23/04/03

Argentina beats Brazil in Howard Hughes awards

By: Luisa Massarani

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Argentina beats Brazil in Howard Hughes awards</h1>
<h4>By: Luisa Massarani</h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p>The historical rivalry between Brazil and Argentina, familiar on the football pitch, seems to be reaching the field of science.<BR><BR>Last month, when the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) — a leading US philanthropic organisation — announced the winners of its most recent round of grants to researchers in Latin America, there were 15 Argentinians on the list, but only four Brazilians.<BR><BR>The grants range from US$266,665 to US$450,000 over five years — three Chileans, seven Mexicans and one Venezuelan were also honoured — and are judged on significant contributions to biomedical research.<BR><BR>In Brazil, the results were received with some surprise. According to figures produced by the Institute for Scientific Information, Brazilian researchers published more than twice the number of scientific papers in international journals in 2000 as their colleagues in Argentina, which has two-thirds the number of scientists. <BR><BR>Maria Rita Passos-Bueno, a researcher at Universidade de São Paulo, says that a “huge imbalance” between Brazilians and Argentinians was also observed in the last grants. She also points out that all the selected Brazilians are from Rio de Janeiro and that none are from São Paulo (where there is a highly efficient local funding agency, Fapesp). <BR><BR>Jill Conley, director of international research resources at HHMI, denies suggestions that concern over Argentina’s economic crisis may have affected the distribution of this year’s awards. “We look at an applicant and his/her science rather than at the economic situation of the country,” she says. “The reviewers didn’t discriminate between Argentina and Brazil when conducting their evaluations.” <BR><BR>But Glaucius Oliva, a researcher at the University of São Paulo/São Carlos, suggests that the current difficulty in obtaining research funds in Argentina could mean that more qualified scientists have been seeking HHMI awards than those in Brazil. <BR><BR>© SciDev.Net 2002</p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/argentina-beats-brazil-in-howard-hughes-awards/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/argentina-beats-brazil-in-howard-hughes-awards/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

The historical rivalry between Brazil and Argentina, familiar on the football pitch, seems to be reaching the field of science.

Last month, when the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) — a leading US philanthropic organisation — announced the winners of its most recent round of grants to researchers in Latin America, there were 15 Argentinians on the list, but only four Brazilians.

The grants range from US$266,665 to US$450,000 over five years — three Chileans, seven Mexicans and one Venezuelan were also honoured — and are judged on significant contributions to biomedical research.

In Brazil, the results were received with some surprise. According to figures produced by the Institute for Scientific Information, Brazilian researchers published more than twice the number of scientific papers in international journals in 2000 as their colleagues in Argentina, which has two-thirds the number of scientists.

Maria Rita Passos-Bueno, a researcher at Universidade de São Paulo, says that a “huge imbalance” between Brazilians and Argentinians was also observed in the last grants. She also points out that all the selected Brazilians are from Rio de Janeiro and that none are from São Paulo (where there is a highly efficient local funding agency, Fapesp).

Jill Conley, director of international research resources at HHMI, denies suggestions that concern over Argentina’s economic crisis may have affected the distribution of this year’s awards. “We look at an applicant and his/her science rather than at the economic situation of the country,” she says. “The reviewers didn’t discriminate between Argentina and Brazil when conducting their evaluations.”

But Glaucius Oliva, a researcher at the University of São Paulo/São Carlos, suggests that the current difficulty in obtaining research funds in Argentina could mean that more qualified scientists have been seeking HHMI awards than those in Brazil.

© SciDev.Net 2002