The present Unit, Centro de Investigação em Química do Algarve - CIQA, is the result of the fusion o two other, namely CMQA and CIQC, and was evaluated as "good" in 2007. Though it results from two units, each with more then one research line, it was decided eliminate all research lines in order to promote greater cohesion and to promote greater cooperation within the Unit. Administratively, the Unit is headed by a coordinator who then nominates other members to assist him, forming what was designated as a coordination commission. This commission is responsible for financial management of the funds received and its redistribution within the unit. and every year a budget and a strategy is presented to all Unit PhD researchers for approval. It is also responsible for the promotion of activities and to give incentives to the presentation of projects and the establishment of new cooperations. When required, the Unit is represented by the coordinator who also has to sigh all necessary technical and administrative documents. During 2008 the Coordinator was Professor João Brandão and he was assisted by Profs. Amadeu Brigas, João Lourenço and José Moreira. Some secretarial work and management assistance is provided by the University.

CIQA maintains the goals that were established when it was recently created and that is to pursue excellence in both research and teaching in chemistry and chemistry related fields. At this critically difficult moment of attracting students, researchers and funds the Unit has to be extra-creative and compete with bigger research centers in order to overcome these difficulties. New sources of students and researchers have to be found and grant application must be intensified and more focused on high profile topics. As a small but cohesive Unit discussion of new scientific trends and specific research matters must be analyzed faster and carried forward with greater probability of success. It is likely that subjects like fine chemicals synthesis, nanomaterials, sustainable chemistry will grow stronger. The Unit will continue to be open and will search for collaborative work. The tendency for formal qualification of the Unit and/or its members is to be maintained in order to have access to some more restricted sources of financing. Excellence in lecturing and in some areas of fundamental research is crucial to maintain our academic vocation and to motivate new students and, therefore, more modern and innovative initiatives are tough for the near future.
Main Achievements during the year of 2008 As part of previous efforts, the Unit was classified by a national government body as an "accredited" research institution for collaborative work with industry. Following accreditation a joint project with a local industrial company, with the participation of several CIQA researchers, was submitted to QREN and was financed.

The increase of the internal collaborative work has also contributed to intensify the collaborations with other national and international research groups in areas that are essential for the CIQA development: olefin polymerization using mesoporous supported catalysts and nanocomposites (ICEMS at IST), Synthesis and characterization of microporous materials (IBB at IST), development of the molybdenum chemistry (CICECO at Univ. Aveiro), supramolecular chemistry (University of Columbia and University of Miami), optoelectronics (CEOT at Univ. Algarve), nanoparticles functionalized with polymers (CBME at Univ. Algarve), theoretical vibrational spectroscopy (UCL, UK), van der Waals interactions (University of Maryland, USA) and environmental remediation (INETI). Maintaining the tendency, in the last MCTES-FCT call for projects several projects (15) were presented and an evaluation is still pending. Again, although there is the necessary external cooperation, great effort was made in the joint preparation of proposals involving several CIQA researchers. We have also managed to start to attract pos-graduation students to boost research.

Web page: http://www.ciqa.ualg.pt