MagIC is proud to announce that two NOVA IMS PhD students have been awarded highly competitive PhD fellowships by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). These awards recognize the academic excellence of the selected candidates and the relevance and scientific merit of their proposed research projects.

The 2025 FCT PhD fellowship call was one of the most competitive to date. Out of 4,169 applications submitted, 4,117 were accepted for evaluation. Only 1,550 fellowships were proposed for funding — an overall approval rate of just 37 %.

Being selected in this context is a significant achievement and reflects the high quality of research being conducted at NOVA IMS and within the MagIC research centre.

Meet the Fellowship Recipients

Joana Príncipe Ceia
Project title: The Feeling of Groundedness in Tourism: A Destination Approach

Joana’s research explores the concept of groundedness, an emotional response that might arise from a deep sense of connection with a destination. Her project aims to investigate how this feeling develops and influences the tourism experience, and how tourism planning and destination branding strategies can either support or undermine it through groundedness.

The project adopts a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative and quantitative techniques. Advanced text mining and statistical modeling will be employed to map patterns of groundedness and to explore its relationship with visitor satisfaction and other key constructs. These insights will be complemented by survey-based research to understand how groundedness can be leveraged to shape behavioral intentions towards a destination. In-depth interviews will also be conducted with destination managers, capturing their perspective on the obtained results.

This project expects to provide valuable insights into optimizing visitors’ experience, offering destination managers practical guidance on developing strategies that can enhance their competitive advantage.

Joana Rita Nunes
Project title: Understanding the Outcomes of AI Augmentation: Morality in the Context of Human Intelligence versus AI

Joana's project focuses on the intersection between artificial intelligence and moral perceptions. Specifically, she explores how the use of AI, particularly Generative AI (GenAI), can raise ethical concerns regarding the authenticity, ownership, and perceived value of a creative work. Her research seeks to understand the extent to which moral perceptions differ when an output is created exclusively by AI or when it involves AI-human augmentation.

The research will follow a mixed methods approach. Qualitative interviews will be conducted to explore ethical implications regarding the ownership of works created by GenAI. Experimental studies will compare moral and ownership perceptions under different conditions, namely works created exclusively by AI, or through human-AI collaboration. In addition, study labs will be conducted using neuromarketing tools, including eye tracking and facial expression recognition, to assess emotional and unconscious reactions. This combination will provide a comprehensive understanding of morality, responsibility, and the impact of generative AI.

We congratulate Joana Príncipe Ceia and Joana Rita Nunes for their outstanding achievements and welcome them to the MagIC community of researchers. We look forward to following their progress in the coming years and to the contributions their scholarship may bring — not only to NOVA IMS, but to the broader conversations in tourism, ethics, AI, and human‑technology interaction.

MagIC remains committed to supporting innovative, socially relevant research, and we look forward to sharing updates on their progress in the years ahead.