The award ceremony for the UMinho Prize for Initiation in Scientific Research 2025 took place on October 24, bringing together students, supervisors, and researchers to celebrate the engagement of undergraduate students in the production of scientific knowledge at the University of Minho.

Among the awardees was Manuel Pereira, a Law undergraduate student, who received the prize in the Social Sciences and Humanities panel for his project “Justice at Work: A Study of the Challenges in Democratizing Labour Relations”. Supervised by CEPS researcher Hugo Rajão, his work offers a reflection on the possibilities of democratizing the economic sphere, while critically examining the structural and theoretical limitations of Isabelle Ferreras’ deliberative bicameral model. Manuel Pereira argues that, although Ferreras’ proposal of co-governance represents an important step forward in discussions on workplace democracy, it ultimately reproduces constraints inherent to the contemporary corporate form, proving insufficient for the context of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.

The ceremony also featured Ana Padrão Freitas, an undergraduate student in Philosophy and History, who presented the project “Loving in the 21st Century: An Ethical-Ontological Analysis of Simon May’s Theory”. Supervised by CEPS researcher Roberto Merrill, her study explores the concept of love as both an ethical and political category, taking Simon May’s philosophical approach as its starting point. The research seeks to understand how love, conceived not merely as a personal feeling but as a social bond and normative principle, can contribute to rethinking notions of belonging, solidarity, and recognition in contemporary societies.

CEPS congratulates Manuel Pereira and Ana Padrão Freitas on the recognition they have received and on the scientific and social quality of their work.