22 Projects Selected to Expand Knowledge on Amazonian Sociobiodiversity
The Amazon Initiative+10 announced today (12/2) the final results of the research proposals approved under the Scientific Expeditions call, launched in November 2023 by the National Council of State Research Support Foundations (Confap) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). A total of 22 projects were selected—amounting to approximately R$ 76 million in funding—which will mobilize 85 research teams linked to 19 different State Research Support Foundations (FAPs), as well as foreign agencies UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) from the United Kingdom and Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) from Switzerland.
“We are very pleased with the success of the Expeditions call, both because of the highly qualified demand and the collaboration with national and international partners,” said Dalila Andrade Oliveira, Director of Institutional Cooperation, International Relations, and Innovation at CNPq.
The call will support scientific expeditions aimed at expanding knowledge of Amazonian sociobiodiversity and biodiversity. The selected proposals align with the objective of addressing two significant gaps in scientific knowledge about the region—one geographic and the other taxonomic—while also expanding research on the sociocultural diversity of the indigenous peoples and traditional communities of the Amazon. Considering the 22 projects, over 60 understudied locations will be explored, including Indigenous lands, sustainable development reserves, extractive reserves, and other remote areas.
"The Amazon still holds many secrets that science needs to uncover! In this call, we will support projects that will shed more light on this biodiversity and its ancestral treasures. We hope that in the near future, we will be able to better understand this fantastic region and contribute to its preservation and sustainable socio-economic development," said Marcel Botelho, President of the Research Support Foundation of Pará (FAPESPA).
Each proposal is led by researchers from at least two FAPs or foreign agencies, with one of them being affiliated with higher education and/or research institutions located in the Amazon Legal States (Amazonas, Acre, Rondônia, Roraima, Pará, Maranhão, Amapá, Tocantins, and Mato Grosso). The call also required that at least one member of the research team be from indigenous peoples, quilombolas, or traditional communities (PIQCT).
“We are in the final stretch of a successful process, the result of efforts by state research support foundations, research institutions, researchers, and national and international funding agencies. The approved projects will expand knowledge about Amazonian sociobiodiversity, with the participation of local scientists in partnership with other states and countries,” said Márcia Perales, Director-President of the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Amazonas (FAPEAM).
The 22 approved projects will receive funding from the participating funding agencies (FAPs, CNPq, UKRI, and SNSF) for up to 36 months. Each proposal was evaluated by teams from all participating states—nine from the Amazon Legal region, plus Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Goiás, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Paraíba, Paraná, São Paulo, and the Federal District. Subsequently, the proposals were evaluated by a scientific panel formed by researchers from various fields of knowledge, who classified the projects based on their scientific merit. Finally, the funding agencies met under the Coordinating Committee of the Amazon+10 Initiative to define the funding for each project, aiming to maximize the number of approved proposals.
“We are very pleased with this next step of the Initiative. We are progressing in diversifying the support instruments for research on relevant themes for the region. I would like to congratulate all the institutions, both national and international, involved. It was a complex but very stimulating job. In the next steps, we will have other initiatives that will undoubtedly contribute to advancing research on Amazonian issues and strengthening local institutions,” said Carlos Américo Pacheco, Executive Director of the Technical-Administrative Council of the São Paulo Research Support Foundation (FAPESP).
The call received a total of 191 proposals—25% more than the number of projects submitted under the first call of the initiative in 2022—distributed across nine major areas of knowledge (Agricultural Sciences, Biological Sciences, Health Sciences, Exact and Earth Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, Engineering, Linguistics, Literature and Arts, and Others).
“This call reflects CONFAP’s commitment to strengthening scientific research in the Amazon region, encouraging collaborative actions that contribute to sustainable development and the conservation of the biome. We believe that the expeditions resulting from this initiative will have a significant impact, leading to new discoveries and innovative solutions to the challenges we face in the Amazon,” concluded Odir Dellagostin, President of CONFAP.
The FAPs and the foreign agencies will now contact the respective research groups to proceed to the next stage.
