By Andrea Hargraves 
After the university council meeting University of Brasilia (UnB), On Friday (15/10), the Foundation issued a disclaimer regarding cuts to resources made by the federal government to the Ministries of Science and Technology (MCTI) and Education (MEC).
The university has also criticized the abolition of teaching and research development agencies such as the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Funder of Studies and Projects (Finep), and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes).
According to UnB, “Government policies for a massive withdrawal of financial resources significantly affect the research infrastructure, formed by laboratories and spaces for conducting scientific experiments in all areas of knowledge, training people for undergraduate and postgraduate studies, which is fundamental to the country’s development.”
The latest scissors to affect the scientific community occurred last Thursday (7/10), when the government in Congress agreed to reallocate about 600 million Brazilian reals earmarked for research in other regions. The cut was criticized by Science and Technology Minister Marcos Pontes, who considered the situation a “disregard”.
UnB points out in his note that neglecting Brazilian science funding could lead to a brain drain in the country and hinder national development.
“Brazil needs the work of scientists in all fields to respond to major national and international problems, such as climate change, large-scale food production without environmental degradation, large migrations, and new business models with robust automation resulting from advances in information and communication technologies, endemic and epidemic diseases, poverty and malnutrition In the peripheral countries, among many other things,” the text states.