Interinstitutional Academic Partnerships

Partnerships with Spanish Universities

Academic cooperation with Spanish universities represents one of the most consolidated axes of the internationalization strategy of UFC’s Graduate Program in Geography (PPGGeo). This relationship, which began with the training of graduate faculty members in institutions in Zaragoza and Barcelona, has expanded over the last decade, resulting in active agreements with institutions such as the University of Huelva, University of Seville, Autonomous University of Barcelona, University of the Balearic Islands, University of Alicante, and University of Alcalá de Henares.

The University of Huelva was the first to establish an agreement with the Program in 2010, focused on tourism and territorial planning. The partnership, coordinated by Prof. Dr. Alfonso Vargas Sánchez (GEIDETUR), promoted comparative studies between the regions of Huelva/Andalusia and Ceará/Northeast Brazil, as well as technical visits and research missions involving faculty, master’s, and doctoral students. The Program also participated in the Spanish teaching innovation project La Evaluación en Asignaturas de Geografía, aimed at formative assessment.

That same year, an agreement was signed with the University of Seville through the Official Master’s in Territorial and Local Development Planning and Management, coordinated by Prof. Enrique Javier López Lara. This partnership was strengthened by the postdoctoral fellowship of Prof. Christian Oliveira (Dec/2010 – Jun/2011), titled Geo-heritage of Andalusian Sanctuaries, supported by CAPES and Fundación Carolina. The exchange fostered the reception of visiting professors and graduate students for research missions. As a result, between 2014 and 2015, two students carried out sandwich PhDs at the Universities of Huelva and Seville.

In 2012, ties were renewed with the Autonomous University of Barcelona, with the arrival of Prof. Sergio Rossi to collaborate on coastal research in Ceará and to teach the graduate course Global Change, Climate, and Ocean Impacts. In partnership with Prof. Antonio Jeovah de Andrade Meireles, this cooperation resulted in:

• Reception of 15 Spanish undergraduate students (2012–2014) and two postdoctoral fellows (2016);

• Co-supervision (cotutelle) of a PhD at the University of Barcelona (2015);

• Joint publication in the international journal Ocean & Coastal Management;

• Approval of two consecutive projects (2015 and 2016) under the CAPES High-Level Studies Program, focused on ecosystem services valuation and coastal and marine environmental dynamics.

The partnership with the University of the Balearic Islands began in 2014, with PPGGeo faculty participating in PhD defense committees in Spain and the reception of visiting professors who delivered lectures and presented thematic research in the program.

In the same year, a former UFC master’s student began her doctoral studies at the University of Alicante with a Science Without Borders fellowship, under the supervision of Prof. Antonio Aledo. This cooperation enabled joint supervision with Prof. Eustógio Dantas and included Prof. Aledo’s participation in the XIV Urban Geography Symposium (2015), at the roundtable City: a Project for the Future.

In 2016, Prof. Dr. Mario Buggi of the University of Alcalá de Henares carried out a two-month research stay with the UFC Graduate Program in Geography, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Edson Vicente da Silva. During his stay, he taught the course Environmental Ethics for master’s and doctoral students and participated in field activities organized by the Laboratory of Geoecology of Landscapes and Environmental Planning (LAGEPLAN). This experience reinforces the institutional effort to expand and consolidate new exchange opportunities with Spanish universities.

Since the previous CAPES evaluation period (2017–2020), PPGGeo has established research agreements with several Spanish institutions, including the Universities of Alicante, Alcalá, Seville, Pablo de Olavide, and Santiago de Compostela. In the current period (2021–2024), academic activities with the University of Alicante and the University of Alcalá have been particularly significant, under the scope of PRINT/CAPES, in addition to a new partnership formalized with the University of Barcelona.

In Spain, the long-standing cooperation with the University of Alicante has taken on a distinctly scientific profile, with extensive participation of UFC/PPGGeo faculty (Eustógio Dantas, Alexandre Pereira, Adryane Gorayeb, Alexandra Oliveira, and Iara Gomes) and a program alumna (Marilia Sousa) in international networks, publications, and academic events. Among these initiatives, notable highlights include participation in the Red Internacional de Estudios Socioambientales, based at the University of Alicante and coordinated by Prof. Antonio Aledo. This network integrates approaches and results in the analysis, planning, and management of socio-environmental issues across Latin America and Europe. Within this collaboration, key achievements include:

• Organization of the International Congress of Socio-Environmental Studies (2022) and its subsequent publication Impacto Social y Desarrollo (2022), edited by Guadalupe Ortiz, Antonio Aledo, and José Gomez, with contributions by Profs. Eustógio Dantas, Alexandre Pereira, and alumna Marilia Silva;

• A 2022 scientific mission funded by PRINT/CAPES, enabling Profs. Adryane Gorayeb and Alexandra Oliveira to participate in technical visits, research meetings, and as speakers at the International Event on Cooperativism and Rural Development, promoted in cooperation with the Federal Institute of Pará, Le Mans Université (France), and Universidad Regional Autónoma de Los Andes (Ecuador);

• Participation of Prof. Daniel Lopez (University of Alicante) in a PRINT/CAPES event in Brazil, as well as his involvement in extension projects coordinated by Profs. Iara Gomes and Alexandra Oliveira.

At the University of Barcelona, collaboration was strengthened by the 2024 scientific mission of Prof. Iara Gomes, funded by FUNCAP. This initiative stems from the partnership between researchers Fransualdo Azevedo (UFRN) and Maria Àngels Alió (UB) in the development of the research project Challenges of Food Production and Flows in Metropolises.

With the University of Alcalá, scientific collaborations have also resulted in joint publications by Profs. Mario Burgui and Edson Silva, particularly the project The effect of construction intensity on landscape preferences, published in Environmental Development (2022), among other outcomes.