Unicamp has begun a process of rapprochement that should result in new cooperation with higher education and research institutions in Germany. A delegation leaving from Campinas maintained, between the 12th and 16th of September, contacts with the Technical University of Munich, the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen (FAU), the Free University of Berlin and the Bavarian University Center for America Latina (Baylat), in addition to other research and higher education institutions in the country.
The objective of the meetings, as explained by the rector of Unicamp, professor Antonio Meirelles, was to renew partnerships and start new collaborations between the institutions. The Unicamp delegation was also at the Brazilian embassy in Berlin.
“Projects in the areas of sustainability, which represent a strong brand of Unicamp, are of great interest to German institutions”, said the rector. “Their interest, however, goes beyond technical sectors. They also want cooperation in the humanities.”
The rector recalled that the Germans have information about Unicamp with regard to international sustainability rankings and that they are seeking to incorporate themes such as inclusion, issues linked to original peoples or encouraging the inclusion of women in scientific activity into the agenda. According to Meirelles, the Germans are interested in agreements and exchange programs involving actions related to these themes.
The delegation included directors and associate directors from the Institutes of Chemistry, Biology, Philosophy and Human Sciences and the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as a representative from the Executive Directorate of International Relations (DERI). In this sense, the contacts were extensive, recalled the rector.
At the Bavarian University Center for Latin America, for example, the possibility of research exchanges in the area of food was discussed. At the Technical University of Berlin, the Germans showed interest in the Sustainable Campus programs – developed at Unicamp – and in the International Hub for Sustainable Development (HIDS), a smart district that is being implemented on the Barão Geraldo campus and which involves the university , companies and public authorities.
At FAU, the Unicamp delegation discussed research with solar panels and photovoltaic panels. The Germans showed the Brazilians their research in the sector. One of them, of interest, combines the installation of signs and agriculture.
At Universidade Livre, the Unicamp delegation visited a multi-user center, shared by several research groups linked to the areas of chemistry, physics and biology. At the Center, the Germans carry out research at the limit of knowledge, such as, for example, mapping neural synapses using techniques that have been recently developed.
Meirelles also stated that the idea is to strengthen teacher exchanges and encourage mobility between students, opening contact channels that allow German researchers to come to Campinas, to work in research groups, for short periods.
“They also showed interest in opening exchange possibilities not only for postgraduate or doctoral students. They also want to work with students in their final stages of graduation”, declared the dean.
“The trip was very important for expanding our internationalization process and helped us to penetrate the structures of German universities more effectively”, he concluded.
Reinforcing Unicamp's image
The trip to Germany is part of the university's effort – through DERI – to reinforce Unicamp's image with important partner institutions abroad.
According to DERI's coordinator for International Cooperation, Angélica Torresin, this is a fundamental action in the context of the resumption of international mobility of teachers, researchers, students and employees, interrupted as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The visit of the Unicamp delegation to some of its main partners in Germany, with the presence of the rector, is a manifestation of the university's commitment to fully resuming internationalization activities in the context of reducing barriers to mobility”, said the coordinator.
“It is also a demonstration of Unicamp’s desire to deepen existing partnerships in research and teaching, as well as to expand the reach and scale of these collaborations”, he concluded.
Fruitful meetings
The Unicamp delegation was also received by the Brazilian ambassador in Berlin, Roberto Jaguaribe. According to the Unicamp group, the meetings proved to be “very fruitful” and opened up a series of cooperation opportunities and possible sources of financing. Jaguaribe said that the embassy can be a point of support for Unicamp in contacting teaching and research institutions in Germany.
At the Brazilian embassy in Berlin, in addition to the reception by the ambassador, a meeting was held with a group representing the Brazilian Diaspora Rede Apoena, whose mission is to connect researchers from different areas of knowledge, with the aim of boosting Brazil-Germany collaboration. There was also a meeting with representatives from the University of Potsdam and the University of Muenster.
Partnership opportunities
Professor Michel Nicolau Neto, associate director of IFCH, was optimistic about the visit to German universities. First, he said, the group was able to establish relationships with institutions across different spectrums – from technical universities, such as those in Munich and Berlin, as well as the Free University, Baylat, as well as a network of researchers and government bodies.
Neto highlights some possibilities that emerged from the visits. There was interest among Germans, for example, in research on the environment being carried out by the Center for Environmental Studies and Research (Nepam).
According to the professor, they were also interested in gender studies – research that deals with feminism, but is also related, for example, to gender and work. He also mentioned topics such as political science, for discussions around democracy and authoritarianism, which could even involve the BRICs – the group of emerging countries formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Neto corroborates the rector, commenting on the new possibilities for exchanging professors, researchers and, especially, students. "We know that it is much easier to take Brazilian students there. The difficulty is to bring German students here. A solution to increasing this mobility would be, for example, carrying out short-term internships”, he says. According to him, this possibility gained strength after the meetings.
“I thought DERI's strategy was great, as we were able to contact many institutions. When we talked to Baylat, for example, we were talking to 40 universities,” he argued.
The director of the Biology Institute, professor André Freitas, said that the contact has already started to bear fruit. Unicamp has already started organizing a workshop for the coming weeks, involving researchers from the Apoena Group.
The idea is to start discussing collaborations in the areas of sustainability. Freitas states that, initially, it could bring together researchers from IB and IFCH, but that the agreements could be expanded to more technical areas. “I think you can perfectly expand these layers of possibilities”, he assesses.
The professor said he was also excited about the expectation of implementing student exchange programs. “We are very concerned about undergraduate students, and German institutions want to open up avenues for these interactions,” he added. “The trip was a success”, summarized the director.
Professor Paulo Cardiere, associate director of FEEC, says that the trip was important “to understand the desire of German universities to establish cooperation with Brazilian universities and the recognition of Unicamp”.
In the specific case of Electrical Engineering, Cardiere sees “great possibilities for cooperation” in the area of energy from renewable sources, a very strong area in the unit.
The director of the Chemistry Institute, professor Claudio Tormena, stated that this type of visit is very important for establishing new partnerships. According to him, on a face-to-face visit it is possible to learn about the universities' infrastructure and see up close how they can be accessed by researchers and teachers.
“The face-to-face contact was important to evaluate what strategies Unicamp could adopt to establish future partnerships and see the forms of financing, both to take researchers and professors from Unicamp to Germany, and in the opposite direction”, said the professor. “It was great to see how this type of organization is carried out by German universities”, concluded the professor.
