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The King of Spain, Felipe VI, awarded the president of the São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp) and former president of USP, Marco Antonio Zago, the Order of Civil Merit decoration for his contribution to strengthening scientific relations between Brazil and Spain. The title was conferred on March 26, by the ambassador of Spain to Brazil, Mar Fernández Palacios, in a ceremony held at the Consulate General of Spain in São Paulo.
One of the three most important orders of merit granted by the Kingdom of Spain, the honor – represented by a silver breast star – was created by King Alfonso XIII in 1926 to recognize “the civic virtues of officials serving the State, as well as the extraordinary services of Spanish and foreign citizens for the benefit of the nation”.
“For me, it is a great satisfaction to represent the Spanish State in presenting this decoration, in recognition of your long scientific trajectory and the efforts undertaken to improve cooperation between our countries”, stated the ambassador during the ceremony.
According to Mar, this joint effort has intensified in recent years largely due to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Spain’s Centre for the Development of Technology and Innovation (CDTI) and Fapesp in 2024, during the visit to Brazil of the country’s president, Pedro Sánchez.
“This international cooperation is very important, as the challenges we face today, such as climate change, the energy transition, food security, and pandemics, know no borders and can only be addressed through joint efforts”, the ambassador assessed.
Cooperation Path
Upon thanking for the honor, Zago recalled moments when he had the opportunity to be personally in the presence of King Felipe VI, addressing matters related to science, technology, and higher education. One such occasion was during the creation of the Ibero-American University Union (UIU).
The network was established in 2016 among five leading institutions in Latin America and Spain – the University of São Paulo (USP), the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), and the University of Barcelona (UB) – for the development of joint programs in research, teaching, and faculty and student mobility. Serving as president of USP at the time, Zago and the leaders of the other universities presented their proposals, which were received as a clear sign of progress in Ibero-American academic relations.
“As president, I also endeavored to promote the José Bonifácio Chair, established to foster relations and research on Ibero-America. During that period, we had as chairholders names such as Felipe González, former prime minister of Spain, and the Brazilian writer Nélida Piñon (1934–2022), of Spanish origin. Both contributed immensely to the expansion of academic knowledge about Ibero-America”, Zago said.
Science and historical ties
The president of Fapesp recalled that Spanish immigration to Brazil, concentrated in São Paulo, enabled a significant cultural, artistic, linguistic, gastronomic, and emotional contribution that connects the communities of the two countries. In the field of science and technology, the numbers reflect this proximity: Spain is currently the second European country with the highest volume of scientific collaboration with Brazil, behind only the United Kingdom.
“Fapesp has already supported 1,800 scientific cooperation projects between Spain and the State of São Paulo. This partnership is expanding through our contacts with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the CDTI”, said Zago, also mentioning the success of Fapesp Week Spain, held in November 2025.
In his speech, the president highlighted the influence of prominent figures of Spanish science on his own career, such as Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934), the “father of neuroscience”, and Severo Ochoa (1905–1993), Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine who identified mechanisms of RNA synthesis.
Zago concluded by stating that Spain represents one of the greatest cultural and scientific references for Brazil. “I feel very happy for the opportunity to contribute to bringing these two communities closer together.”
Written by Elton Alisson, from Agência FAPESP
English version: Nexus Traduções, edited by Denis Pacheco
