The Federal Rural University of the Semi-Arid Region (UFERSA) has launched an internal selection process for two Visiting Professor Abroad scholarships under the CAPES Global.edu Programme. The initiative is part of Smartcities.Net – Sustainable Cities and Communities and the Multidimensional Impacts of Digital Transformation, an internationalisation network coordinated by the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS).
The internal call will select two UFERSA faculty members: one in the Junior Visiting Professor category and one in the Senior Visiting Professor category. Each scholarship will support an eight-month period at a foreign institution, beginning in March or September 2027.
The initiative is specifically intended for permanent faculty members affiliated with UFERSA’s Graduate Programme in Law or the Graduate Programme in Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer for Innovation (PROFNIT). It is therefore an internal institutional action and is not open to applications from researchers outside UFERSA.
The selected projects will address one of the strategic themes pursued by Smartcities.Net:
- Digital health in sustainable cities and communities;
- Education, democracy and human rights; or
- Sustainable cities and communities, Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things.
Through this initiative, UFERSA seeks to strengthen international research partnerships, encourage joint scientific production, expand participation in global academic networks and create new opportunities for collaborative projects and academic mobility.
The selection process also reflects the Network’s commitment to equity and inclusion by incorporating an affirmative-action mechanism for groups historically underrepresented in graduate education and international academic mobility.
The scholarships are funded by CAPES and include the benefits established for the Visiting Professor Abroad programme. After returning to Brazil, the selected faculty members will share the knowledge acquired during their international experience with the UFERSA academic community and contribute tangible outcomes to the University’s internationalisation agenda.
UFERSA’s participation in Smartcities.Net reaffirms its commitment to international cooperation as a pathway to scientific excellence, institutional development and research with meaningful academic and social impact.