IDMEC is its people. More than laboratory facilities, it is the people that make IDMEC a unique highly qualified workforce. As of 2018, IDMEC included 105 members holding a PhD degree and 59 doctoral students, supported by four technicians and administrative staff, spread in five research groups. Most of the members also hold a Professor position in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST).
| Research group | Integrated members | Collaborators | PhD students |
| CPM | 41 | 15 | 19 |
| CSI | 17 | 14 | 25 |
| CTMGI | 13 | 2 | 4 |
| CEMF | 22 | 6 | 8 |
| CCTAE | 12 | 1 | 3 |
| Total | 105 | 38 | 59 |
In addition, a total of 38 collaborators, also holding a PhD degree, that actively contribute to the research activities at IDMEC. These collaborators have affiliations to not only IST but to many other engineering related institutions in Portugal, such as Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa (ISEL), Escola Náutica Infante D. Henrique (ENIDH), Escola Superior de Tecnologia de Setúbal (ESTS-IPS), Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT-UNL), Universidade de Évora (UE), and Instituto Politécnico de Leiria (IPLeiria).
IDMEC also hosts a significant number of master students conducting research towards their MSc thesis.
Supporting the claim of highly qualified team, 57% of the total workforce has a doctoral degree and 32% has a master degree.