26/08/2019

How the lack of funding from CNPq threatens scientific production.

A fachada do IMPA Foto: Leo Martins / Agência O Globo

Reproduction of the article from Época magazine.

By Daniel Salgado and Filipe Vidon

Nearly 85,000 researchers could lose their grants starting in October due to a budget deficit of R $ 330 million at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). João Luiz Filgueiras de Azevedo, president of the institution, warned of the situation at the beginning of last week. This possibility jeopardizes the work being carried out in universities, departments, laboratories, and institutes across all fields of knowledge.

To understand the scope of the case, ÉPOCA spoke with professors and researchers from public higher education institutions — which are responsible for most of the scientific research in the country — to have them describe their work and discuss the importance of CNPq for the continuity of their activities.

Mathematics

One of the institutions that could be affected is the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics, IMPA. Founded in 1952 by CNPq itself—today it falls under the purview of the Ministry of Science and Technology—IMPA is one of the world's leading centers for mathematical research, attracting Brazilian and foreign researchers, as well as promoting symposia, seminars, and science outreach programs for the public.

“We have 49 doctoral scholarship recipients from CNPq and 25 master's students. These are young adults for whom the scholarship is a salary. And they are at risk of losing it and not being able to finish their studies. All of our areas are dependent on this funding,” explains Professor Marcelo Viana, director of the postgraduate institution, which has 47 full researchers and about 150 students conducting research in 11 areas of mathematics.

In the institute's classrooms, located in the Botanical Garden in Rio de Janeiro, professors and students delve into some of the most complex questions in mathematics. Although sometimes abstract, there are lines of research on topics such as computer graphics, which directly impacts the film and television industry; fluid dynamics, which involves the creation of highly complex mathematical models and generates technology for the extraction of liquids such as oil; and dynamical systems, Viana's research area, which creates mathematical models to analyze how a phenomenon or object unfolds over time and space.

According to Viana, despite being an "economical area" due to its low equipment requirements, advanced mathematics is significantly affected by scholarships. Even with funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education (MEC), IMPA needs CNPq funding to retain its students on full-time dedication.

“The contribution of CNPq is also essential. Without it, we don't have students. And without students, IMPA wouldn't be IMPA,” he explains. Viana reinforces, however, that the number of projects has decreased due to a reduction in resources at the institution and the freezing of scholarship amounts. “This causes many students to give up on pursuing postgraduate studies in a science career.”

Biology

The impact of CNPq is not limited to mathematics or research institutes like IMPA. At the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), departments with a CAPES rating of 7 (the highest possible) are also dependent on these scholarships.

Fachada da UFRGS Foto: Ramon Moser / Divulgação

This is the case with the Postgraduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology (PPGBCM) at the university's Biotechnology Center, where ¼ of doctoral and master's students receive scholarships to develop research in 15 departments. There, 38 senior researchers, 9 postdoctoral fellows, 60 doctoral students, and 60 master's students work together, continuing work that has been developed over the past ten years.

According to Hugo Verli, coordinator of the program, if the CNPq cut is confirmed, the value of the unpaid scholarships would reach R $ 152, which, added to other research cuts, would generate an impact of R $ 450,000 on the PPGBCM in 2019 alone. At this moment, the purchase of supplies for the development of the laboratories' work has already been considerably affected due to the reduced funding.

These measures jeopardize the continuity of research in a range of areas such as agriculture, public health, and biology. Among the results already obtained by the PPGBCM are the discovery of an inhibitor of Parkinson's disease and natural compounds capable of reversing diseases caused by fungi in the lungs and brain.

On the other side of the country, a department shows the reality of daily life without scholarships and the resilience of professionals in the field. At the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), professors Márcio Viana Ramos and Nylane Maria Nunes, from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Faculty of Medicine, respectively, coordinate research into the treatment of lesions caused by leprosy.

Over the course of eight years of research that produced two PhDs and two Masters students, the group was able to develop a biomembrane for healing wounds caused by the disease, which was successfully tested on 12 patients. With this technology, open wounds that have been present for five years can be healed after a 60-day treatment. The goal is to validate the use of this treatment within the Brazilian public health system (SUS).

