Between the 14th and 18th of November, a delegation led by the rector of Unicamp, Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, was in the United Kingdom to reinforce the University's image with important partner institutions abroad. The mission is an initiative of the Executive Directorate of International Relations (Deri) at Unicamp, supported by the General Coordination of the University (CGU), and its main objective is to resume internationalization activities that had been interrupted during the covid-19 pandemic and deepen existing partnerships.
Throughout the week, the delegation participated in meetings with the Universities of Cardiff, Birmingham, Imperial College and the London School of Economics (LSE), which are already developing strategic research projects with Unicamp. The partnership with Cardiff University, for example, has yielded a significant number of projects with the participation of more than one hundred teachers and researchers from both institutions, while the University of Birmingham maintains intense collaboration in areas such as neurosciences, immunology, climate change , transport and mobility, multilingualism and post-colonial studies.
According to the rector, British institutions showed great enthusiasm in strengthening cooperation in research and teaching with Unicamp, especially on the topic of sustainability, an area in which the Brazilian university has a strong presence in both the technology and natural sciences sectors and in the humanities. “Our power of attraction as an institution is very strong on this topic and can leverage our cooperation with foreign institutions. We intend to strengthen and strengthen these cooperations, as well as expand our internationalization by attracting students and talents from these countries to spend a season at Unicamp”, reveals Meirelles.
During the trip, the delegation also met with the Brazilian ambassador in London, Fred Arruda, at which time the International Hub for Sustainable Development (HIDS) was presented. This initiative aims to build a structure that combines and articulates actions aimed at promoting partnerships and cooperation projects between different institutions around the 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of the UN 2030 Agenda (United Nations). And Unicamp's desire is for Brazilian representations abroad to give greater visibility to this project among governments and companies from different countries.
“The visits made were very successful. We were able to reiterate collaborations that existed decades ago and initiate new types of collaboration in research and mobility of undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as teachers, researchers and administrative staff”, reports Professor Osvaldir Taranto, executive director of International Relations at Unicamp, member of the delegation. “In our conversation with the Brazilian ambassador, in addition to praising Unicamp, he was very willing to support us in these actions in the United Kingdom”, he confirms.
In addition to the dean and Osvaldir Taranto, the delegation sent to the United Kingdom included the participation of advisors from Deri Rafael Dias and the Dean of Research (PRP) Marcelo Brocchi, the directors of the “Gleb Wataghin” Institute of Physics (IFGW) , Mônica Cotta, and from the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM), Claudio Coy, from the associate directors of the Institute of Language Studies (IEL) Petrilson Pinheiro and the Institute of Geosciences (IG) Emilson Leite and Mayara Morais, from the mobility team from Deri.
