The preliminary results of the call were published by the National Research and Development Council (CNPq) on March 20th; a total 37 projects were approved in São Paulo
The University of São Paulo (USP) will have 26 new National Institutes of Science and Technology (INCTs), according to the preliminary results of the call published by the National Research and Development Council (CNPq) on March 20th. In total, 121 projects were approved, including 37 in São Paulo, which will receive investment of around R$1.45 billion and correspond to 23% of the recommended demand – 521 of the 651 proposals submitted.
According to the CNPq, the investment in the current call is five times greater than in the previous one, and the maximum amount per proposal has doubled to R$15 million. Hiring should take place by May, after the appeals stage and the announcement of the final result.
“This is one of the most crucial programs in all of Brazilian science for strengthening and improving the level of research in the country. The call was very robust, an all-time record for INCT calls, with a very well-qualified demand. We hope to obtain complementary resources from the state research foundations to support proposals that, although very well qualified, were given second priority. This is very important for strengthening science in the country,” says Ricardo Galvão, president of CNPq and professor at USP's Institute of Physics (IF).
“The participation of USP, which will coordinate more than 21% of the institutes from all over Brazil, reflects the quality of our research and its commitment to strategic themes for tackling social problems. An important feature of INCTs is that they form multi-institutional and interdisciplinary networks of researchers, which has been a premise of our management with the creation of Study Centers linked to the President's Office and the Special Research and Innovation Centers, the Cepix,” says USP's President, Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior.
National coverage
With the 121 new contracts, the country will now have 221 INCTs, a growth of approximately 10% compared to the current total of 202 – 102 contracted through the 2014 call, which will end in April; and another 100 from the 2022 call, which will run until 2027 or 2028. Currently, USP coordinates 73 INCTs – 36 from the 2014 call and 37 from the 2022 call.
In 2025, the program will receive R$1 billion from the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT), managed by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI); R$200 million from the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (FAPESP); R$150 million from the Rio de Janeiro State Research Support Foundation (Faperj); R$ 100 million from the Ministry of Health; R$ 50 million from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes); R$ 50 million from the Minas Gerais State Research Support Foundation (Fapemig); and R$ 10 million from the Espírito Santo Research and Innovation Support Foundation (Fapes).
The INCT Program was created in 2008 as a result of a partnership between the CNPq and the MCTI, and later included the participation of state research support foundations. Encompassing research projects with complex themes, the institutes are made up of national research networks, with an emphasis on international cooperation and aimed at developing projects with a high scientific and technological impact.
In the 16 years the program has been in force, more than 1,835 national and 1,302 international partnerships have been established, including 515 cooperations with Brazilian companies and more than 139 foreign ones, as well as the training of people with a high degree of qualification and specialization in all areas of knowledge.
USP's participation
The Dean of the Institute of Mathematics and Computational Sciences (ICMC), André Carlos Ponce de Leon Ferreira de Carvalho, was one of the winners of CNPq's call for proposals for the Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Social Good project. According to him, the INCT will tackle major national problems using AI, investigating applications to solve issues that affect people, society, and the planet, with a focus on approaches and tools for preventing catastrophes and environmental disasters, promoting social well-being, citizenship, health, inclusion, and human rights.
To this end, according to Carvalho, the project will bring together researchers from different regions of the country, mainly from the North, Central-West, and Southeast regions, and from various USP units, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC), the School of Engineering – São Carlos (EESC), the School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities (EACH), the Institute of Physics of São Carlos (IFSC), the Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Accounting – Ribeirão Preto (FEA-RP), the Clinics Hospital of the Faculty of Medical Sciences (HCFMUSP), and the Polytechnic School (Poli). A total of 80 researchers will take part in the project, 40% of whom are women.
“Prev-AVC: From hypertension control to the search for biomarkers in liquid biopsy” will be the theme of the INCT to be coordinated by Suely Kazue Nagahashi Marie, professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FM). “Our project aims to implement a program to track the incidence of stroke risk factors in primary care in five regions, and to implement a standardized treatment protocol to stabilize hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. A reduction in premature mortality from stroke is expected with better control of risk factors,” explains the professor.
Moreover, Suely says, the aim is to look for new markers associated with stroke in extracellular vesicles, structures bounded by a lipid bilayer, similar to the cell membrane, released by different types of cells, which are involved in a variety of normal physiological processes, including communication between cells, blood clotting, immunity, tissue regeneration, among others.
More than 70 Brazilian researchers will be part of the INCT, which will also include representatives from the University of Michigan in the United States, the University of Southern Denmark, and the Macquarie University in Australia.
See the table below for a complete list of the professors included in the call for proposals.
(Information from CNPq's Social Communication Department)
English version: Nexus Traduções
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