Interinstitutional Academic Partnerships

 Partnership with American Universities

In 2012/13, the Graduate Program in Geography was approved to host the 33rd Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers (CLAG), the first of its kind held in Brazil. The event was organized by Prof. Christian Dennys Monteiro de Oliveira, with institutional support from CNPq, CAPES, FUNCAP, the Center for Sciences, and the Office of Research and Graduate Studies at UFC.

With approximately 300 participants (25% international), the event fostered significant integration between the geographies of Latin America and North America, deepening studies on borders and regional themes. The event’s impact led to Prof. Christian Dennys receiving CLAG’s Enlaces Award (2016) for his contributions to strengthening academic relations between Latin America and the United States.

In 2014, a CAPES PVE project was approved in partnership with Texas A&M University, aimed at strengthening cooperation between research groups in Geoprocessing, Climatology, and Water Resources at UFC and the U.S. institution. The project, coordinated by Prof. Adryane Gorayeb (UFC) and Prof. Christian Brannstrom (Texas A&M), focused on the Impacts of Wind Energy on the Northeastern Brazilian Coast.

Key activities included:

• Insertion of professors Christian Brannstrom and Wendy Jepson as visiting scholars at UFC, both remotely and in person (courses, fieldwork, and thesis committees).

• Sandwich PhD fellowships awarded to UFC students: Caroline Loureiro (2015), Paula Tomaz (2016–2017), Leilane Chaves (2016–2017), Nicolly Leite (2017), and Wallason Farias (2017).

• Joint international scientific production, with publications in journals such as Journal of Coastal Research and Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews.

In 2016, the project Urban Water Provisioning and Household Water Security in Northeast Brazil was approved, funded by Fulbright/CAPES and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), under the coordination of Prof. Wendy Jepson, with the participation of Prof. Jader Santos and UFC graduate students.

Also in 2016, efforts began to establish a cooperation agreement with the University of Kansas, initiated by the visit of Prof. Chris Brown. The goals included sending UFC students for sandwich PhD training and hosting faculty as visiting professors. In 2017, PhD candidate Wellington Romão completed a six-month sandwich program at the institution, under co-supervision of Prof. Chris Brown.

As another outcome of CLAG 2015, collaboration with Springer was consolidated, with Prof. Eustógio Dantas joining, in 2016, the editorial board of two book series:

• The Latin American Studies Book Series (E. Dantas, J. Rabassa, A. Sluyter)

• SpringerBriefs in Latin American Studies (J. Rabassa, E. Dantas, A. Sluyter)

Among the works published by program faculty, the following stand out:

• Coastal Geography in Northeast Brazil: Analyzing Maritimity in the Tropics

• French-Brazilian Geography: The Influence of French Geography in Brazil

• Religious Tourism and Heritage in Brazil (2017)

• Structural Geomorphology in the Northeast (2020)

• Urban Transformations in Rio de Janeiro (Observatório das Metrópoles)

Also in 2016, a project with Prof. Peter Michael Rosset (El Colegio de la Frontera Sur – ECOSUR, Mexico) was approved through CAPES Call 65/2014. Coordinated by Prof. Francisco Amaro Gomes de Alencar, the project Peasant Schools and the Territorialization of Agroecology aimed to develop a theory for the territorialization and scaling of agroecology in Brazil, especially in Ceará.

That same year, collaboration began with the Argentine Institute for Arid Zone Research (IADIZA/CONICET), with Dr. Elena María de las Neves Abraham co-supervising PhD student Érika Gomes. The project, Monitoring Land Degradation and Desertification in the Western Sertões of Ceará and Argentina, was supervised by Prof. Vladia Pinto Vidal and funded by CAPES through the Sandwich PhD Program (Call No. 19/2016).

In the current evaluation period, the partnership with Texas A&M University has been maintained and strengthened with the approval of the project Urban Water Provisioning and Household Water Security in Northeast Brazil, funded by Fulbright/CAPES and the U.S. National Science Foundation (2018–2023). The project, coordinated internationally by Prof. Wendy Jepson and, in Brazil, by Prof. Jader Santos, focuses on assessing urban household water supply systems in Northeastern Brazil. The initiative also includes researchers from various countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia, articulated through the HWISE network (Household Water Insecurity Experiences).

