The Swedish Academic Collaboration Forum, SACF, is a joint strategic venture between six Swedish universities (Chalmers, KTK, Linköping, Lund, Stockholm, and Uppsala) with the aim of stimulating international collaborations with a number of countries in Asia and South America. Following meetings in South Korea, China (Shanghai), Singapore, and Indonesia, this week will see a fifth and final Excellence Seminar held in Brazil’s capital city Brasilia. This meeting is jointly hosted by Uppsala and Linköping. Attendance is record-breaking. All in all, more than 100 Swedes have arrived: University researchers, University managers, and research financiers. Monday has been a day of preparation with sightseeing in Brasilia, a unique city planning project from the 1950s. Since 1987, the entire city is included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.
After this, we were treated to an introductory lecture by the Swedish ambassador Per-Arne Hjelmborn who brought us up to speed on the country, the current political situation (an extreme one, as the president is being impeached), and the bilateral relations between Brazil and Sweden. Then we attended a reception in the ambassador’s residence.
For the evening session, the Uppsala delegation met with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the helm. This get-together afforded us a chance to get to know each other in preparation for the meeting itself which was held this Tuesday. An exciting time!