DFG at the 9th Brazilian-German Workshop on Applied Surface Science

An engaged audience at the 9th meeting of the

An engaged audience at the 9th meeting of the "Brazilian-German Workshop on Applied Surface Science"

(22.04.16) The 9th meeting of the "Brazilian-German Workshop on Applied Surface Science" took place from 10 - 14 April 2016 in Maresias, in the federal state of São Paulo. This series of workshops was launched in 1995 and since then has taken place every two and a half years with the venue alternating between Brazil and Germany. According to Professor Dr. Horst Niehus, Professor Emeritus at the Humboldt University of Berlin and one of the initiators of the event, the purpose of the meeting since its inauguration has been to bring together researchers in surface science and nanoscience who are working on similar topics in Brazil and Germany but who have had no contact with each other.

The event was opened by the two organisers, Professor Dr. Carlos F. O. Graeff from the State University of São Paulo (UNESP Bauru) for Brazil and Hans-Peter Steinrück from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. The programme over the following four days included lectures on subjects such as organic thin films, clusters, carbon-based materials, oxides, thin magnetic films, solid-liquid interfaces, electrochemistry and catalysis. Bringing the first day of the workshop to a close, Christiane Wolf gave a talk for the DFG on instruments for bilateral research funding at different stages of collaboration – from the initiation of collaborative projects through workshops and visits, to coordinated programmes such as International Research Training Groups for joint training of doctoral researchers. The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), a Brazilian partner organisation of the DFG in the federal state of São Paulo, was also represented at the workshop, which it had supported with other institutions. Osvaldo Novais de Oliveira Júnior, Professor at the São Carlos Institute for Physics (IFSC) at the University of São Paulo (USP), coordinator of the Physics Department at FAPESP and President of the Brazilian Society for Materials Research (Sociedade Brasileira de Pesquisa em Materiais, SBPMat), highlighted possible funding lines on the Brazilian side.

The approximately 80 delegates also included Professor Dr. Hans-Joachim Freund from the Max Planck Society's Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin and Dr. Fernando Stavale, a researcher at the Brazilian Centre for Physical Research (Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, CBPF) in Rio de Janeiro. Professor Freund has attended all the previous workshops and was very enthusiastic about the enormous improvements in the quality of the contributions over the years. During the workshop in Mangaratiba in 2006, he met Dr. Stavale who from 2011 spent two years working with him at the Fritz Haber Institute with the support of a research fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Stavale now leads a Max Planck Society partner group at his institute in Rio de Janeiro. They are still collaborating on their joint project "Investigation of Atomic-scale Photocatalytic Processes" funded by the DFG and its partner organisation FAPERJ in Rio de Janeiro. It is one of 24 projects financed under the joint call in 2014.

Numer of projects with initial funding for bilateral cooperation with brazil

Further information

German researchers can apply to the DFG for support in establishing international collaborations with Brazilian partners. The modules "Bilateral Workshop", "Foreign Travel" and "Visits" are available for this purpose. The demand for funding to initiate international collaborations has risen steeply in recent years. Around half of the initiatives have been co-funded by Brazilian partner organisations. Funding for initiating collaborations can in principle be followed by the option of working on joint projects. Funding on both sides depends on specific treaties and agreements with the relevant Brazilian funding organisations. They can be viewed on the DFG web site in the International Cooperation section at