterparts.