UNIVERSITY OF SÃO PAULO - BRAZIL

University of São Paulo (USP) will have a unit of the main French research center on its São Paulo campus

The activity was part of the schedule of the international mission formed by USP leaders, who were in France and Germany from September to October.

Original article by USP Journal – October, 6th

(In the foreground, on the left) The Director-General for Science of CNRS, Alain Schuhl, and the rector Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior sign the agreement. Also present at the ceremony (standing, from left to right) were the Brazilian Ambassador to France, Ricardo Neiva Tavares, the professor from the Faculty of Law at USP, Fernando Menezes, and the Secretary of Science, Technology, and Innovation of São Paulo, Vahan Agopyan – Photo: USP Journal.

On October 3, the University of São Paulo (USP) and the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the main public research institution in France, signed an agreement for the establishment of an International Research Center based at USP in 2024.

This activity was part of the agenda of the international mission led by the rector Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior and composed of leaders from USP, who were in France and Germany from September 25 to October 3. The mission’s objective was to visit universities and research centers to sign agreements and discuss new partnership opportunities.

The center is expected to foster collaboration between the two institutions in high-quality research and academic training, involving both institutional governance and the scientific community. This will be the fifth CNRS center in partnership with a university. Similar partnerships have already been established with the universities of Arizona and Chicago (United States), Imperial College London (United Kingdom), and the University of Tokyo (Japan).

A memorandum of understanding between the two institutions was signed in March of this year during the visit of the executive director of CNRS, Antoine Petit, to USP. At the time, Petit explained that “the proposal is to develop scientific cooperation between the countries, either by bringing Brazilian students and researchers to France or by sending French students and researchers to Brazil. The center is expected to act as an ‘umbrella’ under which we will develop various activities that will evolve over the years. What interests us, in fact, is that researchers from Brazil and France have an interest in cooperating with each other.”

In July of this year, Liviu Nicu, the director of the Office of the National Center for Scientific Research in South America, gave an interview on the USP Channel’s program “Desafios” (Challenges), where he talked about the importance of the partnership. “The fifth CNRS center in the world will be with USP and is expected to conduct research in the areas of humanities and social sciences, ecology and the environment, earth and universe sciences, computer science, and biology. These five disciplines should outline the initial disciplinary architecture of our Center with USP,” he said.

According to the rector of USP, topics such as immunology, artificial intelligence, and sustainable agriculture are expected to be part of the jointly conducted studies. “We want to do at USP what is called ‘internationalization at home’ abroad, which is the development of international actions within the University, so that students and researchers who cannot go abroad have an international experience within USP. With the implementation of these international centers at USP, such as the Pasteur Institute of São Paulo, CNRS, and the Max Planck Institute, the academic community will have the opportunity to develop internationally focused research,” he considered.

Carlotti also revealed that there are negotiations with the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) for the creation of a unit at USP, involving professors and researchers from the Faculty of Medicine (FM), the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto (FMRP), and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICB) for research in the field of precision oncology. The agreement is expected to be signed in January of next year.

The president of Lumière Lyon 2 University, Nathalie Dompnie; the rector of USP, Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior; and the president of Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University, Éric Carpano – Photo: USP Journal.

University of Lyon

On October 2, the rector signed an agreement for a dual-degree program involving the University of Lyon and the Faculty of Law (FD) at USP, with the possibility of extending the program to the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU), the Faculty of Economics, Administration, Accounting, and Actuarial Sciences (FEA), and the Faculty of Economics, Administration, and Accounting in Ribeirão Preto (FEA-RP). The dual-degree agreement in the field of Letters with the French institution was also renewed with the Faculty of Philosophy, Languages, and Human Sciences (FFLCH).

USP leaders also visited the Embassy of Brazil in France, where they were received by diplomat Ricardo Neiva Tavares, who heads the embassy. According to Carlotti, the purpose of the meeting was to present “the partnerships we have developed and discuss future collaborations.”

“The formalization of these agreements and partnerships demonstrates the international trust that USP enjoys with important institutions such as CNRS, the University of Lyon, and the Embassy of Brazil in France,” emphasizes the rector.