Two Brazilian Science without Borders grants for cooperation with the Universidade de São Paulo

The Brazilian government has awarded two research groups of the University of Groningen and the University Medical Center Groningen with a grant to expand academic cooperation with their counterparts at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP). It concerns Prof. Paris Avgeriou of the Johann Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science and Prof. Truuske de Bock and Prof. Marian Mourits who are specializing in epidemiological/gynaecological oncology.

The grant is one of the modalities within the one of the largest scholarship programs in world history: Science without Borders. It was launched by the Brazilian government in 2011 and provides financing for 75.000-100.000 Brazilian students to do (part of) their undergraduate or PhD degree at foreign universities. Additional modalities focus on postdoctoral and staff mobility to improve international collaboration between high-quality research groups and import expert knowledge to Brazil.

Avgeriou, and De Bock and Mourits will have financing for a period of three years to spend 1-3 months per year in São Paulo. They receive funding for travel expenses, a monthly allowance and a research support grant. Additionally, their groups may also benefit from extra positions made available on a PhD and post-doctoral level within Science without Borders.

Prof. Avgeriou is head of the department of Software Engineering and Architecture and will collaborate with the group of Prof. José Carlos Maldonado of the Institute of Mathematics and Computing Science of USP.

Prof. De Bock and Prof. Mourits’s research focuses on women with a familial or genetic predisposition to develop breast and ovarian cancer. Together with their counterparts at USP they aim to develop a cost-effective tool to test women in Brazil for genetic mutations such as BRCA1 or BRCA2. The coordinator on the USP side is Prof. Roger Chammas.

For more information on the program and the possibilities for researchers, contact Joyce Fongers, Coordinator for Latin America, Office for International Relations.
See also the testimonial of Prof. dr. ir. Paris Avgeriou about his collaboration with the Universidade de São Paulo (USP).