The goal of the Cognitive and Media Systems (CMS) group is to provide context for specialized team research on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Information Visualization, Computational Creativity, Ambient Intelligence, and ICT for Education, stimulating theoretical and empirical study, the design and development of models and tools, and the use of research results in innovative applications with high social and scientific relevance. Its activities are structured in four main research streams, organized into four cooperative Laboratories:

• The Ambient Intelligence Lab focuses on understanding and predicting relevant dynamics in the urban areas for planning and design, specializing on the integration and analysis of crowd-sourced, social media and open data, as well as stakeholder database, through AI techniques.
• The Artificial Intelligence and Computational Creativity Lab main competences are in cognitive modelling, computational creativity, concept invention, NLP, evolutionary computation and machine learning, and semantic retrieval in digital media.
• The Educational Technology Lab aims to study, design, develop and evaluate strategies and tools to enhance learning, with a special focus in educational simulation, computer science education research and distance education.
• The Computational Design and Visualization Lab focuses on Information Visualization, Sonification, Computational Design and New Media Art, and whose work is characterized by the application of AI and Nature inspired techniques to these domains.

CMS also develops foundational research on automated and interactive theorem proving and discovery in geometry, geometric knowledge management and pervasive intelligent tools for education.

The group is reinforcing its international position by developing high quality research, increasing publications in top journals and conferences, participating in international networks and projects, and increasing national and international funding.