Roundtable: Working globally

"Mining Brazil for data — my experience as a visiting professor"

Malcolm von Schantz is an internationally recognised researcher and an experienced educator, who received his training in Sweden, the United States, and the UK. After four years of serving in senior leaderships positions as Associate Dean (International) and acting Pro-Vice Chancellor (International Relations), he recently completed a sabbatical at the University of São Paulo Medical School, where he retains a visiting appointment. He has received over £4 million in research funding from public and private sources including MRC, Wellcome Trust, British Heart Foundation, and US Air Force Office of Scientific Research. He currently holds research funding from the BBRSC, the British Council, the Department of Innovation and Skills, and CNPq. His research has been published in high-impact international journals, including Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and presented both at major scientific conferences and in broadcast, print, and web-based media worldwide. In a multinational project together with colleagues at the University of São Paulo and the University of Chicago, he is studying sleep, circadian rhythms, and their relationships with health in the Baependi cohort, based in a small town in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

"Sharing my experience as a Brazilian scientist working abroad"

Dr Meira holds a degree in Biology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre/Brazil; and PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology (Curie Institute, Paris/France & UFRGS, Porto Alegre/Brazil). Dr. Meira has worked as Postdoctoral Research Fellow/Instructor, in Texas, US; and developed studies at Harvard School of Public Health/Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also worked as a research fellow at St. George’s University of London and currently is a Lecturer in DNA Damage and Ageing, University of Surrey.

“Matter in Intense Laser Fields and the Physics of Ultrashort Time Scales”

Note from Dr Faria: In the first part of my talk I will describe my field of research and subsequently I will talk about myself as a typical example of the “brain drain” that happens with many Brazilian scientists, who initially intend to return to Brazil but do not meet appropriate conditions and realize that they would not have enough support to pursue their scientific activities. By mentioning what happened in key stages of my life and career, I intend to illustrate obstacles for the retention of qualified personnel (I am probably not the only person for which this has happened).

Dr Faria is a specialist on theoretical strong-field laser-matter interaction, with around 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 50 invited talks in research institutions and major international conferences, awards, and around 1200 citations. She has also been involved in the organization of major international conferences, and is a reviewer for most journals in her field. She is a permanent staff member at UCL, where she leads a research group, and has supervised students at all levels. She collaborates with world-leading research groups in several areas, including strong-field and attosecond science, quantum chemistry and mathematical physics. Ongoing collaborations include institutions in Spain, United Kingdom and Germany.

“The life abroad of a (Brazilian) civil engineering academic”

Dr. Antonio Carraro is a Senior Lecturer in Experimental Geotechnical Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London. He is a member of the Editorial Panel of Géotechnique and Associate Editor of the Editorial Board of the ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Dr. Carraro also serves as a member of the ASTM D18 Committee on Soil and Rock. Dr. Carraro earned a PhD in Civil Engineering from Purdue University in the United States and MSc and BSc degrees in Civil Engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Brazil. Prior to joining Imperial, Dr. Carraro taught several undergraduate and postgraduate classes in civil and geotechnical engineering at Purdue and Colorado State universities, in the United States. He served as Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State, and, more recently, in the Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems at The University of Western Australia, in Perth, Australia.