FAPESP announces three more agreements with universities in the United Kingdom

Cooperation with the Universities of Manchester, Imperial College London and Cambridge expand opportunities for cooperative research between Brazilian and British scientists

Agência FAPESP– FAPESP announced Wednesday (9/25), in London, the signing of memoranda of understanding (MoU) to implement science and technology cooperation between researchers from the state of São Paulo and the Imperial College London. Also announced was a cooperative research agreement with the University of Cambridge, signed September 2. On Thursday (9/26), an agreement will be signed with the University of Manchester.

The announcement took place on the first day of activities in FAPESP Week London, a symposium organized by FAPESP to run through September 27 at the Royal Society, with support from the British Council and the Brazilian Embassy in London.

“FAPESP’s strong cooperation with British universities shows the power of scientific exchange promoted by the Foundation in the United Kingdom, both in absolute as well as comparative terms,” said Celso Lafer, president of FAPESP.

The MoU signed with the Imperial College, for a term of five years, includes the annual investment, for each project selected, of up to GBP 6,000 on the part of the Imperial College, with FAPESP contributing an equivalent amount in reais. The maximum disbursement for projects selected in each call for proposals is GBP 50,000.

The MoU between FAPESP and the University of Manchester calls for an annual contribution of up to GBP 100,000 divided equally between the two institutions over five years.

The two documents emphasize the commitment of the institutions involved to promote cooperation between researchers from the two countries through scientific meetings of mutual interest and the identification of areas for future joint action on projects, which will be disclosed in calls for research proposals.

Roberto Jaguaribe, Brazilian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, stated that “the cooperation in science and technology has been one of the reasons why the relationship between Brazil and the United Kingdom has gotten so much stronger over the past two to three years, and this is due to the actions by FAPESP.”

Expanded cooperation

The cooperative research agreement signed September 2 by FAPESP and the University of Cambridge is also designed to promote bilateral collaboration and joint project development between scientists linked to the two institutions.

The activities involved in project implementation and organizing scientific meetings and exchanges will initially be carried out at the School of Biological Sciences of the University of Cambridge.

For each of the projects approved, the University of Cambridge and FAPESP will assume the funding of their teams of researchers up to the total of GBP 30,000 and the equivalent in reais, respectively. The agreement is valid for three years.