Are you prepared for the society of the future? Based on this thought-provoking question, the 2023 Magna Meeting of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences will debate Basic Science for Sustainable Development, from May 9th to 11th, 2023.
With the presence of national and international speakers, Academy members will address issues such as pandemic prevention, energy transition, food insecurity, the impact of artificial intelligence on scientific production and education, and public policies for the health of indigenous peoples, among others. The meeting takes place from May 9th to 11th at the Museum of Tomorrow, in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Registration is free and is now open at this link.
“In 2023, the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development will be completed. Within this context, we will discuss over the course of three days the contribution of basic science to the well-being of individuals and society, from the point of view of sustainability – understood in its not only environmental dimension, but also social in all its dimensions , such as cultural, educational, health, food and economic security, among others. We are calling academia and all of civil society to our Magna Meeting”, explains Helena Nader, president of ABC.
Five internationally renowned scientists and thinkers will be highlighted at the Magna Meeting, bringing topics as diverse as the application of biomaterials to human health, the definition of a new geological era and the role of science in defining public policies.
One of the main speakers is geologist Colin Waters, from the University of Leicester, in England. The researcher coordinates an international working group that proposes the definition of a new geological era, which began in the 1950s: the Anthropocene, the era of humans, which would succeed the Holocenter, which began almost 12,000 years ago. Chemical and biological engineer Kristi Anseth of the University of Colorado does cutting-edge research with biomaterials. At the Magna Meeting, she will explain how these materials can stop the debilitating effects of aging and promote the regeneration of our body’s tissues.
In the field of philosophy of science, Michela Massimi, from the University of Edinburgh, will address the Right to Science. The philosopher defends an approach to scientific knowledge that is truly multicultural. Ernesto Fernandez Polcuch, UNESCO Director of Science for Latin America and the Caribbean, will speak on how science should be used to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. And Jorge Larrosa, a philosopher from the University of Barcelona, will bring up the subject of scientific education and research initiation, analyzing these activities from the perspective of anthropological, ethical, political and plural existential conditions around the world.
Combating hunger and quality of life for indigenous peoples
Attentive to the most urgent issues of Brazilian socio-political reality, notably the humanitarian crisis that affects the Yanomami peoples, ABC organized a plenary session on environmental quality, public policies and health of native peoples. Adalberto Val, vice president of ABC for the North Region, Ricardo Ventura Santos, full member of ABC and researcher at Fiocruz, and Samara Pataxó, advisor to the presidency of the Superior Electoral Court, will address the various facets of this theme: contamination by mercury, the struggle of the indigenous movement for the right to life and the direction of the National Policy for Health Care for Indigenous Peoples.
Directly related to the indigenous issue, the role of science in fighting hunger will also be the subject of a plenary session. José Oswaldo Siqueira (UFLA) and Mariangela Hungary (Embrapa) will detail the contribution of agricultural sciences to overcoming food insecurity. This session will also address, with four other specialists, subjects such as the relationship between agribusiness and the national GDP and hunger; the importance of education for the promotion of food security; the geography of hunger in Brazil and indicators of undernourishment in the country and in the world.
In the session on the role of basic science in promoting quality of life and health, researchers from UFRJ and UFMG will present their latest findings in the area of vaccines and prevention of future pandemics . And the impact of Artificial Intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, on scientific production will also be on the agenda. Glauco Arbix, a sociologist at USP, will unravel the ethical debate about the use of these programs in research and teaching: have new technologies come to help or will they dampen the human capacity to learn, investigate and think?
See here the full schedule of the Magna Meeting
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