The Ecology and Society Workshop (ECOSOC) of the Centre for Social Studies of the UC was distinguished with an honourable mention in the National Environment Award, by the Portuguese Confederation of Environmental Protection Associations (CPADA). The coordinators of this working group, Lúcia Fernandes and Stefania Barca, were also honoured.

The honourable mention valued the work developed by the group in Portugal in deepening the analysis of the connections between the social and the ecological and in opening spaces for collective constructions in the face of the ecological crisis, which is seen as inseparable from social issues (inequalities, vulnerabilities, gender, racism, colonialism, among others). Three initiatives cocoordinated by ECOSOC, CES between 2015 and 2018 were highlighted: EJAtlas Portugal; Portugal: Ambiente em Movimento; Diferentes formas de dizer não! Expressões de conflitos ambientais de mineração e petróleo em Portugal e na América do Sul.

A virtual ceremony was held on 19 November 2020 to bestow the National Environment Award and respective honourable mentions. The National Environment Award was awarded by CPADA to Robert Manners Moura. Four other honourable mentions were also attributed: Hélia and Elizabete Marchante, Luís Henrique Pereira, Ecology and Society Workshop (ECOSOC) of the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, Lúcia Fernandes, Stefania Barca and Ricardo Carvalhido.

CPADA, created in 1991, is the largest Portuguese environmentalist organisation, integrating about 100 Environmental Protection Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations (national, regional and local), working on various issues (nature conservation, spatial planning, heritage, urban environment, transport, animal welfare, agriculture, environmental education).