Check the official list:
Voices of Indigenous Amazonia: Historical processes of sociobiodiversity in the face of the challenges of the Anthropocene;
FAPESPA: Helena Pinto Lima - Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG)
FAPEAM: Filippo Stampanoni Basi - Museu da Amazônia (MUSA)
FAPESP: Jennifer Watling - Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
FAPERJ: Bruna Franchetto - Museu Nacional / Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MN/UFRJ)
FAPDF: Thiago Chacón - Universidade de Brasília (UnB)
UKRI: Manuel Arroyo-Kalin - University College London (UCL)
(UKRI-Brazil) Participatory Monitoring of Traditional Territories: A digital platform for co-production of sociobiodiversity data in Amazonian areas;
FAPESPA: Nírvia Ravena - Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA)
FAPEAM: Francimara Souza Costa - Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM)
FAPEMA: Marcelo Domingos Sampaio Carneiro - Universidade Federal do Maranhão (UFMA)
FAPERJ: Leandro Freitas - Jardim Botânico
FAPDF: Rebecca Neaera Abbers - Universidade de Brasília (UNB)
FAPESP: Rodrigo Constante Martins - Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR)
UKRI: Benjamin Coles - Leicester University, United Kingdom
Inventory and documentation of the archaeological heritage of Roraima;
FAPERR: Ananda Machado - Universidade Federal de Roraima (UFRR)
Fundação Araucária (FAADCT): Luís Augusto Veiga - Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR)
Tsiino Hiiwiida: Revealing multiple dimensions of plant and fungi biodiversity in the Upper Rio Negro;
FAPEAM: Charles Eugene Zartman - Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)
FAPERJ: Domingos Benicio Oliveira Silva Cardoso - Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (JBRJ)
UKRI: Sandra Diane Knapp - Natural History Museum
FAPESPA: Anna Luiza Ilkiu-Borges - Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG)
FACEPE: Clistenes Williams Araújo do Nascimento - Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE)
FAPEMA: Dirce Leimi Komura - Instituto Federal de Ciência e Tecnologia do Maranhão (IFMA)
FAPESP: Denilson Fernandes Peralta - Instituto de Pesquisas Ambientais (IPA)
FAPESQ: Felipe Wartchow - Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB)
FAPDF: Micheline Carvalho-Silva - Universidade de Brasília (UnB)
Aruwê: Ancestral and scientific knowledge applied to environmental restoration and sustainable production in Teneterah land in Maranhão Amazon;
FAPEMA: Ligia Tchaicka - Universidade Estadual do Maranhão (UEMA)
FAPESP: João Osvaldo Rodrigues Nunes - Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
Use, conservation, and exchange of plants and knowledge among indigenous peoples in Southeast Pará;
FAPESPA: Bernardo Tomchinsky - Universidade Federal do Sul e Sudeste do Pará (UNIFESSPA)
FAPDF: Ana Suely Arruda Câmara Cabral - Universidade de Brasília (UnB)
Brazil-UKRI: Recovery of adaptive capacity of pre-Columbian tree crops to environmental changes;
FAPEAM: Santiago Linorio Ferreyra Ramos - Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM)
FAPERO: Carlos Augusto Zimpel Neto - Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)
FAPESP: Maria Imaculada Zucchi - Secretaria da Agricultura do Estado de São Paulo, APTA Piracicaba
UKRI: David Moreno Mateos - University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Bioprospecting Amazonian biodiversity in the Tembé community and its biotechnological potential in the context of sustainable development and environmental preservation;
FAPESPA: Rommel Thiago Jucá Ramos - Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA)
FAPESP: Renata Cristina Picão - Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR)
FAPERJ: André Luis dos Santos - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
AquaInvert-Amazon: Integrating science and local knowledge to explore aquatic invertebrate biodiversity in high-altitude areas of the Amazon;
FAPEAM: Neusa Hamada - Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)
FAPESPA: Bruno Spacek Godoy - Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA)
FAPERR: Vânia Graciele Lezan Kowalczuk - Universidade Federal de Roraima (UFRR)
FAPESP: Lívia Maria Fusari - Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR)
FAPEG: Daniel de Paula Silva - Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Goiano (IFG)
Ancestral Paths: Biocultural heritage, collaborative research, and ethnoconservation in the sociobiodiversity corridor between the Xingu and Tapajós interfluves;
FAPESPA: Sonia Maria Simões Barbosa Magalhães Santos - Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA)
FAPEAM: Willian Massaharu Ohara - Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM)
FAPEMAT: Marina Teofilo Pignati - Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso (UFMT)
FAPESP: Mauro William Barbosa de Almeida - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
