As part of EstVerDEQ’26, a summer programme organised by the Department of Chemical Engineering (DEQ) at Instituto Superior Técnico, two students are being hosted in the laboratory to take part in hands-on activities related to the SIMIACCI project.

Through daily laboratory sessions over the two-week programme, the students are gaining first-hand insight into the project’s research, from its scientific foundations to its practical applications. Activities include:

• Learning about the SIMIACCI project — its objectives, the challenge of indoor air quality in galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAMs), and its relevance to cultural heritage preservation.
• Testing different Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) in the laboratory and exploring their performance in capturing volatile organic compounds.
• Getting an introduction to the predictive modelling component of the project, including the deep learning models developed to forecast indoor pollutant concentrations.

Initiatives like this offer valuable outreach opportunities, helping to raise awareness of SIMIACCI among the next generation of researchers while giving students direct experience of cutting-edge work in cultural heritage protection.