EURAXESS Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

Legal Framework

EU-Brazil cooperation relations are based on the 1992 Framework Co-operation Agreement signed in June 1992 and ratified by the Brazilian Congress in May 1995. In 2007, the EU recognised Brazil as one of its key global partners through the establishment of the formal EU-Brazil Strategic Partnership.

Academic cooperation

Between 2007 and 2013, the EU and Brazil promoted academic cooperation between European and Brazilian higher education institutions. For 2014 to 2020, the EU has made €163 million available for regional cooperation with Latin America in higher education inside Erasmus+.

EU-Brazil Science and Technology Agreement

Brazil and Europe have a long research cooperation tradition in the area of Science & Technology culminating in the signing in 2004 of the Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation. The agreement entered in force in 2007 and aims at encouraging, developing and facilitating cooperative activities in areas of common interest by carrying out and supporting scientific and technological research and development activities.

The implementation of the cooperation agreement is managed by a joint steering committee which meets on a regular basis and has as main tasks to indicate priority sectors of mutual interests and advise on ways to improve cooperation.

The final declaration of the 6th EU-Brazil Summit, held in 2014, highlighted the fact that competitiveness, innovation and economic growth cannot be achieved without strengthening cooperation in science and technology.

The main areas of scientific cooperation are:

• Marine Research
• Health
• Bio-economy
• Transport, including aviation
• Energy (in particular advanced biofuels)
• Nanotechnology
• Sustainable urbanisation and environmental research
• Information and Communication Technologies
• Fusion Energy
• Cooperation with the Joint Research Centre.

Other cooperation agreements

EURATOM

The Agreement for Cooperation between the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) and Brazil set in 2009 in the field of fusion energy research was ratified in December 2012 and came into force in January 2013.

Joint Research Centre - JRC

In the context of the 6th EU-Brazil Summit held in Brasí­lia in January 2013, a Cooperation Arrangement was signed between the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) to undertake training and cooperation activities in the areas of disaster prevention and crisis management; climate change and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystem services; energy, including bioenergy and smart grids; food security; bioeconomy; information and communication technologies (ICT), as well as nanotechnologies.

Implementing Arrangement between the European Commission and the Brazilian National Council of the State Funding Agencies (CONFAP)

The implementing arrangement was signed and entered into force on 13 October 2016. It aims at encouraging the best Brazilian scientists to join research teams funded by the European Research Council (ERC).

Under this arrangement, Brazilian post-doctoral grantees from the State Funding Agencies (FAPs), from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) can undertake short or long term research visits, in Europe, and collaborate with ERC-funded teams, conducting frontier research across Europe.

The EU promotes international cooperation in science and technology through its Horizon 2020 framework programme. This programme runs from 2014 to 2020 and has a budget of €80 billion.

Brazilian participants (individual researchers and/or institutions) can join projects in any area. Horizon 2020 therefore provides the EU and Brazil with the opportunity to build on what is already a fruitful area of collaboration.

The Excellent Science Pillar of Horizon 2020 offers dedicated programmes like Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions and The European Research Council (ERC) to support the best research talents irrespective of their nationality with fellowships and grants.

For the more information on 2018-2020 and other forthcoming calls, please visit the participant portal of Horizon 2020. Please click on Online Manual and on Reference Document for additional insight. 

Selection of Calls of potential interest for Brazil for 2018-2020

In order to encourage the participation of Brazilian researchers under Horizon 2020 calls, the European Commission listed potential calls of interest for EU-Brazil cooperation. Find the list here.

The Brazilian National Council of State Funding Agencies (CONFAP) and the EU Delegation to Brazil also compiled a more detailed list of calls that might be interesting for Brazilian researchers and institutions (in Portuguese). Calls cover the timeframe of 2018 to 2020 and are divided by main scientific areas.

Funding of Brazilian participation

Brazil was in the top five non-European countries in terms of active participation in the EU’s previous framework programme for science and technology (FP7).

In Horizon 2020, Brazilian entities are no longer automatically eligible for funding and must, therefore, determine the sources of funding and resources for their part of the project. Individual Brazilian researchers are eligible for EU funding under the European Research Council programme and Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Felowships.

Existing co-funding mechanisms in Brazil

Different funding schemes are being set up in different Brazilian states through the existing Research Foundations (FAPs) in each state to fund Brazilian participation in Horizon 2020 collaborative projects.

Co-funding schemes for Brazilian researchers are available in the following states:

• Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo - FAPESP
• Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação do Estado de Santa Catarina- FAPESC
• Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás - FAPEG
• Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais - FAPEMIG
• Fundação de amparo à Pesquisa do Distrito Federal - FAPDF
• Fundação Araucária de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Estado do Paraná – FAPPR
• Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação do Espírito Santo - FAPES
• Fundação de Apoio ao desenvolvimento do Ensino, Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul - FUNDECT
• Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Maranhão – FAPEMA
• Conselho Nacional das Fundações Estaduais de Amparo à Pesquisa - CONFAP

Read INCOBRA Factsheet on the FAPs guidelines here for more details.

Cooperation in ICTs

The EU and Brazil are jointly engaged in addressing issues relating to information and communication technologies (ICTs).

An EU-Brazil Information Society Dialogue, held in 2012, agreed a €10 million call for proposals to fund ICT projects of common interest. The two parties also shared their experience and knowledge of policy and regulatory issues in areas such as broadband development, governance and internet security, cloud computing and digital content.

The importance of cooperation with Brazil in this field comes from the following factors:

• the growing influence of the Information Society and ICT in everyday life;

• the increasing globalisation of the ICT sector and the leading role played by Brazil in Latin America’s digital economy;

• Brazil’s rising importance regarding issues of strategic importance for the EU such as internet governance and information networks and security.

More : EU Information Society research

Short- and long-term mobility of researchers both ways is an important driver of the EU-Brazil and EU-LAC research and innovation partnerships.

Individual researchers can take part in mobility programmes under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions scheme (MSCA). Researchers from Latin America and the Caribbean may also apply for the European Research Council (ERC) grants, which are for the most ambitious and highest quality researchers.

Additional opportunities open to researchers from Argentina, Brazil and Mexico: Argentinian, Brazilian and Mexican authorities signed implementing arrangements with the European Commission to allow (postdoctoral) researchers to temporarily join research teams run by ERC-grantees to conduct frontier research activities in Europe.

=> read the short guides we prepared for LAC researchers and institutions, and discover how you can benefit from MSCA and ERC.

Many other institutions and agencies from EU member states and associated countries, third countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and other LAC countries as well as international foundations also fund researchers mobility.

To support your mobility projects, every two months we highlight around 100 schemes to support researcher collaboration, exchange, or mobility in our list of funding opportunities. These schemes are available on EURAXESS Funding database and in our regular Flashnotes. Register to receive our automatic notifications.

European Union Member States and associated countries have developed many cooperation programmes with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and other LAC countries in the fields of research and innovation, facilitating collaborative projects between European and LAC research laboratories, increasing researchers' mobility and promoting scientific exchanges between the two regions. To review the range of grants and funding opportunities that are available, please check their Embassies Portals. Their national open calls are also regularly published in the funding portal.