Miguel de Castro Neto, Dean of NOVA Information Management School (NOVA IMS), has been awarded the Inclusive Talent Leadership Award 2026 – Transformative Education Leadership, powered by SoftwareVerdict®, an international distinction that recognizes leadership with a transformative impact in education.

The award highlights the strategic vision Miguel de Castro Neto has been developing at NOVA IMS to address the challenges shaping the future of education, reflected in EDGE – Educational Design for a Global Experience, an integrated approach that brings together pedagogical innovation, learning spaces, and learning analytics.

More than recognizing an individual path, this distinction values a systemic way of thinking about education, where transformation does not result from isolated initiatives, but from the alignment between teaching, technology, space, and institutional decision-making. This vision has been shaping NOVA IMS’s recent trajectory, positioning the School as a reference in a more connected, data-driven, and people-centered approach to education.

“This recognition reflects a collective effort to rethink the future of education in a more intelligent, integrated way, better prepared to respond to future challenges,” he noted.

At the core of this strategy is EDGE, designed as a cross-cutting model across the School to promote a more coherent educational experience, prepared for a context increasingly shaped by data and artificial intelligence. EDGE is built on three complementary pillars.

The first pillar, pedagogical innovation, has focused on the responsible integration of generative artificial intelligence into teaching and learning processes. In this context, NOVA IMS has been developing new pedagogical approaches, such as AI-supported flipped classroom models and personalized chatbots, as well as internal capacity-building initiatives like the NOVA Learning Challenges in AI and Productivity. These initiatives engage students, faculty, and staff in the practical, ethical, and value-oriented use of AI in academic and professional contexts. This dimension of EDGE aims to make digital literacy and readiness for a world shaped by intelligent tools a shared competency across the entire community.

The second pillar, learning spaces, is reflected in the reconfiguration of the campus as a pedagogical infrastructure. One of the most notable examples is the Bridge Room, an immersive hybrid learning environment that brings together in-person and remote students in the same class experience, fostering real-time interaction, collaboration, and active participation. This effort is complemented by the expansion of the NOVA Analytics Labs network, spaces where research, innovation, and learning intersect, engaging students in applied projects and real-world challenges.

The third pillar, learning analytics, takes shape through BrainU, the analytical component of EDGE and NOVA IMS’s institutional intelligence ecosystem. Designed to support a logic of “integrate, analyze, and act,” BrainU brings together academic, operational, and strategic data into a range of analytical tools tailored to different stakeholders, including management, program directors, faculty, students, research, quality, and sustainability.

Among the tools already developed are BI@NOVA IMS, the Program Directors’ Cockpit, the Faculty Cockpit, the Students’ Cockpit, the MagIC Research Center dashboard, the Satisfaction Levels Dashboard, and the SDGs Dashboard.

By enabling real-time monitoring, early identification of risks, and decision support across different areas of the School, BrainU has contributed to more informed and agile governance, with the ability to act in a timely manner. This approach was recognized with the Best Education Project award at the Portugal Digital Awards 2024, promoted by IDC Portugal.

The award-winning submission also highlights a particularly relevant strategic choice: the in-house development of this ecosystem, building on NOVA IMS’s internal expertise in data science and business intelligence. This decision ensured closer alignment with the School’s context, faster iteration, strengthened internal capabilities, and greater institutional autonomy in its digital transformation journey.

For Miguel de Castro Neto, “this recognition reflects a vision of the future of education where digital transformation cannot be treated as an additional layer, but as an embedded institutional capability, placed at the service of better learning experiences, better decisions, and greater impact.”