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Brazil National Council for Scientific and Technological Development
National Council for Scientific and Technological Development
The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development
(Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecológico--CNPq)
is a complex structure with about 2,500 employees. It runs an extensive
program of fellowships and research grants; several special programs,
such as the National Program for Human Resource Training for Technological
Development (Programa Nacional de Capacitação de Recursos
Humanos para o Desenvolvimento Tecnológico--RHAE) and the
Program for Competitiveness and Technological Diffusion (Programa
de Apoio à Competividade e Difusão Tecnológica--PCDT);
and integrated programs, such as those on endemic diseases,
virology, genetics, agricultural development, and humid and semiarid
tropical regions. Fellowships and research grants are provided under
peer-review evaluations, whereas most of the resources for the special
programs, when available, are managed directly by the administration.
The CNPq also has several research institutes of its own: those
in Rio de Janeiro include the Brazilian Center for Physics Research
(Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas--CBPF), the Mineral
Technology Center (Centro de Tecnologia Mineral--Cetem), the Institute
of Pure and Applied Mathematics (Instituto de Matemática
Pura e Aplicada--IMPA), the National Observatory (Observatório
Nacional--ON), the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences (Museu
de Astronomia e Ciências Afins--MAST), and the National Computer
Science Laboratory (Laboratório Nacional de Computação
Científica--LNCC). Others include the Brazilian Institute
of Scientific and Technological Information (Instituto Brasileiro
de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia--IBICT)
in Brasília, the National Astrophysics Laboratory (Laboratório
Nacional de Astrofísica--LNA) in Itajuba (Minas Gerais),
the Emílio Goeldi Museum of Pará (Museu Paraense Emílio
Goeldi--MPEG) in Belém, and the National Syncrotron Light
Laboratory (Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron--LNLS)
in Campinas. These institutes vary in quality and size, and many
of them have their own graduate education programs. The minister
of science and technology appoints the president and directors of
the CNPq, and a twenty-member Deliberative Council (Conselho Deliberativo),
which includes numerous scientists, supervises it.
The activities of the CNPq are divided formally into fellowships
and grants, research, information, and dissemination activities.
The CNPq spent about US$350 million in all its activities in 1990,
and US$371 million in 1991. About 70 percent of the total is used
for development, 10 percent for research, and 20 percent for administrative
and other expenses. Eighty-one percent of development funds go to
fellowships. Most of the fellowships are given to a small number
of undergraduate and M.A.-degree students, reflecting the limited
demand that exists for advanced degrees
Data as of April 1997
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