In order to completely fulfill its goals, as stipulated in the Statutes, the Center for Advanced Studies (CEA) of the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ) includes seven Thematic Streams that provide guidance on the work and the set of activities developed. Notwithstanding new topics that may be incorporated, or even replacing the current ones, the aim is to organize efforts related to the production and promotion of scientific and academic knowledge based on issues that we believe to be strategic, as can be seen below.
It should be pointed out that, in all the streams presented (and in the projects and/or research groups derived from them), some basic conditions are fundamental: a) the multi or cross-disciplinary nature of the topics, explored from different fields of knowledge that interact with each other; b) the originality and challenges of issues at the frontier of knowledge in advanced research associated with the different streams; c) the effective generation of new knowledge in the fields under consideration that may be relevant and promoted to the academic community and society, in a broader way; d) the training of human resources and academic staff, whenever possible.
They are the following:
Food Security
Adopting the perspectives of food and nutritional sovereignty and security and the human right to adequate and healthy food, this work stream is focused on analyzing the trends of food systems in recent decades in terms of the production, distribution and consumption of food in the spheres of social, economic, environmental, cultural and human health. Particular attention is devoted to issues and proposals under debate at an international level and in Brazil, with an emphasis on:
(a) displays of inequality and social inequities present in food systems; (b) urban-rural relations in food issues; (c) socio-environmental impacts of agricultural models; (d) territorial conflicts over access to land and water; (e) the world food system and internationalization of agribusiness; (f) reproduction of family and rural agriculture and the emancipation of rural families; (g) adoption of agro-ecological practices that value socio-biodiversity and cultural diversity; (h) transformation and processing of agrifood products, value chains and infrastructure issues; (i) impacts of climate change on food systems; (j) the repercussions of a poor diet on human health. The central role of the State and public policies is found within all of the issues mentioned, as well as the participation of different social groups in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of these policies.
As such, the projects supported in this thematic stream are noteworthy for the multi and cross-disciplinary dialog involving the human, social, agronomic, technological and natural sciences inside UFRRJ and with international partners, as well as for the multi-scale perspective to address the issues at different levels (local, territorial, national and global) and the inter-relationships between them.
Sustainable Development
Sustainable development is a systemic vision of global development in which the exploitation of natural resources is based on the premise that they are limited and that, if they are used thoughtlessly and in an inconsequential manner, they will be exhausted for future generations. Accordingly, sustainable development is the guiding principle for attaining the human development goals while supporting the capacity of natural systems to provide resources and ecosystem services that the economy and society depend on. Based on this logic, sustainable development is a development that fulfills the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The desired result is that various human societies in diverse regions of the globe can have their needs for consumption and well-being fulfilled by using natural resources to satisfy them, but without harming the integrity and stability of natural systems. In 2015, after the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development, the United Nations unveiled the 2030 agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These documents are essentially focused on coming up with new avenues for global development in order to improve the lives of people everywhere on the planet. The decisions thus reached by the Summit are aimed at determining a new global course of action to end poverty, promote prosperity and well-being for all, protect the environment, and address climate change.
Most PhDs in Brazil (approximately 80%) are affiliated with Universities, especially to Public Universities. These institutions are responsible for more than 90% of the country’s technical and academic production in all fields of basic or applied knowledge. Moreover, these institutions are involved in extension programs and projects that attempt to communicate and pass on the knowledge produced by the University to overall society in such a way as to influence and empower this society, allowing the knowledge to be applied in real situations and in the changes necessary for its development.
This thematic stream is geared towards creating subsidies for UFRRJ that allow it to play a role in the production of knowledge in fields involving sustainability, socio-biodiversity, environment and, in particular, in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through actions such as: (i) implementing research and extension projects and programs devoted to the SDGs; (ii) bringing national and foreign researchers together from various fields and areas in multidisciplinary research and extension projects and programs; (iii) organizing special events, seminars and courses for applying the SDGs at different scales.
One Health
The concept of one health, established by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2007, encompasses the interdependence between human, animal and environmental health, emphasizing their inextricable union in a transdisciplinary approach that integrates knowledge through alliances and collaborative communications in the pursuit of functional and lasting solutions to existing and/or emerging problems that affect the health of humans, animals and ecosystems.
Among the target areas for implementing actions within a “one health” approach are food security, concerning both the control of food-borne zoonosis and the guarantee of sustainable food sufficiency for human and animal populations; prevention and control of epidemics of emerging and reemerging diseases; implementation of dynamic surveillance systems for microbial disease; translational medicine using animal models to find solutions for human health issues; preparing for environmental disasters, including those stemming from adverse human activities on the environment, including uncontrolled urbanization and deforestation; monitoring and control of actions related to antimicrobial resistance; adoption of vaccination programs against zoonotic diseases in animal hosts in an effort to reduce their impact on human populations; integrating epidemiological aspects of human, veterinary and environmental nature to identify what triggers the emergence of diseases; production of drugs, including those of herbal origin.
Innovation
Innovation is the phenomenon through which new knowledge is incorporated into society and into the market, yielding economic, social and environmental value. Innovation has become central to the growth and development of countries and regions, occupying a prominent place in public policies and the realm of business.
As an institution that performs teaching, research and extension, the university plays an important role in this process. The production and promotion of new knowledge and the training of qualified human resources are the driving forces of innovation.
As stated above, about 80% of Brazilian PhDs work in predominately-public universities. These public institutions house most of the infrastructure and scientific and technological expertise in the country. The national innovation policy is thus based on the premise that universities should, through the extension of activities involving the transfer of technology and support for the creation of companies, act in a proactive manner to convert the knowledge obtained in research activities into social welfare and economic wealth.
