Fernando Jorge Ferreira Macieira, a Ph.D. student at NOVA IMS, has been awarded the Best Student Paper Award at the 7th International Conference on Finance, Economics, Management and IT Business (FEMIB 2025), held in Porto, Portugal, on 5 and 6 April 2025.
The awarded paper, titled “Bits and Biases: Exploring Perceptions in Human-like AI Interactions Using the Stereotype Content Model,” investigates how users perceive human-like artificial intelligence through the lens of the Stereotype Content Model, a framework that evaluates social targets along the dimensions of warmth and competence. Macieira’s study contributes to a growing body of research seeking to understand the cognitive and emotional responses elicited by AI systems that mimic human behaviour, with implications for the design and ethical deployment of AI in service and interpersonal contexts.
The recognition was based on both the academic quality of the paper—evaluated through quantitative and qualitative assessments by the FEMIB programme committee—and the oral presentation delivered at the conference. The award highlights the significance of Fernando Macieira’s work in advancing critical understanding of human-AI interaction and the sociotechnical dimensions of algorithmic systems.
FEMIB, organised by the Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control and Communication (INSTICC), is an international conference that brings together scholars and practitioners working across finance, economics, management, and information technology to explore interdisciplinary research and innovation.
This award underscores the excellence of doctoral research being conducted at NOVA IMS and MagIC, particularly in the domain of AI ethics, perception, and human-centred technology design.