Brazil ’s plan to lure 1000 expat scientists back home faces criticism

Brazil’s government has launched a new program that aims to lure 1000 Brazilian researchers now working abroad back to their homeland. But many scientists are criticizing the repatriation initiative, arguing the money would be better spent on supporting beleaguered researchers who have stayed in Brazil. “It doesn’t make sense for the government to aim to attract established Brazilian researchers from abroad while we have thousands of unemployed [Ph.D.s] here, and those currently employed struggle with low salaries and dilapidated laboratories,” says Thaís Barreto Guedes, a biologist at the State University of Campinas. The repatriation program, called Conhecimento Brasil (Knowledge Brazil), was launched in April by the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. It plans to spend 1 billion Brazilian reais ($200 million) over 5 years to provide Brazilian researchers with a master’s or doctoral degree who are working abroad in academia or industry with annual salaries of 120,000 to 156,000 reais, as well as 400,000 reais to establish laboratories. The government says the effort is needed to reverse Brazil’s brain drain. But critics note it isn’t even clear just how many Brazilian researchers have moved overseas in recent years; estimates range from 3000 to 35,000. And many researchers are skeptical the scheme will do much to strengthen Brazil’s scientific community, which has been struggling with funding woes. Last month, just days...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news