The scientific director of the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Fapesp), Luiz Eugênio Mello, visited Unicamp this Friday (19) to present proposals for partnerships and investments. According to the director, the entity has begun a new stage of dialogue with the academic community and, as a result, is visiting state universities in São Paulo for direct conversations with managers.
"The objective of the visits, on the one hand, is to talk about the actions that Fapesp has been carrying out and seek to make them more effective. On the other hand, we want to hear ideas, suggestions, opportunities for improvement, the creation of new instruments", explained the director, who was received by the rector, Antonio Meirelles, and the vice-rector Maria Luiza Moretti, in addition to the vice-rectors João Romano (Research), Rachel Meneguello (Postgraduate), Ivan Toro (Undergraduate), Fernando Sarti (University Development ) and Fernando Coelho (Extension and Culture).
"We talked about several possibilities, including some that Fapesp already has in progress and that should or could benefit initiatives that Unicamp is considering," he said. The director heard, for example, a proposal from Unicamp that envisages the launch of notices to help teachers at the beginning of their careers. The deans will work on formatting a proposal for the Unicamp community that could also count on some support from Fapesp.
"We have had a major renewal in our teaching staff in the recent past. We have almost half of the teachers with up to 10 years of career, and it is necessary to encourage them to think about new projects and to deepen and deepen their lines of research", stated the dean from Unicamp.
"We are thinking about an initiative to finance research with our own resources, which involves some granting of postgraduate scholarships, scientific initiation and scientific dissemination actions, seeking to bring our initiative closer to the lines that Fapesp has been adopting in its promotion of research" , added the rector. Meirelles also said that Unicamp intends to deepen its lines of research on public policies and encouraging social entrepreneurship.
"We have a great tradition of developing technology and patents, as well as innovations in association with the corporate world. On the other hand, we need to deepen our action in formulating public policies and supporting social entrepreneurship. We are looking to organize structures at the University that make this type of action viable. We have many actions by individuals and groups. In fact, at Unicamp, the challenge of social entrepreneurship speaks to an important portion of our community, but it still does not have a more organic, institutional structure", assesses the Dean. "We think that the curricularization of extension can create a space not only to support this type of initiative with social impact, but also to be associated with technological advancement, depending on how the initiatives can be articulated", he adds.
For Meirelles, it is important that Fapesp is interested in financing public policy projects that are shared with public bodies. "As an administration, here at Unicamp, we are in a systematic search to build this type of arrangement. We have, for example, an initiative in conjunction with Agemcamp, the agency that brings together the 20 cities in the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. Agemcamp is acquiring with us a meteorological radar to be operated by Unicamp", recalled the rector.
"In addition to meteorological services, linked to climate, forecasting catastrophes or extreme events, this initiative will contribute to research and training of people," he said. The rector also recalled that there are already agreements and/or collaborations between Unicamp and the city councils of Campinas, Piracicaba, Limeira and Araraquara.
Impact of the pandemic
Luiz Eugênio Mello mentioned the negative impact, on certain research activities, of the entire pandemic period. "Now, in this new stage, we want to expand research funding in a more accelerated way. Perhaps in a process of greater appreciation of the spectrum of people who see research as an attractive career. We have been looking to work on different fronts and, For initiatives like these, we need to rely on partnerships", explained the director.
