Research Councils UK (RCUK) and FAPESP, the Research Council for the State of Sao Paulo, have signed an agreement strengthening research links between the UK and Brazil.
Brazilian and British researchers can apply for funding through a single application and peer review process, removing some of the barriers facing international research collaboration.
Professor Ian Diamond, Chair of RCUK, said: "This is a fantastic indication of the direction international collaboration is taking within the Research Councils. This agreement demonstrates our commitment to widening opportunities for researchers, so that world-class researchers can work together on excellent research."
Professor Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, Scientific Director of FAPESP said fostering international collaboration is an important strategy: "The agreement covers all fields of science and we are looking forward to receive outstanding proposals, dealing with fundamental and applied research."
UK Science Minister Lord Drayson sees international collaboration as a crucial to enhancing scientific output. In an article in the forthcoming edition of Public Service Review: Science and Technology he writes: "Our science base has always required a degree of international collaboration, but this is now more important than ever before.
"No country has the sufficient money or scientists that will be needed to tackle these challenges on their own. When scientists act and speak globally they are at their most powerful – and the evidence also suggests internationally co-authored science has a higher average impact than science produced in one country alone."
Notícia
Public Service (Reino Unido)