FAPESP signs agreements with British universities

The United Kingdom’s Government Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir John Beddington, visited the headquarters of the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).

By Elton Alisson

Agência FAPESP – The United Kingdom’s Government Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir John Beddington, visited the headquarters of the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) on May 11, 2011. Accompanied by a delegation comprised of representatives of universities and British research foundations, Beddington was received by FAPESP president Celso Lafer and the foundation’s scientific director Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, among others.

During the meeting, scientific cooperation agreements were signed between FAPESP and the universities of Nottingham and Southampton.

The agreements aim to bring scientists from the two countries closer by supporting joint initiatives for research projects in multiple knowledge areas. The projects, which could include an exchange program of researchers and post-doctoral students, will be selected through requests for proposals.

On the same day, FAPESP and the University of Southampton launched a request for proposals, which is open to researchers at higher public or private education and research institutions in the state of São Paulo and researchers linked to the British University.

“These agreements follow other partnerships forged with research foundations and British universities, which have been very important to FAPESP. The presence of the United Kingdom’s chief scientist is a political sign of the English government’s interest in promoting scientific cooperation agreements like these,” comments Lafer.

At the beginning of the meeting, Beddington watched a presentation conducted by Brito Cruz on the programs and types of support offered by FAPESP and the panorama of scientific production in the state of São Paulo.

The scientific director highlighted the partnerships with universities forged by the Foundation and other research support entities in diverse countries including Germany, France, Canada, Argentina, China, the United States and the United Kingdom.

“One of FAPESP’s important practices in the last few years has been supporting international agreements to promote partnerships between scientists from São Paulo and other regions of the world,” he notes. FAPESP has agreements with King’s College London, the University of Surrey and Research Councils UK.

Signed in 2009, the innovative agreement allowed scientists from institutions in São Paulo state and the United Kingdom to submit joint research proposals through a unified selection and analysis process, which eliminates the need to request aid and receive decisions from two different institutions.

Research Councils UK will receive and evaluate collaborative research projects from eligible institutions in the name of both institutions. For its part, the jurors nominated by FAPESP participate in the entire revision process and final decisionmaking.   
 
“Scientific cooperation agreements like these are important and offer many benefits for the advance of science. The discussions that we had at FAPESP indicate that we can broaden scientific collaboration between the United Kingdom and the State of São Paulo to include other areas outside those where we have traditionally had collaboration, such as biotechnology,” commented Sir Beddington to Agência FAPESP.

“The international impact of science produced in the United Kingdom increases by roughly 30% when our scientists conduct joint projects with Brazilian researchers. The benefits of this scientific collaboration are enormous for the United Kingdom due to the excellence of Brazilian research,” noted Beddington in his address.

Other members of the British commission visiting FAPESP included the vice-consul for science and innovation at the British embassy, Damian Popolo; Professor Emeritus of the University of Nottingham, Edward Cocking; professor and vice chancellor of internationalization at the University of Southampton, Mark Spearing; professor at the University of York, Neil Bruce; professor at the University of Sheffield, Shaun Quegan; director international relations at the Biotechnological and Biological Sciences Research Council, Tim Willis; regional development manager at the University of Southampton, Inés Teresa-Palacio; researcher of  Rothamsted Research, John Lucas; and Cristina Hori, of the Department of Science and Innovation at the British Consulate in São Paulo.

On the Brazilian side, the participants included the adjunct dean of research at  Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Belmira Bueno; FAPESP’s coordinator of research for innovation, Douglas Eduardo Zampieri; director of the National Space Research Institute (Inpe), Gilberto Câmara; coordination team member for the FAPESP program for Bioenergy Research (BIOEN), Marie-Anne Van Sluys; aide to provost of research at  Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Maysa Furlan; and Reynaldo Luiz Victoria, a member of the coordination team for The FAPESP Research Program on Global Climate Change.