Professor Richard Walton has been awarded a ‘Special Visiting Researcher’ fellowship as part of the Brazil Government’s Science Without Borders initiative. He received the award during his August visit to Brazil to present a lecture at the Brazilian Meeting on Inorganic Chemistry.

Richard was nominated by his collaborators at University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto. The initial collaboration was facilitated by an award from Warwick’s Brazil Partnership Fund in 2012, with funding from Santander. Richard said,

I’m very grateful to my Brazilian collaborators at USP Ribeirão Preto for nominating me for this very generous award, which will enable us to engage in a substantial piece of research in materials chemistry over the next three years, as well as providing an opportunity for talented PhD students to spend some time in our labs here at Warwick.

Professor Walton is the second Warwick researcher to have been awarded the Special Visiting Researcher fellowship since the Science Without Borders scheme was launched in 2011. Dr Orin Courtenay, School of Life Sciences, was nominated by Fiocruz-Recife, Pernambuco in 2013.

Science without Borders – Special Visiting Researcher

The Special Visiting Researcher scheme aims to attract senior, foreign researchers recognized internationally as leaders in one of the priority areas of the Science Without Borders programme. This very generous scheme includes round-trip tickets to Brazil, a highly competitive senior-level monthly allowance, a contribution toward research costs and funding for a 'Sandwich PhD' year (to UK) and a Post-doctoral Fellow (in Brazil). Applications must be made by the host institution in Brazil.

Other funding opportunities with Brazil

Science without Borders – PhD Scholarships - The Science without Borders programme offers two routes for postgraduate students to study in the UK. Students currently studying for a PhD in Brazil can apply to spend 6-12 months at a UK university as part of a 'sandwich PhD'. Alternatively students can apply to study for a full PhD at a UK university for 3-4 years.

FAPESP-Warwick - Warwick signed an agreement with the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) earlier this year and have subsequently opened a joint call for proposals, which is open until 27 October 2014. Warwick researchers who are interested in applying to the fund, but who don’t yet have a Brazilian collaborator, are advised to consult the FAPESP Virtual Library to identify potential research collaborators.

Brazil Partnership Fund - Warwick’s internal fund, supported by Santander, continues to support this fund alongside the FAPESP call as there’s no restriction on subject area or location of institution in Brazil. It re-opens in Autumn 2014.

Newton Fund – Brazil - A series of international partnership grants, Advanced Fellowship schemes, and Royal Academy of Engineering collaboration awards have been launched as part of the UK Government’s Newton Fund, with an application deadlines of 17, 22 and 24 October 2014. The Calls can be accessed via the Universities UK International Unit web page

Global Innovation Initiative - Led by UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the US Department of State Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECS) and administered by the British Council (UK) and Institute for International Education (US), this initiative was launched in 2013 to support multilateral research collaboration to address global challenges. Proposals requires a US partner plus another partner from one of 4 partner countries: Brazil, China, India or Indonesia. The application deadline is 31 October 2014.