(04.12.14) Between 27 and 30 October, ANPOCS held its 38th annual meeting in Caxambu in the state of Minas Gerais. This is the most important academic gathering of social scientists in Brazil, with participants representing various disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, political science, philosophy, history and law. With around 1800 attendees, the event provided an extremely varied and interdisciplinary programme. It was accompanied by an exhibition at which the Research in Germany campaign had its own stand to tell participants about research opportunities in Germany.

Professor Wolfgang Knöbl from the Institute for Sociology at the University of Göttingen travelled to Caxambu at the invitation of the DFG. On 29 October he delivered a lecture on "Reconfigurations of Social Theory after Western Hegemony”, after which he took a large number of questions from the very interested audience.

On 28 October, the second day of the conference, between 2pm and 4pm, Laura Redondo moderated a Research in Germany information session. Professor Knöbl gave a fascinating and stimulating presentation on the University of Göttingen. He provided facts and figures about its international orientation and lamented the fact that so far, there have been relatively few Latin Americans among its international students and researchers. Professor Knöbl used this as a good opportunity to encourage his audience to change this situation. His talk was followed by other presentations by Rebeca Mendonça (DAAD), Professor Dr. Helmut Galle (DFG), Professor Dr. Conrado Hübener (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) and Dr. Christina Peters (FU Berlin liaison office in São Paulo). The session concluded with a question and answer session, with a wide range of questions from the audience. The interest of many participants was sustained even after the end of the event, and many members of the audience stayed to talk to the speakers in the hall and later on at the stand.