Nature a falar de Portugal

Saiu um artigo na Nature sobre a PAPS escrito pelo Tiago Outeiro, onde falam um bocadinho sobre os cientistas e a ciencia em Portugal.

Postgraduate student society brings together Portuguese researchers studying abroad.

"For years, Portugal's low number of PhDs and inefficient academic system have inhibited the generation of knowledge, technological development and modernization. In response, Portuguese governments have invested significantly in higher education at the PhD level. They have awarded thousands of fellowships to encourage students to go abroad as part of their postgraduate work. A new generation of students with a more informed vision of economics, politics and science has emerged.

Set up in 1998, the Portuguese American Postgraduate Society (PAPS) now has about 800 members all over the United States, hailing from fields such as biology, economics and the social sciences. Many are now professors and business managers in the United States, Portugal and other countries. PAPS aims to foster connections between Portuguese postgraduates in the United States and their peers in Portuguese academia and industry.

The latest of PAPS' seven annual forums — Fruitful Connections across the Atlantic: Science and Technology Networks — took place at the University of California, Berkeley, in March. Portugal's minister for the environment and secretary of state for science and technology were there, along with managers from US companies such as Microsoft, Cisco and Genentech.

Researchers such as Alcino Silva, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, advocated strong networking to bring students and postdocs to the best US laboratories. In one collaboration, academics at the University of California, San Francisco, are working with Portuguese biotech entrepreneurs. In another, managers at Cisco are helping find work for Portuguese students. We also expect networks to be formed in other fields.

PAPS promotes 'learning tours' for Portuguese academics and politicians to visit US entrepreneurs. It also urges a change of attitude, for scientific merit and teaching capabilities to be valued above the amount of time spent in the academic system. PAPS has promoted discussions on this topic through a blog and submitted recommendations to the government.

PAPS helps postgraduates act as a bridge between Portugal and the United States. In the process, we hope to help Portugal improve its performance in science and technology for years to come."

Vamos la' ver se vemos o resultado deste esforco daqui por uns anos...