Despite the encouraging results, the research of the Plant Latex Molecular Biotechnology group is threatened. Besides the lack of budget for purchasing materials such as gloves, cotton, and PPE, Professor Márcio Viana fears that students will lose the incentive to continue in the field due to a lack of scholarships. Without any funding from CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) since the agency's spending cuts, students are even having to drive their own cars long distances to treat patients.

“The stipends that fund the work of students and researchers are extremely outdated and without adjustments,” explains Viana. “And this discourages the most important part of the system, which is the human being.”

Chemical

Even those not yet directly affected by the cuts are showing concern about the news surrounding CNPq. This is the case of Cláudio Cerqueira Lopes, a professor in the Chemistry department at UFRJ, who coordinates the Laboratory for Synthesis and Analysis of Strategic Products (Lasape) with Professor Rosangela Sabbatini Cappella Lopes.

O campus da UFRJ na Ilha do Fundão, onde está localizado o Instituto de Química Foto: Gabriel de Paiva / Agência O Globo

Founded in 1993 and having trained 25 masters and 16 doctoral students, the laboratory researches the creation of a series of products such as luminol — which identifies blood in environments and is widely used by the Military and Civil Police, whom Lasape frequently serves —, ballast water biocides, reagents for detecting the presence of drugs, and even water desalination methods. According to Lopes, all this is happening thanks to the three doctoral students, three undergraduates, and the postdoctoral researcher associated with the project, who receive scholarships from CNPq and CAPES.

“Our purpose is social chemistry. If the Civil Police requests 300 luminol kits, which we can offer at a much more accessible price than the market price, it is the students who create them. Without them, the project falls apart and we will not be able to meet the demand,” explains Lopes, who points out that the laboratory also researches methods of using luminol to identify blood in hospital environments. This practice, which has already been adopted in the Netherlands and the USA, can help reduce hospital contaminations that kill around 100,000 Brazilians a year.

The situation is worrying the rest of the chemistry department, as explained by its director, Cláudio Mota. According to him, there are about 50 researchers from the IQ (Institute of Chemistry) who receive grants from CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) across the departments of drug development, biofuels and bioproducts, as well as forensic chemistry, in addition to research in areas such as environmental chemistry and climate change.

“We haven’t yet received any news of scholarship suspensions. But the budget cuts put the continuity of payments at risk,” explains Mota, who points out that some scholarships at the Institution were terminated this year in the period between graduation and the entry of new students for research, which led to a “delicate situation for the postgraduate program.”

Researchers were also affected by the non-delivery of resources approved in calls for proposals. CNPq also funds research and, according to Mota, the partial transfer of funds meant that some projects were left without supplies and equipment.

Humans

The humanities also suffer from a lack of funding, as demonstrated by the case of Professor Daniela Fávaro Garrossini, from the Federal University of Brasília (UNB) — which, along with UFBA and UFF, was one of the first to have cuts announced by the MEC (Ministry of Education), in April.

Programa do curso durou apenas uma aula Foto: Divulgação

Garrossini, coordinator of the postgraduate program in design at UNB, says that her CNPq scholarships were cut, with the exception of one student who was a PIBIC scholarship recipient (a program associated with CNPq).

“All the undergraduate and graduate students involved don’t have the possibility of scholarships. Most are volunteers, and we don’t have resources,” explains Garrossini. She and her students are part of an international research network on Technopolitics—which studies how social groups and movements organize themselves and how their networks form—composed of universities from Spain, Chile, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Italy. “They have funding and resources. Here, we have to pay for everything out of our own pockets, even phone calls and travel.”

Even with seven professors from fields such as Environmental Engineering, Physics, and Public Policy Management, research on technopolitics and activism regarding water issues has failed to attract funding. Nevertheless, there are five undergraduate and two graduate students involved in the project.

CNPQ

When contacted for comment, CNPq stated that the institution's budget situation remains unchanged. With the Annual Budget Law remaining in effect and a deficit of R $ 330 million, CNPq says: "Without budget replenishment, there will be no funds to pay scholarships starting in October (with the September payroll)."

In a statement, CNPq also said it is trying to reverse the situation in a "joint effort with the Ministry of Science and Technology." Among the measures are the "temporary suspension of the implementation of new scholarships to minimize the impact of this budget deficit, which have been widely publicized on our networks."