UM Vice Rector Rui Martins receives Chinese Government’s Friendship Award

MACAU, October 3 - The Ceremony of the 2025 Chinese Government Friendship Award was held on 30 September at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Rui Martins, vice rector of the University of Macau (UM) and director of the Institute of Microelectronics, was one of the award recipients. He attended the ceremony to accept the honour. The Friendship Award is the highest recognition awarded by the Chinese government to foreign experts working in China in recognition of their outstanding contributions to fostering and promoting exchanges and cooperation between China and other countries.

Martins expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for the recognition, saying that he felt deeply honoured to receive the award. He shared that since he and his family arrived in Macao in 1992, they have made the city their ‘home away from home’, and he has dedicated himself to research and teaching over the past 33 years. He also highlighted the words of encouragement from State Councillor Shen Yiqin at the ceremony, adding that the recognition would further motivate him to continue contributing to the future of China and its people.

Martins is a leading expert in microelectronic integrated circuits. He is a life fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and an effective member of the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon. Adhering to high international standards, Martins has been committed to cultivating outstanding talent in integrated circuits in Macao over the years. In 2003, he founded the Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI Research Laboratory of UM, which was elevated in 2011 to become the State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI. Since its establishment, the laboratory has trained over 370 master’s students and more than 200 doctoral students, with 88 of its research results accepted and published by the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), making it the top institution in China in terms of cumulative publications.

Martins has also played an important role in promoting higher education cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. Representing UM, he served as vice president of the Association of Portuguese Speaking Universities (AULP) from 2005 to 2014, and as president from 2014 to 2017. He resumed the role of vice president in 2021, a term that extends until 2027. In September 2021, he was named an honorary member of AULP, an honour bestowed on only five individuals worldwide. Martins has been dedicated to promoting academic exchange and cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, strengthening collaboration in talent development and scientific research.

Martins has been honoured with three prestigious awards from the Macao government: the Medal of Professional Merit in 1999, the Honorary Title of Value in 2001, and the Medal of Merit in Education in 2021. In addition, he has received multiple Science and Technology Awards from the Macao SAR government. More recently, Martins received an Author Recognition Award as a top paper contributor at ISSCC in 2023 and a national award in electrical engineering from the Ordem dos Engenheiros of Portugal in 2024.