Listen to Estados do Tempo BIP and Communitas Podcast

In the fourth episode of Estados do Tempo, Pedro Chamusca, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences at the University of Aveiro, moderates a conversation with Ivo Oliveira, professor at the School of Architecture, Art and Design at the University of Minho, and Luís Tarroso Gomes, lawyer and master in Regional and Urban Planning. The discussion focuses on the quality of information about railways and green mobility, in a context marked by the absence of consistent public debate on the subject in the Minho region. The participants highlight this gap, associated with passivity in the face of political decisions with a strong territorial impact, and analyse the options for structuring the railway network and the consequences of planning with lasting effects on the life of civil society. The episode thus highlights the failures of strategic thinking in the planning of the Minho region and the need for a more informed and participatory debate.

In this third episode of Estados do Tempo, Luís António Santos, professor at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Minho, moderates a conversation with Isabel Estrada Carvalhais, professor and researcher at the School of Economics, Management and Political Science of the University of Minho, on contemporary issues related to populism and its effects on the quality of information. Drawing on her experience as a Member of the European Parliament (2019–2024), Isabel Estrada Carvalhais reflects on the trivialisation of the concept of populism and the risks associated with this dilution for public debate. This is a conversation that seeks to problematise how this contested concept can and should be discussed in a society that aims to be increasingly informed.

In this second episode of Estados do Tempo, researcher Luís M. Loureiro moderates a conversation with Hernâni Zão Oliveira, professor and researcher at the University of Évora, about the challenges of health communication in a time marked by misinformation and information overload. Drawing on his experience as a researcher and communicator, Hernâni Zão Oliveira reflects on the role of health literacy and media literacy in health in building an informed citizenry and promoting trust between health professionals, the media, and the public. A conversation that crosses health, culture, and social responsibility, focusing on the urgency of communicating better to care better.

In this inaugural episode of the Estados do Tempo podcast, Luís M. Loureiro moderates a conversation with researchers Inês Mendes and Tiago Estêvão, recent PhD graduates and members of the Barometer for Information Quality (BIP) team. Based on their research, we reflect on the ways in which time and fear are intertwined with the production and reception of information, and what this tells us about the quality of contemporary journalism. A conversation that crosses slow journalism with the study of fear in media narratives.