Florbela Alexandra Pires Fernandes

Florbela Alexandra Pires Fernandes serves as an Associate Professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança since 1998, contributing to mathematics education and research. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics (Education) from the University of Coimbra, a Master's in Applied Mathematics, and a PhD in Sciences (Mathematics) from the University of Minho, establishing a strong foundation in theoretical and applied mathematics.

Her educational background includes:

• Bachelor in Mathematics (Education), University of Coimbra
• MSc in Applied Mathematics, University of Minho
• PhD in Sciences (Mathematics), University of Minho

Professor Fernandes' research centers on Optimization, specializing in algorithm development for nonlinear and nonconvex problems with mixed variables. Her work bridges theoretical mathematics with industrial applications, extending into machine learning, data analysis, and educational technology through the MathE platform. She actively promotes mathematics education through initiatives like mathematical games for student engagement and inclusive projects such as Eurekit for visually impaired learners.

Analysis of her 61 publications (2023-2025) reveals strong interdisciplinary trends: optimization algorithms applied to waste management (hybrid fleet routing), healthcare (LiDAR-based rehabilitation and liver disease diagnosis), retail safety (occupational accident prediction), and educational technology (fuzzy clustering for student categorization in MathE). Her work consistently transforms theoretical algorithms into practical solutions across diverse sectors.

She has coordinated or collaborated in multiple funded projects:

• Eurekit: Inclusive educational games for visually impaired and colorblind students
• e-nature: Environmental science education initiatives
• mathE: Intelligent mathematics learning and assessment platform
• SmilD: Educational technology development
• FIT4FoF: Workforce upskilling for factories of the future
• SmartHealth: Robotic systems for upper limb rehabilitation

Professor Fernandes leads interdisciplinary teams connecting mathematics with engineering, healthcare, and education. Her MathE platform development involves computer scientists and educators, while SmartHealth collaborations include rehabilitation specialists and robotics engineers, demonstrating her ability to bridge theoretical research with real-world implementation through strategic partnerships.