11-Nov-2021
In October, the Brazilian Government approved a proposal to reduce the country’s federal science budget by 92%. In addition to causing problems for ongoing projects and grants, it also calls into question future research proposals.
Whilst there have been calls to revert this, researchers in Brazil are preparing for the worst-case scenario.
The cut has been brought about by ever-dwindling financial support from the government in recent years, which led to proposal budgets being capped at US$1,700 – an exceptionally small amount for the vast majority of projects. Local funding is still available in some states, but the federal budget is now not sufficient to supply researchers nation-wide.
The situation shines a spotlight on the importance of distributed research infrastructures, and how they can offer the support and access to equipment needed for researchers to complete projects. As part of CeBEM (made up of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela), structural biology researchers in Brazil are part of a wider community in Latin America, and can access equipment and technology in other members of the CeBEM research infrastructure.
Similarly, The University of Sao Paulo holds a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Instruct-ERIC that enables their researchers to apply for access to Instruct infrastructure in Europe as part of funded international calls.
The hope is that the research budget in Brazil is reinstated, even before the 92% drop is implemented. Should this not be the case, the need for international cooperation and access will be heightened further than ever. Find out more about the impact on researchers in Brazil here.
As an example of international cooperation providing valuable assistance for researchers in Brazil (and across Latin America), CeBEM has been awarded a Chan-Zuckerberg bioimaging grant.
