On Tuesday 22 October 2013, Warwick hosted a delegation of Presidents and representatives from ten of Brazil’s state funding agencies (Fundações de Amparo à Pesquis – FAPs).

The visit was a part of the UK Embassy in Brazil’s Low Carbon Energy initiative and so Warwick’s Energy GRP put together a programme to showcase some of the work that is being done on the Warwick campus in the area of energy research.

FAPs are public entities that manage research investments from Federal and State Governments, and so in addition to visiting three UK universities; Warwick, Birmingham and Imperial, the delegation also met with their counterparts at RCUK, including BBSRC, NERC and EPSRC as well as meeting with representatives from the Technology Strategy Board.

Warwick's inclusion on the FAP's mission to the UK is the result of a year's worth of engagement in Brazil from the Energy GRP which has included Prof Phil Mawby's participation on the UKTi Low Carbon Energy Mission to Brazil in 2012, and a delegation of Energy GRP representatives to Brazil in June this year, which visited three cities (Sao Paulo, Campinas, Rio), and included several visits to Universities and corporates. It’s clear from hosting this delegation that there are still many opportunities for Warwick to explore in Brazil, both in Sao Paulo, Rio and beyond".

Prof Tim Jones Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research (Science & Engineering), Knowledge Transfer & Business Engagement

Warwick has been supporting the development of collaborations in Brazil through the Brazil Partnership Fund. Launched in 2011 and funded by Santander, the fund has to date provided seed-funding to support 13 collaborations with institutions in Brazil totalling over £70k.

A further call to the Brazil Partnership Fund will open in 2014, for more information please contact sarah dot patrick at warwick dot ac dot uk in the International Office.

Warwick is also engaging with the Brazil Government's Science Without Borders programme (Ciência Sem Fronteiras), a 4-year initiative which aims to send 10,000 students to study in the UK (101,000 worldwide), mostly on science and engineering programmes and at the level of UG (Visiting), PhD (Visiting + Full), and Post Docs. There are also schemes to support mobility of researchers from UK to Brazil.

Warwick will be hosting the second annual Brazil Networking Event on Thursday 14 November 12.30-2pm, Radcliffe Private Dining Room, at which we will be welcoming the latest cohort of students funded by the Science Without Borders programme. The aim of the networking event is to encourage colleagues at different stages of engagement with Brazil to come along and share expertise on collaborating in Brazil. A link to last year’s event is below:

Brazil Networking Event

If you would like to attend the Brazil Networking Event please email M dot A dot Smithers at warwick dot ac dot uk before Tuesday 12 November 2013.