Amazonian BioTechQuilombo - Amazon Biodiversity, Technological Assessment, and Knowledge Exchange with Quilombos;
FAPESPA: Celso Henrique Leite Silva Junior - Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM)
UKRI: Polyanna da Conceição Bispo - University of Manchester
SNSF: Loïc Pellissier - ETH Zurich
FAPEAM: Paulo Mauricio Lima de Alencastro Graça - Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)
FAPERR: Nivia Pires Lopes - Universidade Federal de Roraima (UFRR)
FAPESP: Pitágoras da Conceição Bispo - Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
Geodiversity and Biodiversity of the Serra do Acaraí, Brazil-Guyana border;
FAPERR: Elizete Celestino Holanda - Universidade Federal de Roraima (UFRR)
FAPERO: Ronaldo de Almeida - Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)
FAPT: Etiene Fabbrin Pires Oliveira - Universidade Federal do Tocantins (UFT)
FAPESP: Felipe Antônio de Lima Toledo - Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
FAPERJ: Alexandre Mello de Paula Silva - Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas (CBPF)
Revealing the Unknown: Epiphytes, insects, and fungi associated with the floodplain tree flora in Eastern Amazonia;
FAPEAP: Marcelino Carneiro Guedes - Embrapa Amapá
FAPESPA: Daniel Santiago Pereira - Embrapa Amazônia Oriental
FAPERJ: Ana Cristina Siewert Garofolo - Embrapa Agrobiologia
Innovation in Water Monitoring in the Amazon: Cataloging and integrating field data with emerging technologies for water quality prediction in the Marajó Bay estuary, PA;
FAPESPA: Ailson Renan Santos Picanço - Universidade do Estado do Pará (UEPA)
FAPESP: Luiz Leduíno Salles Neto - Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)
Promoting Community Empowerment for the Sustainability of Amazonian Sociobiodiversity: Experiences in the Guaporé (RO) and Jari (AP) Valleys;
FAPERO: João Gilberto de Souza Ribeiro - Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)
FAPEAP: Nubia Deborah Araujo Caramello - Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Amapá (IFAP)
FAPESP: Frederico Yuri Hanai - Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar)
Fundação Araucária (FAADCT): Irene Carniatto de Oliveira - Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná (UNIOESTE)
Ecology of Spirits: Traditional knowledge and conservation of sociobiodiversity in the Amazon;
FAPEAM: Thiago Mota Cardoso - Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM)
FAPESPA: Eduardo Soares Nunes - Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA)
New Frontiers in Fossil Record of Southwestern Amazonia;
FAPAC: Carlos D’Apolito Júnior - Universidade Federal do Acre (UFAC)
FAPESP: Annie Schmaltz Hsiou - Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
The Jaguar as an Environmental Asset: Understanding interactions with traditional peoples and promoting sustainable development in Amapá;
FAPEAP: Fernanda Michalski - Universidade Federal do Amapá (UNIFAP)
FUNDECT: Gediendson Ribeiro de Araújo - Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS)
FAPESPA: Sheyla Farhayldes Souza Domingues - Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA)
FAPEG: Mariana Pires de Campos Telles - Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás (PUC-GO)
FAPERGS: Eduardo Eizirik - Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS)
EcoTaxÔmica: Expeditions to explore biodiversity in the Amazon using genomics and proteomics for molecular taxonomic characterization and biomonitoring of mercury contamination;
FAPESPA: Rafael Rodrigues Lima - Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA)
FAPESP: Marília Afonso Rabelo Buzalaf - Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
Fundação Araucária (FAADCT): Ângelo Parise Pinto - Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR)
Diversity of Phlebotomines and Leishmania species in areas of the Gurupi Biological Reserve for the prevention and control of leishmaniasis in Maranhão Amazon;
FAPEMA: Valéria Cristina Soares Pinheiro - Universidade Estadual do Maranhão (UEMA)
Fundação Araucária (FAADCT): Andrey José de Andrade - Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR)
Full use of fruits and tubers from the Legal Amazon region – a strategy to promote bioeconomy, recover customs, and reduce food insecurity among indigenous peoples in the state of Mato Grosso;
FAPEMAT: Maressa Caldeira Morzelle - Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso (UFMT)
FAPEAL: Moacir Haverroth - EMBRAPA
FAPEG: Tatianne Ferreira de Oliveira - Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG)
Sociobiodiversity: Analysis of zoonotic agents carried by game species in Western Amazon
FAPAC: Cíntia Daudt - Universidade Federal do Acre (UFAC)
FAPERGS: Cláudio Wageck Canal - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
FAPERO: Deusilene Souza Vieira Dall'Acqua - Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ Rondônia)