A historic day for Portugal–UK science diplomacy

PARSUK convened the largest ever bilateral gathering between Portugal and the United Kingdom in science, research and innovation — bringing together two governments, leading British institutions, and the diaspora talent that made it all possible.

On 26 May 2026, at the Wellcome Trust in London, PARSUK brought together two governments for a day of technical exchanges that no one had ever convened before. Three Portuguese ministries — Education, Science and Innovation; Economy and Territorial Cohesion; and Foreign Affairs — sat alongside senior British counterparts from DSIT, GO-Science, and the FCDO to discuss the future of both countries' research and innovation systems.

The mission was structured around two technical workshops and a programme of bilateral visits, with conversations spanning the strategic architecture of Portugal's ongoing reform — including the design of the new AI² (Agência para a Investigação e Inovação) — and the policy instruments and institutional models the UK has developed over decades.

"We ran over time in every technical workshop. Both sides still had questions, threads they wanted to pull, debates they wanted to continue. Many of the topics we had planned barely got touched — because the conversation was too alive to rush." Catarina M. Liberato

On the UK side, the mission brought together a remarkable breadth of expertise: from universities and research councils to innovation agencies, health research foundations, and parliamentary science advice. PARSUK's own Scientific Advisory Board — researchers based across leading UK universities — sat alongside UK government officials and institutional leaders to contribute directly to the technical discussions.

This was the largest bilateral gathering ever held between Portugal and the United Kingdom in the fields of science, research and innovation. It also marked another milestone in PARSUK's science diplomacy programme — built on the conviction that an independent, diaspora-led organisation can convene conversations that matter precisely because it carries no institutional agenda other than getting it right.

Portuguese government

🇵🇹 Ministry

Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI)

Lead ministry for Portugal's research and innovation reform, including the architecture of AI²

🇵🇹 Ministry

Ministry of Economy and Territorial Cohesion (MECT)

Responsible for economic policy and the innovation and enterprise ecosystem

🇵🇹 Ministry

Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Embassy of Portugal in the UK

Diplomatic representation and bilateral relations between Portugal and the United Kingdom

UK government

🇬🇧 Government

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)

Lead UK government department for science, research and innovation policy, including UKRI and ARIA oversight

🇬🇧 Government

Government Office for Science (GO-Science)

Ensures government policy and decision-making are informed by scientific evidence and long-term thinking

🇬🇧 Government

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)

UK diplomatic representation, including the Portugal Desk and the British Embassy in Lisbon

UK higher education, research & innovation

🇬🇧 Research

Wellcome Trust

One of the world's largest charitable research foundations, funding science to tackle urgent health challenges — and host of the Technical Mission

🇬🇧 Higher Ed

Universities UK International

Represents UK universities on global partnerships, student and researcher mobility, and international policy

🇬🇧 Innovation

Digital Catapult

UK's innovation agency for advanced digital technologies including AI, 5G, immersive and quantum

🇬🇧 Parliament

House of Lords — Regulatory Innovation Office

Parliamentary and regulatory expertise on science, technology and innovation governance

Portuguese research & innovation agencies

🇵🇹 Agency

PLANAPP

Strategic foresight, planning support and evaluation of public policies for the Portuguese Government

🇵🇹 Agency

AI² – Agência para a Investigação e Inovação

Portugal's new agency for research and innovation, central to the country's ongoing reform

🇵🇹 Agency

FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Portugal's national funding agency for science, technology and innovation

PARSUK EXPERTS

University College London (UCL), Imperial College London, King's College London, European University Institute, British Foreign Policy Group, Lancaster University, University of Kent, University of Strathclyde, University of Oxford, University of Nottingham, INESCTEC, LINCSExternal Faculty at CSH, Universidade Católica Portuguesa

"The Portuguese diaspora has a vital role to play in shaping stronger, more effective public policies for Portugal. This mission affirmed that once again." Catarina M. Liberato

PARSUK has a small budget. What it has is a team of researchers and professionals who believe the Portuguese diaspora has something real to contribute to Portugal's future — and the willingness to act on it. Once again, it was that diaspora talent, embedded in British universities and institutions, that made this mission possible.

A note from the President to Participants

The mission you are part of today has been, in many ways, a long time coming — the result of years of sustained dialogue, careful relationship-building, and a quiet but firm conviction that the Portuguese scientific diaspora in the United Kingdom had something distinctive to offer: not only to its own community, but to Portugal itself, at precisely the moment it needed it most.

This is the largest bilateral gathering on science, research and innovation ever convened between Portugal and the United Kingdom. It brings together a senior Portuguese Government delegation with some of the United Kingdom's foremost scientific and policy minds, leading British institutions, and the Portuguese scientific diaspora — to engage seriously with the questions that Portugal's reform demands: what works, what doesn't, what takes time, and what cannot be borrowed but must be built.

Portugal is undertaking the most significant reform of its science and innovation system in a generation. What this mission set out to provide was something rarer: direct access to those who have been there before. The United Kingdom is one of the world's foremost scientific powers — a global leader in research excellence, in the translation of knowledge into public and economic benefit, and in the hard-won institutional experience of building, reforming and navigating science and innovation systems over decades.

The potential for collaboration between our two countries extends well beyond today. The Treaty of Windsor, drafted in May 1386 — 640 years ago — established a pact of perpetual friendship and mutual support between our two nations that has never, in all that time, been broken. It was a treaty of defence and commerce, with no mention of science. But the spirit that animated it is precisely the spirit that has brought us here today.

The most obvious threads are well known — our shared Atlantic heritage, our common stake in the blue economy and ocean science, and the deep ties between our universities and research communities. But the strategic picture is larger. Portugal and the United Kingdom are, together, the western gateways of Europe. At a moment when security and defence have returned with force to the centre of European life, and when technological sovereignty has become inseparable from national resilience, science and innovation are not peripheral, but central.

This mission would not have been possible without the generosity of the UK Government and institutions, who responded to our invitation with seriousness and openness. Their engagement reflects the best traditions of the United Kingdom's international scientific partnerships. We are equally proud that today has already produced a tangible outcome beyond the day itself: the establishment of a channel of communication and collaboration between Portuguese research institutions and UKRI — a structural bridge between our two research ecosystems, and, we hope, the first of many.

To the members of the Portuguese Government delegation: thank you for your confidence in PARSUK, and for your commitment to a reform that will shape Portugal's scientific and innovation future for generations. To our wider participants — scholars, advisers and members: thank you for your time, your candour, and your generosity of thought.

PARSUK is a non-profit, volunteer-led organisation. We hold no institutional brief, no political affiliation, and no commercial interest. What we bring is independence, intellectual rigour, and a long-standing commitment to Portugal's scientific future. It is precisely this independence that makes us effective as a convenor — trusted by the Portuguese Government, respected by our British counterparts, and accountable to no one but the community we serve.

What this mission has shown is that science diplomacy, when practised with rigour and purpose, delivers results that neither governments nor institutions can easily replicate alone. Sustainable science diplomacy requires sustainable foundations — institutional recognition, long-term commitment, and the resources to match the ambition. We hope that today marks not a conclusion, but a further step — and that the conversations held contribute, in time, to building those foundations on firmer ground.

Dr Catarina M. Liberato | London, May 2026

Photos by João Ferreira