In this respect, universities have been going through a process of intense transformation that involves the creation of organizations to manage the interface between universities and external stakeholders (institutional support foundations), technology transfer offices, business incubators and technology parks. It is a complex process that demands robust governance and includes nuances that have yet to be fully studied by the academic community.
The idea of this thematic stream is to create subsidies that allow this discussion to be conducted at UFRRJ in a plural way, involving its diverse voices and aiming for a consensus that can be built between different fields of knowledge. The activities will be undertaken in three streams: (i) conducting studies on the various research, extension and innovation programs that have been implemented at UFRRJ and other institutions; (ii) holding seminars with national and international guests to discuss what state of the art practices have been done by similar institutions in Brazil and in the world; (iii) conducting specific courses with invited professors.
State, Institutions and Public Policies
This thematic stream prioritizes issues alluding to the State’s action through specific public policies, as well as the institutional context in which government programs are grounded. In a broad approach to public action and government action, questioning the process of drafting, deciding, implementing and evaluating policies, three dimensions are provided that support an analysis of public policies: those related to the context and the current institutional framework, or to its change (polity dimension), another one related to negotiations between the different actors involved, to campaigns and to the administration of interests (politics dimension) and, lastly, a final one related to the instrumental dimension of government programs, mechanisms employed and expected effects or results (policy dimension).
On top of being a line of work that is more focused on analyzing public policies, the stream also includes a full set of research and activities focused on the State itself (including within the spheres of the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary powers), in interactions with stakeholders from civil society, in the institutions in place, in the political, social and economic processes that explain the different configurations adopted, in the conflicts generated, in the government, in the different governmental scales and in the diverse arenas (advisory, decision-making, national, international, etc.) that anchor mechanisms for participation and social control.
Accordingly, the work done by UFRRJ thus far in its distinct sectors and research and postgraduate programs, which involve special attention to the topic of this stream, will be mobilized for an approach that encourages a cross-cutting, cross-disciplinary and multidimensional perspective in the analysis of public policies and State action, including studies that examine transfers of programs that are running in Brazil to other countries or vice versa, on the importance of policies implemented and/or designed abroad in the Brazilian context.
Social Inclusion and Human Rights
This work stream is directly related to the production of UFRRJ in this field through the creation of research and extension groups in order to investigate and intervene in the conditions for overcoming social inequalities for development through inclusion and the guarantee of rights. So, considering the presence of research and extension groups in the field of human and social sciences in which production is consolidated, the CEA space is a way to ensure the empowerment of those whose objectives are grouped around social inclusion, understood as the set of actions that guarantees the equal participation of all in society, regardless of social class, physical condition, education, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and other individual elements that mark minority groups.
Additionally, UFRRJ signed the University Pact in 2017 to Promote Respect for Diversity, the Culture of Peace and Human Rights (Ministry of Justice and Citizenship and Ministry of Education). It is something that is clearly related to inclusion, especially in terms of guaranteeing historically constructed social rights. On the other hand, it is also a strategic basis of the University for consolidating democracy. The Pact establishes the need for inserting Human Rights Education at all levels of higher education in a cross-disciplinary and cross-cutting way for teaching, research and extension with the understanding that it is the set of universal guarantees and values that seek to guarantee dignity based on the right to life, freedom of opinion and religion expression, right to health, education and work.
The objectives of this stream need to be associated with the sharing of research and theoretical-methodological reflections, stimulating a formal creation of existing networks and establishing new opportunities for improving this field of knowledge. This is done through courses, events, teaching and student exchanges. In this regard, we have focused our efforts on publicizing the work using specific publications that reflect the cumulative knowledge on the topic, its adherence to different public policies and the incorporation of appropriate social technologies.
Culture, Society and Heritage
This thematic stream is structured as a catalyst for research in the field of humanities, establishing itself as a crosscutting field in which different approaches can intersect. As such, this stream enables a reflection that helps to promote broader initiatives on culture and heritage at Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro.
Culture must be understood here in the broad sense as production focused on sensitivity. Hence, humanity can evolve as a whole through culture, completing the work of Reason developed by science and philosophy. This is why the alliance between culture, society and education is highly desirable in an emancipatory perspective, because it favors critical thinking and an understanding of the world.
As for the topic of heritage, the importance of the ethical aspect of this research perspective needs to be underscored. Heritage is closely linked to forgetfulness, and the battle against forgetting ultimately seeks redemption from the past in the present. The ethical imperative of heritage states that knowing the past does not mean reverting to something “dead”. On the contrary, it is a question of projecting the future, avoiding the mistakes made, closing the wounds in order to build a plural society that is rich in possibilities.
Heritage and culture are wholly interconnected as they are not the luxury of the scholar, but are perfectly integrated into the objectives of the Public University, which include creating a democratic environment for the free circulation of ideas, returning the production of knowledge to a society that much expects it.
As such, research will be promoted related to comparative perspectives on citizenship; indigenous and afro-descendant populations; social differences; agrarian issues, inclusive and intercultural education; dictatorial experiences and states; violations of rights and oppression of gender, race and class; fractured, constructed and reconstructed heritages.
This stream will attempt to establish networks and agreements working with researchers and institutions from Latin America, the United States and Europe, resulting from exchanges and academic dialogs that have been conducted because of interinstitutional projects, research missions and scientific events. We will therefore concentrate efforts on promoting the work performed through publications and to extend the scope of activities by filming events, translating websites detailing the postgraduate programs and research groups, and encouraging extension projects that contribute to scientific disclosure.