On Nov. 1, the application opened for the third cycle of the Harvard University Lemann Brazil Research Fund. Established in 2016 from a generous gift of the Lemann Foundation, the Fund supports research projects relating to Brazil. Proposals are sought for projects addressing education management and administration, social science and its applications, public administration and policy, technological advances in education, and evidence-based research. Consideration is also given to projects that propose collaboration between Harvard faculty and Brazilian academics in the life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and basic and applied sciences.
Applications are invited from researchers across disciplines. Proposed projects must meet at least one of the following three criteria: 1) include collaboration with Brazilian academics; 2) be undertaken in Brazil in whole or in part; 3) focus on Brazil. Proposals are evaluated on the basis of academic merit, feasibility, and their anticipated advancement of the objectives of the Fund.
The Office of the Vice Provost for Research administers the Fund together with the Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs, in collaboration with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and the Brazil Studies Program.
Two award cycles have funded research projects by twelve faculty members from four Harvard schools. The 2016 and 2017 awarded projects are as follows in alphabetical order:
Laura Alfaro, Warren Alpert Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School: “Globalization and Organizational Change: Evidence from Brazil”
Marcia Castro, Associate Professor of Demography, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: “Estimation of the Social and Economic Burdens of Dengue and Zika Virus in Brazil: a Public Policy Tool”
Emmerich Davies, Assistant Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education: “Teacher Incentives and Socialization”
Scott V. Edwards, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Arts & Sciences: “Prioritizing Biodiversity of Birds and Butterflies in Cerrado Habitats of Brazil using Geographic and Phylogenetic Information Systems”
Ichiro Kawachi, John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Social Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: “Machine Learning to Estimate Life Expectancy by Race in Brazil: Challenges for a Multi-Racial Future”
Gigi Luk, Associate Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education: “Early Literacy Prediction and Reading Intervention for Preschoolers from Low-Income Families in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil”
Dana C. McCoy, Assistant Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education: “Assessing the Impact of Socio-Emotional Learning Programming in Brazil”
Nicholas Menzies, Assistant Professor of Global Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: “Identifying Approaches to Reduce Disparities in TB Diagnosis and Care in Brazil”
Katherine K. Merseth, Senior Lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Education: “Teaching Teachers to Teach: Investigating Pedagogies and Practices to Improve Teacher Education in Brazil”
Gautam Rao, Assistant Professor of Economics, Faculty of Arts & Sciences: “From Research to Policy: Improving Municipal Policymaking in Brazil”
Paola Uccelli, Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education: “The Learning for All Project”
Gary Urton, Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Pre-Columbian Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences: “The Black Earth and Radial Villages of Acre, Brazil: Explorations of a Continent-Wide Landscape Paradigm”
The current application will close January 22, 2018.
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