The CNPq or National Council for Scientific and Technological Development is one of the bodies responsible for financing and scholarships for student scientific research.
Created in the 1950s, the objective of CNPq is to encourage scientific research and development in Brazil and is linked to public power, currently responding to the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications (MCTIC), led by Marcos Pontes.
Although it has wide coverage in the public sector, it also operates in the private sector, helping several students and professors in the development of their research.
CNPq is responsible for hosting the Currículo Lattes platform, as well as providing scholarships for undergraduate research. However, its operations are very comprehensive, also including scholarship programs for primary and secondary school students.
Major initiatives were managed by CNPq, such as the Science without Borders program that provided scholarships for exchanges, but unfortunately it was closed due to lack of budget.
Economic difficulties
The entity has been suffering for some time with the release of funds, thus impacting the maintenance of programs and the release of grants, which encourage the development of important research in the country.
The importance of research is felt mainly in urgent issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, crises such as Dengue, Ebola, among others. At times like this, health research is essential to help the population.
Lattes CV
The Lattes platform is the integration of data from researchers’ CVs and data from science and technology institutions into a single system. It was adopted as a single national information standard, named after researcher Cesare Lattes.
The Blackout
Since the week of July 23rd, the platform has been unavailable following a technological failure. The president of the CNPq confirmed in interviews that the blackout occurred due to equipment burning and that they are working on repairs.
In 2021, the CNPq has the lowest budget since 2012. Its president Evaldo stated in an interview with Folha that there is a backup and they are working to restore it, so that there are no delays in scholarship payments, accountability, among other activities platform dependent.
