Ricardo Galvão, former director of Inpe, is the new president of CNPq

Scientist Ricardo Galvão will be the new president of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). The appointment was made this Tuesday (17) by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Luciana Santos, at a ceremony in Brasília (DF). The researcher will be responsible for coordinating the funding of research grants for undergraduate and graduate students.

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Galvão was director of the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) from 2016 to 2019. The scientist was exonerated by former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) after disclosing data on deforestation in the Amazon. At the time, the Bolsonaro government criticized information from the institute that showed an increase in deforestation in July 2019. Bolsonaro and members of the government claimed that the data was wrong and its disclosure harmed Brazil’s image and affected trade agreements.

Ricardo Galvão is a professor at the Physics Institute of the University of São Paulo (USP). He was designated as one of the ten most important people for science by Nature Magazine in 2019. In 2021, Galvão received the Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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