FAPESP’s international collaborations

which contexts for transformations?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to track the pathways of international collaborations established by the State of São Paulo Research Agency (FAPESP), in order to identify factors that have influenced decision-making and changes of course in such international collaborations. These factors may be internal to Brazil and to the institution itself, or foreign. Our methodology bases itself in the analysis of FAPESP’s annual reports, specialized literature, the journal Pesquisa FAPESP, public information available in the institutional website, the Biblioteca Virtual da FAPESP database, and interviews with administrators. We argue that transformations in international collaboration agreements and grant schemes stem from the economic and political circumstances surrounding the institution, either in the national or international settings, and we show how each one of them affected FAPESP’s international collaborations.