A delegation from USP, led by president Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior and formed by the provost of Graduate Studies, Rodrigo Calado; by the president of the USP Agency for National and International Cooperation (Aucani), Sérgio Proença; and by the professor of the Faculty of Law (FD) and administrative director of the Research Support Foundation of the State of São Paulo (Fapesp), Fernando Dias Menezes de Almeida, was in France between November 20 and 22.
The group’s agenda included the signing of agreements and agreements with universities and research institutions; the promotion of meetings with leaders of French educational institutions; and participation in the celebrations of the 30 years of the USP Cofecub program, promoted in partnership with the French Committee for the Evaluation of University Cooperation with Brazil and which promotes the exchange of researchers and collaboration between the scientific communities of USP and France.
For the president of USP, Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior, “the partnership with France recovers our historical ties with that country, since French researchers were decisive for the creation of USP in 1934”.
“The French entities, universities, institutes and the French government enthusiastically received USP’s delegation. Existing partnerships were enhanced and new possibilities opened up. I highlight the possibility of a double degree at graduation for FEA students, with a similar model of our Faculty of Law with the Universities of Lyon. The two largest French universities, PSL and Paris Saclay, have shown clear interest in increasing cooperation with USP, with joint projects already defined. The meetings with IP-Paris and the CNRS showed that the partnerships are increasingly solid,” says the president.
“I am sure that we will establish the same level of internationalization that we have with the University of Exxer in the United Kingdom, and the Italian ICGEB, with international laboratories established at USP,” says Carlotti.
Meetup Agenda
One of the first commitments of the delegation in that country was the holding of the annual general meeting of the Institut Pasteur of São Paulo and the Institut Pasteur of Paris. In the agenda, plans to expand the research activities of the Brazilian branch were discussed.
Headquartered in the University City of USP, the Institut Pasteur of São Paulo, inaugurated by French President Emmanuel Macron in March this year, has 17 laboratories – four of them level 3 biosafety –, a bioinformatics unit and several multi-user laboratories. When fully operational, it will house more than 80 scientists from Brazil and other countries for the development of research on communicable, non-communicable, emerging, reemergent, neglected and degenerative diseases, including progressive neurodegenerative diseases.
Another important activity of the delegation was the agreement signed by USP with the company Viva Technology, which organizes one of the main technology events and startups in Europe. In 2025, the ninth edition of the fair will take place from June 11 to 14, 2025, in Paris, at the Expo Porte de Versailles. The proposal is that USP participate with a booth of 100 square meters, which will be shared with Fapesp, to present projects and initiatives related to innovation.
“USP’s participation in the fair will allow interaction with other French partners. There will also be the presentation of startups in the areas of cutting-edge technology promoted by USP and Fapesp and initiatives related to the energy transition, for example, “explains Professor Fernando Menezes.
Expansion of partnerships
At the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the main public research institution in France, meetings were held with leaders to discuss the expansion of the scope of the center that was installed at the Capital-Butantã campus of USP, in São Paulo, including new areas, such as engineering. In addition, specific partnerships related to the Oceans theme were formalized. In 2025, the United Nations (UN) will promote a major conference on the subject in France and USP, together with Fapesp, participates in a CNRS initiative to support the creation of an international panel for the protection of the oceans at the UN level.
The issue of the double degree was also part of the meetings with the French universities. At the University of Paris 1, the negotiations progressed towards the creation of a double degree model for a master’s degree involving the Faculty of Economics, Administration, Accounting and Actuaries (FEA).
With the same objective, USP advanced in the discussion to be part of the European Alliance of Universities for Global Health (Eugloh), led by Paris Saclay University, the largest French university today. There is still no scheduled date for this association, and the objective is that this alliance enables greater integration for the formalization of double degrees, in addition to conducting joint research, among other activities.
Performance on new fronts
At the Polytechnic Institute of Paris (IP Paris), which covers six French engineering schools — École Polytechnique, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (ENPC), ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, Télécom Paris and Télécom SudParis —, with which there is already a current cooperation agreement, new forms of funding for joint research were discussed and a workshop was held between IP-Paris and USP’s engineering schools, which will take place in March 2025, at the USP Agency for National and International Academic Cooperation (Aucani).
With the National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRAe, in the French acronym), an agreement similar to the one made with the CNRS is under study for the University to have a branch of the institution on the Piracicaba campus. Currently, USP is INRAe’s main international collaborator.
“The collaboration between INRAe and USP has been consolidated over the years as one of the most important partnerships in the field of agricultural and environmental sciences. The continuous exchange of knowledge between INRAe and USP, especially with the participation of ESALQ, strengthens the commitment of both institutions to promote applied and inclusive research that has global relevance, “says the director of the School of Agriculture “Luiz de Queiroz” (ESALQ), Thais Vieira, who participated in the meeting with the Institute’s leaders in a virtual way. According to her, “advances to further strengthen our institutional relations will certainly have a positive impact on science in Brazil”.
USP signed two agreements with the Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL, in the French acronym). The first, for the creation of an international engineering center in circular economy and the second, involving the Institut Curie, for collaboration in the area related to the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma using CAR-T cells. The research is an initiative of the Ribeirão Preto Blood Center, linked to the Hospital das Clínicas of the School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto (HC-FMRP) of USP, in partnership with the Butantan Foundation. The objective is the development of joint research in the area of cell therapy and the exchange of researchers in this area.
30 years and 200 projects
The ceremony to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the USP-Cofecub Program was held at the Maison du Brésil, a residence for Brazilian researchers and students, located in the Cité Universitaire — in which there are other buildings aimed at welcoming students of various nationalities in Paris.
The opening of the event featured the presentation of the president Carlotti, who reinforced the importance of the program, started in 1994 between Brazil and France. The objective of the program is to foster and develop academic cooperation through exchange of researchers, which enables joint research between groups from USP and France, facilitates the exchange of information and collaboration between the two scientific communities. This joint program involves the mobility of researchers, prioritizing doctoral-level training.
According to the president of Aucani, Sérgio Proença, in these thirty years of existence, USP-Cofecub has supported more than 200 projects of 35 Teaching and Research Units of the University.
English version: Nexus Traduções
