On 15 October 2024, the Brazilian delegation, made up of representatives from several universities and led by Brazilian Ambassador to Russia, Rodrigo Baena Soares, embassy attaché, Marcelo Böhlke and deputy minister of Education, Alexandre Brasil Carvalho da Fonseca, took part in strategic meetings in Moscow in order to strengthen academic partnerships. The mission was organized by the Brazilian Embassy in Moscow and was attended by the following Brazilian universities: UFSC; UDESC; UNESP; UNICAMP; UFRGS; UFRJ; UFMG; UFABC; UFES; UFJF; UFNT; UFOB; UFOP; UFPA; UFRN; FURG; UFSB; UFSB; UNB; UNIFEI, and CNEN (Centro Nacional de Energia Nuclear) [National Center for Nuclear Energy] of the Ministry of Technology and Innovation. The Secretary for International Relations, Prof. Luiz Carlos Pinheiro Machado Filho represented UFSC in the mission.
Secretary for International Relations, Prof. Luiz Carlos Pinheiro and RSUH Vice-rector, Prof. Vera Zabotkina, signing the cooperation agreement UFSC-RSUH.
On the morning of 15 October, the delegation met with the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH), which currently has an agreement underway with UFSC. The meeting featured speeches by the Russian authorities such as rector Audrey Loginov and Dr. Ksenia Trinchenko, director of International Cooperation Department at the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Academy of Sciences. They emphasized the importance of cooperation between both countries. Brazilian representatives, in addition to the ambassador and the deputy minister of Education, the president of ANDIFES and rector of UFRN, José Daniel Diniz Melo, also reinforced the opportunities for academic cooperation.
UFSC stood out at the meeting when RSUH vice-rector, Prof. Vera Zabotkina, mentioned the role of the university in the UNESCO Chair, coordinated by Prof. Gilvan Müller. She also praised the student Gustavo Scalabrin Hübner, who was an exchange student at RSUH in 2023. Prof. Lyudmila Baturina, director of the International Russian-Brazilian Center, highlighted the work of UFSC professors Fred Campos and Beatriz Azevedo in the study group PRORUS, strengthening partnerships between the institutions.
Message from the student Gustavo Scalabrin Hübner, who was an exchange student at RSUH in 2023.
During the meeting, the universities discussed possibilities for scientific cooperation, joint research and mobility. RSUH demonstrated interest in co-supervision and funding for undergraduate and graduate students. RSUH is an institution of excellence, among the best in the world and very willing to work together with Brazil. For UFSC, this is a great opportunity. Some of the knowledge areas that RSUH stands out in are anthropology, through the Institute of Social Anthropology, International Relations and Political Science, the Institute of Psychology, with emphasis on L. S. Vygotsky studies, and language studies, including Portuguese. And other areas within the field of Humanities. An interesting observation is that there were RSUH students attending the whole event.
In the afternoon, the delagation visited the Skoltech Institute of Science and Technology, a cutting edge institute focused on innovation and partnerships with companies.
The mission was characterized by productive exchanges and celebrations, including a toast to the renewal of the cooperation agreement with RSUH, signaling a new phase of academic cooperation between Brazil and Russia.
