Background
Centro Ciência LP, hosted at the Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT)/ Universidade Nova de Lisboa, is the outcome of an agreement between the Government of Portugal and the UNESCO, following a proposal submitted by Portugal which determines the creation of an “International Centre for Advanced Training in Fundamental Sciences for Scientists from Portuguese-Speaking Countries”, a Category 2 Centre operating under the auspices of UNESCO. The establishment of this Centre is aimed at fostering cooperation among Portuguese-speaking countries and implementing UNESCO’s Strategic Plan for Multilateral Cooperation in Science, Technology and Higher Education, mobilizing and bringing together initiatives for the creation and strengthening of capacities and knowledge transfer, strengthening and stimulating networks of national, regional and international excellence.
Mission
To guarantee the effective cooperation procedures among Portuguese-speaking countries scientific and academic institutions, Centro Ciência LP is aimed at:
- Assuring the identification and systematic involvement of scientific and academic institutional partners in Portuguese-speaking countries, with priority given to scientific and technological institutions with strong roots and endogenous to local activity, for instance in public health, engineering, agriculture, teacher training, energy, among others;
- Avoiding the establishment of new structures and complex governance and management arrangements in Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries, ensuring the active participation of scientists and R&D institutions in installing and maintaining this UNESCO Centre, thus keeping a lean and cost reduced organizational structure, based in an effective network of scientific institutions;
- Attracting funding beyond the one provided by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), namely through partnerships and external funding sources.
Funding for the Centro Ciência LP establishment and its activities must be guaranteed by diversified institutional collaborations and investments to ensure its long-term sustainability beside FCT’s financial contribution.
This requires a significant effort of contacts and relationships with Trusts and Foundations, at an international level, with the European Commission and enterprises with activities in Africa. Accordingly, the implementation strategy and the overhaul of the established legal framework must rely on the following principles:
- To mobilize academic and R&D institutions, at international level, with ongoing activities in Portuguese Speaking Countries, in such a way to strengthen these activities and establish effective collaboration networks in these countries, promoting ongoing actions and developing new horizons and opportunities;
- To stimulate agreements and partnerships with funders and donors in Portugal, Africa and Brazil, as well as stakeholders outside Portuguese Speaking regions, aiming to further develop (“IKfD – Initiative Knowledge for Development”, incorporating several ongoing partnerships, and others to be developed.
Location
Centro Ciência LP is hosted by the Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT), an Organic Unit of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL), under the guidance of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal, which aims to develop scientific knowledge of health problems associated with the tropical and intertropical environment.
Created in 24 April 1902, under the name School of Tropical Medicine, the IHMT was initially devoted to the study, teaching and clinical tropical diseases. This performance has evolved into an integrated approach, ranging from the molecular level to global health systems, with a strong commitment to health problem solving that reach the poorest and the excluded, on every continent.
The Institute is recognized nationally and internationally for its history but also for the scientific quality of postgraduate education, research and contribution to the development cooperation of health in Portuguese-Speaking Countries in Africa (PALOP) and East Timor. The quality of its operation was recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) by granting it the status of collaborating centre for Health Work Force Policy and Planning.
The installation of Centro Ciência LP was sealed by a Protocol signed between the FCT and the IHMT/UNL.
