Science without Borders in Brazil to be resumed

The Brazilian scholarship programme Science without Borders (SwB), which began in 2011, has in its first phase sent more than 100,000 bachelor and PhD students and postdocs abroad.

In September 2015 the Brazilian authorities stated that the budget for the SwB programme’s second phase would be frozen due to the state of the country’s finances. At that time it was said that there would still be funds for those people who had applied in the September call. This, however, did not come to be. All the applications were treated but in December 2015 all the applicants, including the ones who had already received a positive evaluation and therefore expected funding, received the message that the call was suspended.

According to the latest issue of the EURAXESS newsletter, the message now is that SwB’s second phase will be resumed in 2016. It is expected that the original goal of 100,000 grants will be reduced drastically.  According to Innovation Centre Denmark in Sao Paulo (CAPES), the Brazilian authority that is responsible for SwB will remove the bachelor scholarships and instead prioritise funding for PhD students and postdocs.

Since the Danish-Brazilian collaboration agreement regarding the programme only deals with PhD students and postdocs, there is therefore hope that the volume can be maintained.

In AGRO we have primarily received ’sandwich’ PhD students, who have been guests in the department for up to nine months. These PhD students form an important bridge between Danish and Brazilian agroecological research environments. 

The possibilities for mobility for Brazilian researchers are not limited to the SwB programme.  Innovation Centre Denmark has prepared an overview of the possibilities. You can see it here.

For more information about research collaboration with Brazil please contact Torsten Rødel Berg, e-mail: torsten.berg@agro.au.dk.

torsten.berg@agro.au.dk