University of Algarve

The Smart System Laboratory (SSLab) comprises three specialized units [https://smartsys.ualg.pt], namely:

Tourism Economics and Management - focused on development and capitalization of tourism economics decision support systems for public policy and business planning; efficient management accounting systems; tourism contributions to the circular economy; strategic and operational marketing instruments for business and destination competitiveness.

The group's research profile covers a number of topics in the field of finance and accounting, with particular emphasis on financial economics, international accounting, IFRS, accounting quality, disclosure, time series analysis, optimal portfolio weights, hedge ratios, energy economics, risk management and portfolio diversification, auditors and analysts and bankruptcy.

 

The group's research profile covers a wide range of topics in the fields of Economics and Finance, with particular emphasis on Financial Economics, Economic Integration, Business Cycles, Monetary Economics, Regional Economics, Economics of Innovation, Economic Policy, Labor Market, Income Inequality, Economic Growth and Development and Tourism Economic Impacts.

Following its emergency in Africa, human populations started migrating and dispersing within and outside Africa. Current research indicates that climate changes and increased human population density may have triggered both human inventive and adaptive behavior and dispersal. To better understand prehistoric behavior and human dispersal in Africa, our team is developing groundbreaking research on the past social and cultural interactions between human populations and between humans, the environment and other species surrounding them.

Eurasia played a critical role in unravelling details of our evolution from the appearance of the earliest Homo species to the transition from Neanderthals to Homo sapiens around 40,000 years ago. The ICArEHB’s group 'Dynamics of Paleolithic People in Eurasia' explores the cultural, social, and environmental interactions that occurred during the Pleistocene across this vast and diverse geographical area. Its goal is to contribute towards a better understanding of the factors that led to our status as the only surviving species on Earth.

The transition from hunting-gathering-fishing to agriculture as the main form of obtaining dietary calories was one of the key moments in human evolution. It occurred at different times in distinct parts of the world. Often, this led to an increase in social complexity, inequality and to the appearance of state societies. We analyse traces left behind in the archaeological, bio-anthropological and palaeobotanical records, while evaluating the relationship between daily human activities and ecological/climatic changes overtime.

In the CENSE-UAlg we develop leading international research on environmental engineering and sciences, namely on sustainable water sanitation, waste and resources recovery, and on computation for sustainability framed in the CENSE’s interdisciplinary research and advanced education in sustainability. 

The core mission of the ICArEHB is to develop an integrative understanding of past human adaptations.

The Center for Advanced Studies in Management and Economics (CEFAGE) was created in 2006, with the aim of promoting high quality research in the areas of Management and Economics. Since 2009 CEFAGE is funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (previous project reference: UID/ECO/04007/2013; current project reference UIDB/04007/2020).