FAPESP and US institutions discuss cooperation

Directors from the Brazilian Foundation discussed models of international cooperation in scientific research with representatives from West Virginia University, NSF, NIH, the US Department of Energy, and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

The scientific director and chief executive officer of the Executive Board of FAPESP, Professors Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz and José Arana Varela, took part in meetings held at the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC on October 23, 2012. It was the third stop during FAPESP Week 2012.

They joined 18 invited guests for lunch at the Wilson Center, where they discussed science policy. Among those in attendance were directors and researchers from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US Department of Energy, and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

For two hours they discussed models of international cooperation in scientific research, processes for submitting and evaluating project proposals sent to FAPESP and other entities represented, as well as other topics of interest.

Brito Cruz underscored the importance FAPESP places on having a balanced approach to international cooperation. He stressed how important it is that researchers and scholars from the two or more countries that are working together spend time in each other’s countries.

He also mentioned that for a long time, it was much more common to see Brazilians travel abroad rather than see foreigners travel to Brazil. Now though, a certain amount of equilibrium is needed so that the scientific communities of all nations involved are able to make the best use of the exchange programs.

To this end, FAPESP has several programs for attracting scientists, both those who are just beginning as well as those who are more experienced. One is the São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences (which is on its eighth call for proposals), the São Paulo Excellence Chair (in a pilot stage), the Visiting Scientist Program (that has involved nearly 250 people per year) and the Young Researchers program (that as brought six scientists each month on average to Brazil).

In comparing research proposal management, it was found that FAPESP performed well ahead of the standard of the NSF, for example. The latter receives nearly 40,000 proposals every year and takes an average of six months to respond to the interested researcher.

In 2011, FAPESP received 20,600 proposals and took an average of only 74 days to respond to the researcher. Furthermore, while the NSF has yearly deadlines for proposal submissions, FAPESP imposes no deadlines, opting instead to make decisions on a rolling basis.

In terms of success rates, the general average for FAPESP is 45%, but is much lower for programs that have longer terms and are more ambitious (10% for the RIDCs, 18% for the young researchers, 35% for five-year thematic projects). The average success rate in the US is roughly 15% while in the UK it is somewhere between 12 - 28%.

In the afternoon, Brito Cruz gave a presentation about FAPESP in the Wilson Center auditorium to an audience of nearly 50 that included professors from several universities, research institutes, scientific entities and technology companies from metropolitan Washington, DC and other states (like North Carolina and Nebraska), as well as journalists from important scientific publications such as Nature and Science.

His presentation revisited the process of internationalization that FAPESP engages in; one that the foundation has made a priority over the years. He explained that FAPESP believes in the importance of establishing agreements with universities, funding entities and companies so that it is best prepared to face what he understands will be the three most significant challenges for the next 5-10 years. Those challenges include increasing the number of working scientists in São Paulo (a number that is currently nearly one third of those in Spain, for example), increasing scientific production in companies in the state of São Paulo, and expanding the impact of São Paulo scientific studies (in terms both academic as well as social and economic).

Paulo Sotero, Director of the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars that hosted Tuesday’s meeting and co-sponsors FAPESP Week 2012 said that cooperation between his entity and FAPESP over the past year to date is one of the ways FAPESP is able to fulfill its mission of showcasing Brazil and its capabilities to those who make public policy in the US. Sotero, Varela and Brito Cruz discussed how to further expand collaboration between the two institutions.

West Virginia University

Officials from West Virginia University (WVU) and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) will begin to discuss the terms of a letter of intent (memorandum of understanding) next week that will lead to a science and technology cooperation agreement between the two institutions. FAPESP will send the initial document to WVU administration over the next few days. Founded in 1867, WVU brings together on one campus 32,0000 students in such fields of study as medicine, law, social sciences and economics, a tradition that has encouraged interdisciplinary research and scientific collaboration within the institution itself.

University researchers and FAPESP representatives took part in a forum held in Morgantown, WV on October 24, as a way to begin contacts regarding opportunities for research collaboration in various fields. They started with an overview of research projects currently underway, some in partnership with Brazilian universities.

According to José Sartarelli, Dean of WVU’s College of Business and Economics, there are many avenues to be explored. During the opening of Wednesday’s meeting, Sartarelli stated, “We have over 100 partnerships with international institutions all over the world and we would like to show the administration at West Virginia University new opportunities that may be explored by coming together with FAPESP.”

“We’re here to seek cooperation opportunities between students from academic and research institutions in São Paulo and West Virginia University,” said Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, Scientific Director of FAPESP. His presentation described the setting for conducting scientific and technological research in the state of São Paulo. He highlighted the scope of São Paulo’s science, technology and innovation, as well as the mechanisms and investment capacity of FAPESP. “Universities based in São Paulo graduate 12,000 PhDs each year, and the state’s scientific output in terms of number of scientific articles published by its researchers constitutes nearly 50% of all Brazilian science.”

According to Brito Cruz, the number of opportunities created by FAPESP is growing. It includes post-graduate grants, support for conducting regular projects as well as thematic projects (of longer duration and larger teams) and the program for Young Investigators in Emerging Institutions. The foundation also has partnerships with major companies in Brazil and abroad such as Microsoft Research, Vale, Natura, Boeing and GSK, in addition to its support to small businesses. More than 1,000 small businesses have benefited from this support, and its impact on their growth and the creation of new jobs has been documented in periodic assessments conducted by the foundation.

The exchange programs offered through international agreements traditionally signed between FAPESP and foreign institutions could also be included in an agreement with West Virginia University. Along these lines, FAPESP offers grants to Brazilian researchers abroad that enables them to attend international conferences and engage in short-term internships (2-12 months) outside of Brazil.

For researchers from other countries to Brazil, FAPESP selects proposals for post-graduate grants supported under the Young Researchers Program – last year, 1.5 per week were approved in all fields – support for visiting professors and participation in the São Paulo Advanced Sciences School, and short-term courses on specific topics at São Paulo institutions. The Excellence Chair Program, still in the pilot stage, is another way to attract distinguished foreign scientists for 3-month intervals over a 2-5 year period at one of São Paulo’s many institutions.

Research at WVUThe symposium held in Morgantown included the discussion of research in the area of economics, medicine, chemistry, genetics, biochemistry and engineering. Richard Riley from the College of Business discussed research into the relationship between business competitiveness and a company’s fraud prevention. The project included the development of two databases covering the period 1995-2010 to support its studies.

Kenneth Showalter from the Department of Chemistry presented collaborative studies with researchers from Brazil, highlighting FAPESP supported cooperation with professors from the Federal University of the ABC (UFABC) on complex systems that involve researchers from 15 countries. In other collaborative studies with the University of São Paulo (USP) São Carlos campus, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and other Brazilian institutions, Professor Showalter described the cooperation as a way to achieve excellent results, many published by him and his collaborators in high impact journals like Nature.

Projects in the fields of engineering, oriented towards innovation, and functional genetics were also part of the forum. In the field of medicine, translational studies were presented that included the use of scientific discoveries in patient treatment as well as the development of methods to implement and disseminate the latest knowledge affecting public health and the public health system.