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Fapesp Week

Dialogue in Buenos Aires

Round table at the symposium (above) and opening of the Brazilian Nature exhibition, attended by FAPESP President Celso Lafer and Brazil’s ambassador to Argentina, Everton Vieira Vargas

HEITOR SHIMIZURound table at the symposium and opening of the Brazilian Nature exhibition, attended by FAPESP President Celso Lafer and Brazil’s ambassador to Argentina, Everton Vieira VargasHEITOR SHIMIZU

Researchers from São Paulo and Argentina met in Buenos Aires April 7-10, 2015, to discuss new partnerships and intensify the scientific collaboration efforts already in progress. FAPESP Week Buenos Aires, a symposium organized by FAPESP and Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), presented advances made by São Paulo and Argentine science in fields such as astronomy, functional foods, energy, nanotechnology, quantum information, and health. “We took a significant number of researchers from the state of São Paulo with us to Buenos Aires, the largest delegation to any of the editions of FAPESP Week,” says Marcelo Knobel, a professor at the University of Campinas (Unicamp) and assistant coordinator of research collaboration at FAPESP. On the first day of the event, the Brazilian Nature exhibition, dedicated to publicizing Brazil’s biodiversity, was officially opened at Palácio Pereda. A round table held April 8 discussed partnerships on major projects such as Sirius, the new Brazilian synchrotron light source that is expected to begin operations in 2019. Researchers from Argentina are the principal foreign users of the current source, installed at the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory in Campinas and operating since 1997. Also discussed were initiatives in the field of astronomy in which both countries participate, such as the Llama project and the Pierre Auger Observatory, which studies cosmic rays (see report on page 18). One day of the symposium was devoted entirely to the humanities, a field in which collaboration between São Paulo and Argentine researchers is strong. One of the highlights of the final day was a discussion on cooperation between universities and companies. “The rich history of partnerships between researchers from Argentina and the state of São Paulo naturally leads to a deepening of this longstanding relationship, which is both lasting and quite fruitful,” said FAPESP president Celso Lafer.

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