Universidade de São Paulo has been a designated University of Bath priority partner since 2014 and March 2023 marked the third renewal of an agreement which has been the foundation of a successful partnership. The partnership with USP has enabled a significant interdisciplinary portfolio of research links, student and staff exchanges, research-led engagement with at least two Faculties and availability of, or commitment to, joint research funding and engagement with Baths' successful research centres the Institute for Sustainability and SAMBa.
Since 2017 there have been 122 co-authored publications between Bath and USP, mainly in the Sciences, with over 25% of them in the field of Medicine. During the same time period, internal funding awarded to Bath academics to support collaborations reached £182,826. This seed funding has enabled Bath to successfully leverage funding from the EPSRC, Royal Society, UK-Brazil Newton Fund Researcher Links Grants, Rutherford Strategic Partner Grants, and the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Techncological Development (CNPq).
Bath’s SAMBa has strong links with the Centre for Mathematical Sciences Applied to Industry (CeMEAI) at USP. This collaboration has achieved significant success in joint skills training and in building transregional networks with other universities and research institutes across Latin America. To support industry-relevant mathematics research capacities in Brazil, Bath and CeMEAI have run “Brazilian Study Groups with Industry” at USP, and USP students and scholars have participated in SAMBa’s Integrative Think Tank (ITT) events, formulating problems relevant to industry partners. Bath has also co-organised Short Courses on Mathematical Modelling for Industry at USP to impart techniques to solve real industrial problems, which have been extremely well attended by MSc, PhD and postdoctoral students participating from all over Brazil.
Priority funding has been committed to this partnership through the IRO Funding Scheme (which is currently paused) with focus areas on research, doctoral mobility and partnerships for professional services.
USP and Bath projects funded by the IRO are as follows:
Brazil’s Foreign Policy roles as its Presidents conceive and play them (2020). Led by Dr Leslie Wehner, Dept of Politics, Languages and International Studies
To discover how fungi sense their environment to regulate reproduction and toxin contamination (2019) . Led by Dr Neil Brown, Dept of Biology and Biochemistry
Free surface flows of complex fluids (2019). Led by Dr Jonathan Evans , Dept of Mathematical Sciences
Lymphatic targeted nanotechnology-based drug delivery system for the treatment of leishmaniasis (2019). Led by Dr Nikoletta Fotaki, Dept of Pharmacy & Pharmacology
Dengue virus detection and disease understanding (2019). Led by Dr Paulo Rocha, Dept of Electronic & Electrical Engineering
Innovative design and engineering of advanced materials for efficient buildings (2019). Led by Dr Bhavna Sharma and Dr Juliana Calabria-Holley, Dept of Architecture & Civil Engineering
Social innovation in the Brazilian Unified Social Assistance System (2018). Led by Prof Louise Brown, Dept of Social and Policy Sciences
Dynamical systems in fluid dynamics (2018). Led by Prof Paul Milewski, Dept of Mathematical Sciences
Biosensor technology for detecting early stage prostate and breast cancer (2017). Led by Dr Pedro Estrela, Dept of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Establishing robust predictors of treatment outcomes in non-small-cell lung cancer (2017). Led by Dr James Turner, Dept of Health
USP is also a founding member of the Magalhães Network, an engineering network promoting trans-Atlantic mobility and collaboration between Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. Bath is a member of the Magalhães Network and will be hosting the annual General Assembly on the 20th to 21st November 2023.
The University of Bath is pleased to be renewing this long standing agreement and looks forward to following the continued success of the partnership.