Education and Community
The Casa Hermes Foundation (FCH) promotes health literacy, well-being, and access to knowledge among diverse audiences. Includes educational programs, social initiatives, guided visits, thematic events, and partnerships with schools, institutions, and local organizations. Skope – Health and Medicine Museum serves as a privileged space for mediation and learning, where science, culture, and citizenship intersect in an accessible and participatory way.
• Educational programs and health literacy
• Museum and public engagement
• Community and partnerships
Educational programme for schools
Educational Programme for Schools
In the 2024-2025 academic year, the Casa Hermes Foundation launched its first Educational Programme aimed at schools, with the aim of strengthening the school curriculum through interactive and interdisciplinary proposals.
Adapted to all levels of education, the programme includes thematic activities that complement different academic curricula, addressing topics such as the evolution of medicine, health and prevention, healthy lifestyles, the history of science and the human body. The activities relate to various subject areas — Biology and Geology, Citizenship, History, Environmental Studies, Arts or Physical Education — and promote health literacy, critical thinking and the connection between museum heritage and school knowledge.
Holidays at the Museum
This is an educational and cultural programme that transforms school holidays into an opportunity for discovery, creativity and fun. Aimed at children aged between 6 and 12, it combines recreational activities, themed workshops, games and guided tours that explore the museum’s historical, artistic and scientific heritage. The aim is to spark curiosity, encourage critical thinking and bring younger audiences closer to culture in a safe and stimulating environment.
More than just a summer camp, the programme promotes active learning and socialising, creating memorable experiences that combine education and leisure. Each edition is built around a central theme, allowing participants to experiment with different artistic languages, develop social skills and strengthen their connection with heritage and the local community.
Summer Medical School
Summer Medical School: Lifestyle is an educational programme organised by NOVA Medical School in partnership with Casa Hermes Foundation, which has been available annually to children in the Aveiro region since 2025. This programme is aimed at children aged between 6 and 12 and promotes healthy lifestyles through practical activities, interactive workshops and self-care dynamics, addressing essential topics such as nutrition, physical activity and mental health.
With a strong impact on the formation and education of young people, the initiative reinforces the joint role of NOVA Medical School and Casa Hermes Foundation in promoting health literacy and bringing science closer to the community. By inspiring positive behaviours from childhood, the programme contributes to building sustainable habits and improving the well-being of children and their families.
Pulsar and Health and Wellbeing Tips
Pulsar and Health Tips are two monthly columns published on Skope’s social media platforms, under a partnership with NOVA Medical School, with the aim of promoting health literacy among the public.
Pulsar brings together thematic articles written by experts, addressing different aspects of physical, mental and social well-being, while Health Tips presents brief, practical and accessible content in line with the themes of the month. Together, these initiatives seek to inform, inspire and raise awareness in the community about adopting healthy lifestyle habits, contributing to a more conscious and participatory health ecosystem.
Museum and public engagement
Guided tours at Skope
Skope offers guided tours, providing a more immersive and contextualized experience for different audiences.
Based on the history of medicine, Skope’s mission is to promote knowledge about the relevant historical heritage in the field of medicine and its evolution, placing it in its respective socio-economic and political context over time. These guided tours provide a deeper understanding of the exhibits and the role of medicine in the development of society, inviting reflection on the past, present and future of this fundamental area.
Events
The Casa Hermes Foundation offers a range of unique venues for corporate events, providing an excellent setting in a distinctive 19th-century building, with architectural features that evoke other times and places, where history and art coexist harmoniously.
More than just an inspiring setting, holding events at the Casa Hermes Foundation represents a commitment to social responsibility: by choosing this venue, you are directly supporting the development of training, research and health education projects, contributing to the preservation of cultural heritage and the promotion of knowledge in this fundamental area.
Find out more here.
Community and partnerships
Academic scholarships
The FCH, in partnership with the Duarte Tarré Association (ADT) since 2022, supports young people studying at universities in the region north of the Mondego River, contributing with an annual academic scholarship and complementary training on various subjects.
By the 2024-2025 academic year, 52 scholarships had been awarded under this partnership to students studying at the universities of Aveiro, Porto and Beira Interior, and a total of more than 500 scholarships have been awarded by ADT since its establishment in 2014.
Research and Knowledge
The Casa Hermes Foundation (FCH) promotes the preservation, study, and enhancement of medical and scientific heritage. Includes technical and historical research projects, conservation and restoration of the collection, knowledge production, and sharing with the scientific and educational community. Developed in close collaboration with academic institutions and research centers, this area fosters the intersection of science, history, and culture, contributing to specialist training and the advancement of knowledge.
• Conservation and restoration
• Research and knowledge production
• Scientific, academic, and institutional collaboration
Conservation and restoration
Since 2024, several conservation and restoration interventions have been carried out on selected pieces from the collection, with the aim of ensuring their preservation, enhancement and future availability for study, exhibition and sharing with the public.
The Casa Hermes Foundation also manages and curates donations, which form the basis of all work related to the preservation, study and dissemination of the collection. Through rigorous processes, it is possible to identify, locate, describe and monitor each piece received, ensuring not only its historical record, but also its physical preservation and access to information by researchers, technicians and the interested public.
Research and knowledge production
Under the partnership with LIBPhys, the Laboratory of Instrumentation in Biomedical Engineering and Radiation Physics at the New Faculty of Science and Technology, the Casa Hermes Foundation collaborates in research work on artefacts.
In 2025, a research project began on the X-ray tubes in the Casa Hermes Foundation’s collection. The project aims to technically characterise the materials, identify variations between brands and models, and understand the diagnostic practices of the time. In July 2025, a preliminary study was presented at the IBER2025 – Iberian Meeting on Atomic and Molecular Physics conference, held in Vigo, Spain, marking the first scientific sharing of this work.
Scientific, academic, and institutional collaboration.
Scientific, academic, and instituitional collaboration
The Casa Hermes Foundation promotes and collaborates in various moments of discussion and cooperation between museums, for the sharing of good practices and mutual assistance.
It is part of a working group of health museums that brings together institutions with the common goal of valuing heritage, promoting health literacy and strengthening the role of museums in the community. The following institutions participate in this group:
- Museum Centre of the Colónia Rovisco Pais Hospital
- Maximiano Lemos Museum
- Museum of the Porto Hospital Centre – Santo António
- Lactário Museum
- Health Museum
- Pharmacy Museum
- ESEP Museum Centre – Nursing in Porto
- Caldas Hospital Museum
- Museum of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God
- Egas Moniz Museum – Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon.
Aradas Campus
Covering a total area of 6,600 m2, the project honours the tradition of the original construction, a 19th century house in the style of brasileiro de torna viagem (literally “Brazilian returnee”). This style of building stands out for its original artistic avant-garde, based on the importation of international elements as a distinguishing factor and a testimony to the success of returning to one’s homeland.
It is also inspired by the vibrant, traditional houses of the Costa Nova beach near Aveiro, originally built by fishermen to store their equipment. These colourful structures, which began to proliferate in the 19th century, have since become an iconic architectural landmark of the region.
The Aradas Campus emphasises the harmonious relationship between its various spaces, blending tradition, regional identity and modernity. This balance is reflected in contemporary lines and materials, surrounded by expansive landscaped areas dotted with native trees and plants, recreating an atmosphere of health and well-being.