This project is about human rights in history. The concept and doctrine of human rights as such are a recent creation, only formulated and codified after World War II. The main purpose of this project is to seek early manifestations and perceptions of human rights, in the way they came into existence in the political and juridical culture of early modern Europe. The best way is to take as reference the process of construction of European overseas empires in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Because of its very nature, several issues were inherent to this process that are today considered in the scope of human rights, such as indigenous rights, slavery, religious differences and violence. How did European nations, which were themselves involved in a turmoil of conflicts about their own cultural and religious identity, dealt with these problems? How did governments, decision-makers, theologians, jurists, military, merchants and common people who settled overseas, thought and acted in this regard? And how did the peoples and rulers who watched the arrival of Europeans and suffered the violence of imperial and colonizing processes thought and acted? This research project is mostly focused on the period 1580-1640, when Portugal and Spain became united under the Catholic Monarchy, thus creating an Iberian empire of an almost-global dimension. This allows the analysis of a variety of cultural and geopolitical contexts (Brazil, Mexico, Mina, Sri Lanka, the Persian Gulf, India and the Philippines). It also allows seeking the roots of human rights problems and conceptions outside the frame of reference (Northern and Protestant Europe) that has been mostly considered by this scholarship. On the other hand, by historicizing the concept of human right, we hope to bring some new and different insights to the interdisciplinary approach to this topic, in addition to the perspectives currently offered by international relations, political science and international law.

Overweight and obesity in children is growing worldwide at alarming rate, affecting 1/3 of children in WHO European region. This is a matter of concern since an overweight child has a high probability to be an obese adult. In the case of children, dietary patterns and lifestyle starts to be developed at this age, therefore is essential promote in them healthy habits. Despite of the relationship between obesity and food consumption habits, it is still unknown how the food preferences can determine eating patterns, and finally body weight, since the way food is perceived in the mouth is decisive for its medium-long term acceptance or rejection. Regarding this, understanding fundamental aspects of eating behaviour is crucial to develop strategies aimed at promoting healthy diets and preventing obesity. In the last few years, evidence emerged about the participation of salivary proteome in food oral perception, as salivary proteins can interact with flavour molecules (e.g. aroma compounds). In spite of this, the role of salivary proteome on oral perception is not fully understood yet. Moreover, saliva presents plasticity, and the levels of salivary proteins may differ with different metabolic or physiological conditions (e.g. obesity), changing also with food intake/dietary habits. As such, more studies are necessary to gain understanding about how salivary proteins may impact flavour perception. The purpose of this action is to elucidate how salivary proteome could contribute to flavour perception, potentially affecting food choices, and if this impact could vary depending on the body weight and lifestyle. This focusing on children (5-12 years) as a risk group of population for develop obesity. For that, the research objectives aimed to determine changes in salivary proteome and sensory responsiveness (taste sensitivity and retronasal aroma) induced by a 3-month physical activity program in healthy weight, overweight and obese children from Portugal.

The use of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) in combination with the thermal conversion of solar irradiation – Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) – has long been regarded as an important technological solution for the production of dispatchable electricity. Whereas thermal oil based systems have set the standard in the first generation of commercial CSP Plants, the use of Molten Salts as heat transfer and storage media has been gathering research efforts and is regarded, by the industry, as the foregoing standard for new commercial plants. Molten Salt (MS) research has been deployed along the past decade in Germany and Italy, alongside with the erection of dedicated Research Infrastructure (RI) enabling the study and experimental test of e.g. materials, components or O&M procedures suiting this innovative technological approach. With the recent commissioning of a full-fledged Molten Salt Solar system emulating a commercial MS-CSP Plant in Évora, Portugal has joined this research effort with a new outstanding RI in this field. Gathering the unique experience of two non-Widening partners in the development and operation of the most important MS-RI at European level with the incumbent new RI capacity available in a Widening country, the present proposal aims at enhancing the scientific excellence and innovation capacity of the Consortium in the foregoing exploitation of this outstanding RI. SALTOpower has a strong focus on an enhanced capacity building of researchers going beyond purely scientific capacities, strengthening the research management and administration skills of the Widening RI. By means of enhanced cooperation duly framed on a common research strategy aiming at further developing MS technologies, SALTOpower aims at creating the reference European facility for the development and testing of Molten Salt based technologies for energy storage and dispatchable power production solutions, for the integration of different renewable energy sources, power and gas grids.