The delegation comprised 14 representatives from Brazilian universities along with head of delegation, Luis Filipe de Miranda Grochocki, of the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) – an organisation comparable to the SIU. Representatives from the Ministry of Education and Research, the SIU, the Research Council and the Embassy of Brazil in Oslo also participated in the tour.
RSS From: The Research Council of Norway
Published: 19.06.2012
A few of the programme participants in Bergen. From left: Paulo Roberto Volpato Dias (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ)), Luís Antonio Campinho Pereira da Mota (UERJ), Nilo de Oliveira Nascimento (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais), Arne Haugen (SIU), Antonio C. Vieira Coelho (Universidade de São Paulo), Paulo Cavalcante de Oliveira (Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro), Paulo Teixeira de Souza Junior (Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso), Monica da Costa Pereira Lavalle Heilbron (UERJ), Edilson Divino de Araujo (Universidade Federal de Sergipe), Dimas Dias Brito (Universidade Estadual Paulista).
Large-scale Brazilian mobility programme
“We organised the activities to highlight what Norway can contribute to Brazil’s new large-scale mobility programme, “Science without borders” (SwB),” explains Ellen Vollebæk of the Research Council. “Under the SwB programme, over 100 000 Brazilian students, research fellows and researchers at various levels will take part in research stays at foreign institutions. The programme will also provide some support to international applicants wishing to come to Brazil to conduct research stays there.”
During a visit to Brazil in 2008 by then Minister of Research and Higher Education Tora Aasland, two agreements with research and education ministries in Brazil were signed. These agreements have just been renewed and pave the way for further development of the existing cooperation.
The Research Council in negotiations
The responsibility for a potential agreement between Brazil and Norway concerning “Science without borders” is expected to be assigned to the SIU. The centre is already involved in discussions with CAPES about collaboration within the education sector. “The Research Council of Norway and its Brazilian counterpart, the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), are negotiating on an agreement on research collaboration, including joint calls for proposals. The CNPq did not end up participating in the delegation, but we are pursuing the issue directly with them,” says Ms Vollebæk.
Visiting the International Research Institute of Stavanger. From left: Aderson Farias do Nascimento (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte), Ellen Vollebæk, head of delegation Luis Filipe Grochocki (CAPES), Monica da Costa Pereira Lavalle Heilbron (UERJ).
“The delegation was almost entirely composed of representatives from institutions who, not surprisingly, were also interested in other potential areas for cooperation such as exchange. The tour was very successful – partly because the participants found it useful in this perspective as well. The participants were highly motivated and were eager to engage us in discussion. I think they gained a lot from what they learned during their tour,” says Ellen Vollebæk.