SBPC celebrates the return of science, but remains vigilant – 07/21/2023 – Science

Brazilian science is recovering after a period of constant threats to democracy that left scars in Brazilian society, said this Friday (21) the president of the SBPC (Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science), Renato Janine Ribeiro.

However, advances are still needed in the area, mainly with regard to the recovery of Fundeb, in the policy of valuing basic education and in the values ​​of graduate scholarships, which had a 40% readjustment in the last month of March.

“We see that there are advances, but we still defend that the readjustment be in the range of 60% to be able to recover the purchasing power of 2013. These are important measures”, said the also former Minister of Education in a ceremony that marks the beginning of the 75th Annual Week of the SBPC next Sunday (23) at the UFPR (Federal University of Paraná), in Curitiba.

The event took place in person at the university headquarters and also had the virtual participation of journalists and university employees and the scientific community.

According to Ribeiro, another point that the current government has been charged with is the delay in filling vacancies in secretariats that control policies in the area. “There is a delay in filling these vacancies, and this is worrying, as they will define public policies in science and technology in the coming years. We are a non-partisan entity with no ties to the government and precisely because of this we can praise what we believe to be right and criticize measures with which we disagree”, he said.

Ribeiro also stated that it is essential for the government to maintain dialogue with the scientific community, especially considering the need to maintain public policies based on science in the more technical ministerial portfolios, such as the Environment, Health and Education.

The theme of the scientific entity’s annual meeting is “Science and democracy for a fair and developed Brazil”, where the focus will be on discussing public policies for the recovery of science, education and health in a post-Bolsonaro era. For this, the choice of the city to host the event was symbolic.

“It is not a trivial fact that we chose to hold our meeting here, because, yes, Curitiba is a conservative society, but we must remember that we have here a place that has always fostered science, Paraná has always respected the plurality and soul of universities and this is a place of teaching and democracy, but also of science”, said the rector of UFPR, Ricardo Marcelo Fonseca.

In the program, there are more than 90 conferences and lectures, with diverse themes such as climate change, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and the use of renewable energies.

“Science and democracy are inseparable, and for that very reason it is very emblematic that we hold the annual meeting on these commemorative dates, 110 years of UFPR and 75 years of the creation of SBPC, especially in a year in which we had many uncertainties about the democratic future of the country, in view of what happened on January 8”, said the researcher and general coordinator of the 75th edition of the meeting, Claudia Linhares Sales.

The recomposition of the FNDCT (National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development), on the 29th, was celebrated by members of society, but it is a reminder of how vigilance to maintain funding in science must be constant.

“When we talk about knowledge production, more than 90% of Brazilian science is carried out in public universities, and these suffered a 50% cut in their budget from 2015 to 2022. Without the budget recomposition in 2023, it was likely that we would now reach the middle of the year with the universities broken”, stated Fonseca.

Ribeiro recalled guidelines that, according to him, should be looked at carefully, especially with regard to basic rights in health and education.

“We have a Constitution that guarantees funding for health and education for all and the protection of indigenous peoples, but none of that was enough for the former government that disrespected all these values. That is why it is necessary to have a strong democratic spirit so that these are truly enshrined values ​​in society, not just being something of government policy”, he said.

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