Professor Hermílio Santos to be working in partnership with researcher Gabriele Rosenthal
Photo: Bruno Todeschini
The professor of the Graduate Program in Social Sciences (PPGSS) Dr Hermílio Santos is now a joint researchers in the international investigation Biographic paths of immigrants from Syria and West Africa in Brazil and in Germany – Processes of inclusion and participation in the context of illegal immigration, which is coordinated by Professor Gabriele Rosenthal, from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. The study was approved by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) – a German society for support to research – and looks into the immigration of Syrians and people from countries in West Africa to Germany and in Brazil. The total funding to be used is equivalent to 2.6 million reais.
“We want to look at the differences and similarities of the process of integration of immigrants in both countries, especially those that are considered as ‘illegal” immigrants in Germany and Brazil, Santos says. The research will use biographic narratives of the immigrants that were given in interviews. The method has been developed by German sociologists. Professor Gabriele Rosenthal made a contribution to this method, especially in the stage of analysis. She is considered as one of the most important references in the development and application of the method all over the world.
The translation of two books of Rosenthal have been published by PUCRS University Press. They are used as a reference both the undergraduate and graduate programs in Social Sciences of PUCRS. “All investigations I have carried out so far and those of my undergraduate and graduate students have employed these methods”, Santos says.
International partnership
Karina Schuh Reif, Prof. Hermílio Santos and Lucas Cé Sangalli at Universität Göttingen
In Santos’ view, the research opportunity in partnership with Universität Göttingen earns the University international visibility. On top of that, PUCRS researchers who are involved in the research will gain experience by working with international partners in field research by developing research together. From now on, the funding will be run by the German researcher. She will have the status of a PhD program in the Graduate Program in Social Sciences to conduct field research in Brazil (Porto Alegre, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro).
Internationalization of the Graduate Program in Social Sciences
In addition to the funding provided by the German agency, Dr Hermílio Santos is celebrating the approval of the project Research with Biographic Narratives: Cooperation with the Center for Social Sciences Methods at the University of Göttingen – Germany, a project that is receiving funding from FAPERGS-CAPES and has been conceived for the internationalization of graduate programs. This project will be developed in partnership with Professor Gabriele Rosenthal, too. The German professor is expected to come to PUCRS in 2019 and 2020, along with Professor Nicole Witte, both of whom from Universität Göttingen.
Santos and his graduate school advisees are expected to go on missions to Germany in the coming 30 months. “The German researchers are expected to come to PUCRS to deliver lectures and seminars. Also, at the end of a 30-month term, we will have to draft a joint project to be submitted for funding by research agencies from abroad, especially from Germany. The funding to be granted from FAPERGS total the amount of BRL 94,000”, he concludes.
Partnership between PUCRS and Universität Göttingen
The University has had a cooperation agreement with the German institution since 2014. Since then, PUCRS has opened its doors to graduate students from Social Sciences programs. The institution has been sending PhD students to Germany for training programs into the biographic narrative method. A number of undergraduate students has had the chance to go on academic mobility program receiving financial aid from the German university. Dr Hermílio Santos has also served as a Visiting professor at the institution, just like Rosenthal, who has come to PUCRS several times to deliver lectures and seminars, and as a Visiting Professor at the Graduate Program in Social Sciences. The German researcher has had two books published by PUCRS University Press. Dr Hermílio Santos wrote the introduction and headed the editing of the translation.
