Education and Trade Mission to Brazil

Dr. Fabio Boylan, lecturer in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical sciences, went to Brazil from the 12th to the 26th of October as part of a team from Trinity College Dublin to take part in the most recent official education and trade mission. The mission was lead by the minister of Education and skills Ruairi Quinn.

 

The delegation from Trinity were:
Dr. Mauro Ferreira, Physics, Dr. Rocco Lupoi, Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Fabio Boylan, Pharmacy, Dr. Juliette Hussey, Global Relations, Dr. Jane Ohlmeyer, Global Relations, Genevieve Judson-Jourdain, Global Relations and Sinead Pentony, Alumni. The main purpose of the trip was to showcase Trinity College Dublin as the top destination in Ireland for undergraduate and post-graduate students to come to and pursue their education (partially or totally) sponsored by the Science Without Borders initiative and to create strong research links and further cement existing ones.

Asst Prof Fabio Boylan outlines his experience of the trip below:

Visiting the schools was a remarkable experience, as we manage to talk to the students and the principal about Trinity College Dublin, life in Ireland and life in Dublin among other subjects. I had the opportunity to lecture for the 11th and/or 12th grade in some of these schools which was very gratifying. The title of my lecture was “Medicinal plants: past, present and future with Brazilian examples”. The level of engagement from the students was superb and we classified this part of the trip as being very successful.

The signing of a MoU at UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), my Alma Matter and the place where I worked until I came to Ireland was a particularly significant moment for me. It was signed in the presence of the Vice Rector, Head of School from the Physics department and the directors of undergraduate studies from the Faculty of Pharmacy. One of the directors is a former undergraduate student which made the event even more special to me. UFPR (Parana Federal University) a university on the South of Brazil, currently has the highest number of undergraduates from Brazil studying with us at Trinity. When visiting UFPR I decided to visit the faculty of pharmacy, its facilities and to talk to the head of the faculty about the science without borders new call that will be taking on pharmacy students. At the end of this visit I was invited to be part of the editorial board of the Brazilian Journal of Pharmacognosy, which was also very momentous for me.
The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the School of Nursing and Midwifery TCD are now opening modules to Brazilian students as part of the Science without Borders initiative. Until now, TCD Health Sciences have not been involved. This showcasing of Trinity College Dublin as a possible destination for the undergraduates and post-graduates is particularly important for the Faculty of Health Science as it prepares to welcome the next wave of Brazilian students to it’ Schools. It was very interesting to be at the fairs and to talk to the students and get to know a little bit more about their aspirations and dreams in relation to studying in Ireland.

We also participated in the launch of RBI (Research Brazil Ireland) which sediments the collaborative work between Irish and Brazilian scientists. RBI was initially funded by SFI and during our visit to Brazil, several national and state Brazilian funding agencies were visited and they are keen to add money to match funds with SFI to continue the initiative of collaborative work between Ireland and Brazil. The participation on the launch of RBI was also very interesting because it showcased the level of engagement of Brazilian scientists in all the thematic areas proposed by SFI. I managed to establish three new collaborations with Brazilian Scientists in the thematic area of Health, Pharmaceutical Industry and Biotechnology, that encompasses pharmacological models for the evaluation of medicinal plants and natural products.