The University Council (Consu) of Unicamp approved, on November 30, the granting of the title of Professor Emeritus to Bernardino Ribeiro de Figueiredo, former director and researcher at the Geosciences Institute (IG), and Carlos Alfredo Joly, retired professor and researcher at the Institute of Biology (IB).
Rector Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles congratulated the recipients. “It is very important that the University's highest body recognizes the work, dedication and relevance of the work of the two new emeritus in favor of science and for the benefit of society”, he stated. The dean took the opportunity to praise the reports produced by the analysis committees.
The first report analyzed was dedicated to Professor Bernardino. After voting, the recommendation was approved. The analysis committee was chaired by professor at the Institute of Physics Gleb Wataghin (IFGW) Júlio Hadler (IF). Afterwards, the report on Professor Joly was read by the president of the commission, a professor at IFGW Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz.
The geologist Bernardino
Professor Bernardino Ribeiro de Figueiredo was the second director of the Institute of Geosciences (IG), a position he held between 1989 and 1993. Calm, generous and understanding, this is how colleagues and former students describe him, without ignoring the professor's far from modest CV.
Having started his studies in geology at USP, he was forced to go into exile in Chile in 1969, due to his participation in the student movement, a focus of resistance against the dictatorship in Brazil. Unable to complete his course at the University of São Paulo (USP), he resumed his studies at the University of Chile. There he began his professional career in the area of Economic Geology and Metallogenesis. With General Pinochet's military coup in 1973, he, his wife Leda Gitahy and their 5-month-old son were arrested. Under the protection of the United Nations Refugee Commission (UNHCR), they were transferred to a refugee camp in Sweden. The family then settled in Uppsala, where they lived until 1980.
During vacation periods, Bernardino worked for the Swedish Geological Survey and the mining company Boliden AB. With the approval of the Amnesty Law in 1980, he returned to Brazil, already hired by Unicamp, after initial contacts with Amílcar Herrera. Later, he also collaborated with the implementation of the Federal University of Western Pará and in the Postgraduate Program in Geology and Geochemistry at UFPA.
As a researcher, he strived to ensure that the results of his research were transformed into public policies at national and international level, notably in the area of Environmental Geochemistry and Medical Geology. In 2001, his work Minerals and Environment was nominated for the Jabuti Prize and ranked among the ten best books in the Exact Sciences, Technology and Information category. Bernardino addresses the importance of detailed knowledge of metal sources for the management of mineral resources with environmental and social responsibility, a view that was previously uncommon among geoscientists.
At Unicamp, he coordinated a large-scale project, financed by Fapesp, called “Geochemical and Environmental Landscapes of Vale do Ribeira”, made up of fifteen researchers in the areas of Geology, Chemistry, Health and Communication, from various institutions, including the Instituto of Geosciences and the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Unicamp. Started in 2002 and lasting three years, this project gave rise to others with a similar theme, financed by Fapesp, CNPq and Capes, and to which he dedicated himself until 2019.
Bernardino dedicated 39 years of his academic career to Unicamp, even after his retirement in 2014. His concern for interdisciplinarity, cooperation and relationships with society is a constant in his career. He contributed to the training of 22 masters, nine doctors and two post-doctoral researchers. He presented dozens of works at national and international scientific events. His research resulted in 60 articles, 4 books and 23 book chapters. For his academic contribution at Unicamp, he received the “Zeferino Vaz” Academic Recognition Award twice, in 1997 and 2006. He was director of the IG between 1989 and 1993, President Director of the Unicamp Development Foundation (Funcamp) and Coordinator of the Center of Environmental Studies and Research (Nepam) at Unicamp.
"What gave me the most pleasure in implementing the IG was selecting people, because the success of an institution lies in its people. We need to train the geologist of the 21st century. And for this, the environmental issue is fundamental. I chose to work with geosciences and the environment, a concern that dates back to the origins of IG. An environmental line that serves the population has been a constant in my life”, said Bernardino. As a message to Unicamp students, he proposes: “We will resist. We need to be resilient.”
Alvaro Crósta, professor at the Department of Geology and Natural Resources and vice-rector of Unicamp between 2013 and 2017, highlights Bernardino's innovative personality, and his pioneering spirit in areas such as medical geology. The now professor emeritus was responsible for its implementation in Brazil, with a Fapesp project aimed at studying lead contamination in local populations due to old mines that operated in the Ribeira Valley. “It was a model project, with a great impact on society. That was Bernardino’s trademark – thinking about geology and earth sciences and their impacts on human beings”, defines Crósta.
Sérgio Queiroz, professor at DPCT, remembers that Bernardino took over as director of the IG at a delicate moment, having led the Institute very well during that period. “Whenever there were important discussions about the future of the University, we tried to find out what Bernardino thought”, says Queiroz.
Carlos Joly and the creation of one of the largest biodiversity programs in the world
The Professor Emeritus Carlos Alfredo Joly, retired full professor at the Institute of Biology, is one of the creators of the Research Program on Characterization, Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity (Biota-Fapesp).
Joly graduated in Biological Sciences from the University of São Paulo (USP) in 1976, and received a master's degree from Unicamp in 1979, the year in which he became a professor at the university. He completed his doctorate in 1982 in the area of plant ecophysiology, at University of St Andrews, in Scotland. He worked as a professor and researcher of plant ecophysiology and biodiversity conservation. Full professor at Unicamp since 1997, Joly retired in 2017 from the Department of Plant Biology. He edited 12 books, carried out a forest inventory of vegetation in the State of São Paulo and created guidelines for the conservation and recovery of biodiversity in the State.
"Several of Professor Joly's works not only have a scientific and academic impact, but also influenced public policies for environmental conservation in the country. His activity as a professor brought an exceptional contribution to students, but the activity with the greatest intellectual, scientific and social impact that he led was the consolidation of the Biota Program, one of Fapesp's most successful and one of the largest biodiversity research programs. of the world,” he said. Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, former scientific director of Fapesp, during the defense of the opinion at Consu.
In 1999, together with the Naercio Menezes, Joly proposed to the Fapesp Superior Council the creation of a research program to map the biodiversity of the State of São Paulo. It was the beginning of the Biota-Fapesp Program. In the midst of commitments to the project, Joly was informed of Consu's decision, and said he was very happy to receive the honor. “It was a great joy,” Joly told Fapesp Agency. “Producing science is also reflected in providing subsidies for the formulation of public policies. The Biota Program has managed to move between the generation of knowledge and its application. In our State, fortunately, this has evolved a lot since 2008, when a guide to priority conservation areas was produced. Since that time, there has been a very strong partnership with the Secretariat of Infrastructure and Environment, which has evolved into us launching joint research notices”, explained Joly.
Former student and director of the Biology Institute, André Freitas was full of praise for Joly. “He was decisive for the success achieved by Biota. This is due to activities outside the university walls. It is the recognition of the career of an academic that also reflects outside the academy, with decisive action to benefit the quality of life of citizens”, concluded Freitas.
The professor at the Computing Institute, Claudia Bauzer-Medeiros, highlighted the unanimous approval of Joly's name. In her 26 years of experience at Consu, there were few times, according to her, that a name was approved in this way. “I would also like to highlight that, even in retirement, he continues to be very active in formulating projects of global recognition. It is a more than deserved award”, praised professor Claudia.