Within this cooperation, institutional ties with Springer have also been consolidated. As a result, since 2016, Prof. Eustógio Dantas has served on the editorial board of two important Springer series: (i) The Latin American Studies Book Series (Dantas, E.C.; Rabassa, J.; Sluyter, A.) and (ii) SpringerBriefs in Latin American Studies (Rabassa, J.; Dantas, E.C.; Sluyter, A.).

Partnership with Latin American Universities

In 2005, a cooperation agreement was established with the Universidad de La Habana, enabling the participation of Cuban researchers and those from the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), particularly from the Graduate Programs in Geography and in Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering. The central thematic focus of this cooperation is the Management of Tropical Watersheds, in a comparative perspective between experiences in Cuba and Brazil.

Several research missions were carried out both in Cuba and in Ceará, including postdoctoral studies conducted in Havana in 2007. As a direct result of this agreement, the International Seminar on Planning and Sustainable Development in Watersheds was created, with its first edition held at UFC (2011), followed by subsequent editions at UNESP/Presidente Prudente (2013) and UFPA (2015).

Since 2012, activities have been developed within the scope of the EcoMaSD project, funded by CAPES between 2010 and 2012. During this period, UFC hosted two PhD candidates from Universidad de La Habana under the sandwich doctoral program: Obllurys Cárdenas López and Dayaxny Hernández Pérez.

Academic ties with Cuba remain active, as demonstrated by the participation of Prof. Mateo Rodríguez in the Environmental Studies Seminar held in 2016, organized by Prof. Edson Vicente da Silva, with financial support from CAF. Prof. Mateo Rodríguez also maintained continuous academic involvement at UFC between 2010 and 2014, including participation in dissertation and thesis committees, teaching courses, and co-authoring publications, some of which have already reached new editions.

In the current evaluation period, partnerships with Latin American institutions remain consolidated, strengthening South-South cooperation, especially with universities in Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador.

At the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), cooperation expanded with the approval of the project Leisure and Tourism in the Americas (2022–2024), funded by FUNCAP’s Universal Call, involving professors Eustógio Dantas and Alexandre Pereira (UFC) and Prof. Luis Salinas (UNAM). Outcomes of this partnership include Prof. Luis Salinas’ participation in a PRINT/CAPES event held in 2022. In return, in 2024, professors Eustógio Dantas and Alexandre Pereira conducted a scientific mission to UNAM, which included academic meetings at the university and fieldwork in Cancún, in collaboration with Luis Salinas and Melisa Montaño.

At the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes (Argentina), PPGGeo/UFC plays an active role in the Observatory Network on Heritage Landscapes in Latin American Arts (OPPALA), which promotes projects and research in the field of arts and cultural heritage. The network is coordinated by Prof. Christian Oliveira, in partnership with Cristina Carballo. The results of this cooperation have been systematically presented at OPPALA colloquia, with the first edition held in Fortaleza (2018) and the second online (2021). Cristina Carballo also participated as a keynote speaker in an international event linked to the PRINT/CAPES Program.

At the Universidad Nacional de Salta (Argentina), a project was approved in 2019 under the CAPES COOPBRAS/South Global Call (2019–2023), one of only ten selected nationwide in Brazil, focusing on strategic themes related to energy generation. Coordinated by Prof. Adryane Gorayeb, the Brazilian team includes Christian Brannstrom, Jeovah Meireles, and Edson Vicente (UFC), in partnership with Sônia da Cal and Carla Cavaliero (UNICAMP) and Lucas Seghezzo and Martin Iribarnegaray (Universidad de Salta). Within the Brazil–Argentina exchange, highlights include the participation of professors Jeovah Meireles and Edson Silva as visiting professors at Universidad de Salta (2023–2024), as well as scientific missions carried out by Prof. Adryane Gorayeb in 2022 and 2024. Conversely, notable developments include the scientific mission of Prof. Martin Iribarnegaray to Brazil (2022), his role as a collaborating faculty member at PPGGeo/UFC starting in 2024, and the admission of PhD candidate Andrea Suarez into the program in 2023.