UIDEF [Research and Development Unit in Education and Training] is a research unit connected to the Instituto de Educação da Universidade de Lisboa. Research carried out at UIDEF studies educational and training processes, organizations, and their representations in the fields of formal and non-formal education and training at macro, meso and micro level of educational phenomena. The purpose of this research is to yield a multidimensional understanding of educational and training actors, processes and organizations, diagnosing problems and needs, and to provide power for knowledge-based intervention in such systems. Acting in different research areas of study and intervention,
UIDEF holds a recognized scientific production in international peer review journals and other publications, informs and impacts public policy, supports and collaborates with practitioners and decision makers, and strives to develop the competence of its researchers as well as to train new generations of young researchers.
UIDEF includes a staff of PhD researchers and PhD students. These researchers have a variety of backgrounds, from history, psychology, and sociology, to subject teaching in different areas. Its research is based in the long standing traditions of two former units at the University of Lisbon (FCUL and FPCE) and recently included a significant number of researchers previously at the Higher School of Education of Lisbon and at the Faculty of Human Kinetics.