Although Brazil was ranked 41 in the country brand index (Future Brand), Brazil is determined to become the destination for the world’s researchers. In their article, “Go south, young scientists”, The Economist reports that Brazil aims to counter their brain drain, by bringing Brazilian scientists back home, and lure foreign senior researchers to the tropics. What’s been done?

As research funding is being cut in Europe and North America, the timing is perfect for Brazil to stand out. Brazil spends 1% of their rapidly growing GDP on research, double the amount spent in other South American countries. It’s worked hard to improve the quality of education at their academic institutions and is already leaders in a number of areas – tropical medicine, bio-energy and plant biology.

Universum’s research shows that 13.32% of the country’s graduates wish to work in Academic Research – making it the sector that attracts most of Brazil’s top talent. Government/Public Services and Marketing/Advertising are other popular sectors – attracting 13.17 % and 10.68% respectively. It’s great that so many students want to work with academic research, but as The Economist reported in a previous article – isn’t there already an oversupply of PhD students in the world? If jobs are available in Brazil for academics, the country should certainly be able to attract foreign researchers.   

Efforts in tertiary education seem to be one of the country’s main focus areas.  As The Economist reports, the number of graduates and PhDs has grown ten times in comparison to two decades ago; Brazil currently produces half a million graduates and 10,000 PhDs a year. Also, its place in the academic world is being established: its share of the world’s scientific papers rose from 1.7% to 2.7%, from 2002 to 2008, and “30% of scientific papers by Brazilians now have a foreign co-author”.

Although huge strides are being taken, challenges remain. Brazil’s research spending is still half that of the rich world. It also can’t offer the same salary level to researchers as countries such as the U.S. and in Europe. Yet what Brazil can offer, according to the article,  is an opportunity for researchers to shine – by giving scientists the liberty to explore new research areas independently. That’s something that might not be possible in an otherwise cramped or underbudgeted research world.