To promote international research collaboration, the Berlin University Alliance and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) launched a joint call for proposals in early 2026. The call supports research projects through seed funding as well as bilateral workshops. A total of nine projects will be funded for the period 2026–2028.

Joint Workshops

Connecting Care: Health Access and Routine Electronic Patient Data and Indicators in Brazil and Germany

Participating researchers and institutions

• Charité: Dr. Pichit Buspavanich & Prof. Dr. Gertraud Stadler
• Freie Universität Berlin: Prof. Dr. Claudia Calvano
• Universidade de São Paulo: Prof. Dr. Carmen Simone Grilo Diniz

CONFLUENCES – Knowledges, Ecologies, Temporalities

Participating researchers and institutions

• Freie Universität Berlin: Prof. Dr. Stephanie Schütze & Dr. Frank Müller
• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Prof. Dr. Jörg Dünne
• Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP): Prof. Dr. Joana Cabral de Oliveira
• Universidade de São Paulo: Dr. Laura Kemmer & Dr. Marisol Marini

Confluences is an inter- and transdisciplinary workshop series between Berlin and São Paulo. Focusing on wetlands as sites where climate and health crises, and social inequalities converge, the project reconceptualizes confluence as the dynamic and asymmetrical encounter of socio-ecological, epistemic, and temporal flows. The journals confluences – Journal of Critical Latin American and Caribbean Studies (FUB) and ClimaCom (UNICAMP) provide a platform for this exchange.

Seed-Funding

Integration of an AI-Based Clinical Decision Support System for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis into Clinical Practice in São Paulo

Participating researchers and institutions

• Charité: Dr. Matthias Gröschel
• Technische Universität Berlin: Prof. Dr. Wojciech Samek
• Universidade de São Paulo: Dr. Ana Marcia de Sá Guimarães

Drug-resistant tuberculosis requires individually tailored treatment regimens. Translating genomic resistance profiles into guideline-concordant therapy, however, remains complex and error-prone. TBAgent, an AI-based clinical decision support system, turns resistance data into WHO-concordant regimen recommendations. This project validates the system clinically and tests its integration into drug-resistant tuberculosis care in São Paulo.

Investigating synergies for advancing impact assessment instruments towards considering environmental justice in resource extraction in times of mobility and energy transitions

Participating researchers and institutions

• Technische Universität Berlin: Prof. Dr. Gesa Geißler
• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Prof. Dr. Tobia Lakes
• Universidade de São Paulo: Prof. Juliana Siqueira-Gay

Scalable Quantum Interfaces: Proximity Induced Chiral Control and Deterministic Cavity Coupling of 2D Quantum Emitters

Participating researchers and institutions

• Freie Universität Berlin: Prof. Dr. Kirill Bolotin
• Technische Universität Berlin: Prof. Dr. Stephan Reitzenstein
• Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR): Prof. Dr. Yara Galvão Gobato

The project is investigating novel quantum light sources based on two-dimensional materials. By combining quantum emitters in 2D semiconductors with magnetic CrSBr layers, the goal is to develop chiral, precisely controllable single-photon sources. These will be deterministically integrated into nanophotonic cavities to amplify their light emission. The goal is to create scalable spin-photon interfaces for future quantum networks.

Exploring social-ecological wellbeing in the Atlantic Forest

Participating researchers and institutions

• Freie Universität Berlin: Dr. Maria Piquer-Rodríguez
• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Prof. Dr. Ranjini Murali 
• Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR): Prof. Dr. Paulo Guilherme Molin

Building on previous collaboration, the seed project strengthens collaboration between FUB, HU and UFSCar research groups with expertise in land system science, spatial modelling of land-use change, and social-environmental governance. It advances bottom-up conceptual and methodological approaches to Social-Ecological Wellbeing as a key metric for the success of restoration strategies in the Atlantic Forest and prepares future collaborative research and early-career initiatives.

Defining the Zero-Damage Baseline in Zircon Raman Thermochronology Through Annealing of Natural Zircons

Participating researchers and institutions

• Freie Universität Berlin: Prof. Dr. Andrew Alexander Gordon Webb
• Technische Universität Berlin: Prof. Dr. Melanie Sieber & Dr. Ana Fonseca
• Universidade de São Paulo: Prof. Dr. Renato Henrique Pinto

This project links advances in zircon Raman thermochronology (ZRAMAN) by the German partners with Brazilian expertise in regional geology. It investigates the evolution of the Araçuaí–Ribeira mountain belt and the cooling of rocks that were once buried deep in the Earth’s crust as they were uplifted toward the surface. At the same time, the project aims to improve ZRAMAN as a more accurate and reliable method for reconstructing the thermal history of rocks.

Development and Characterization of Quantum Light Sources for Sensing and Communication

Participating researchers and institutions

• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Prof. Dr. Oliver Benson & Dr. Sven Ramelow
• Technische Universität Berlin: Prof. Dr. Anna Pappa
• Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC): Prof. Dr. Breno Marques Gonçalves Teixeira

Role of peroxisomes in the development and progression of liver disease

Participating researchers and institutions

• Charité: Dr. Adrien Guillot
• Freie Universität Berlin: Prof. Dr. Francesca Bottanelli
• Universidade de São Paulo: Prof. Dr. William Tadeu Lara Festuccia

This project unites Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin and the University of São Paulo to dissect how peroxisomes affect liver disorders, from steatosis through steatohepatitis to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Early findings link peroxisomal function with liver size, lipid accumulation and biliary cell behaviour in chronic disease; the consortium will validate and expand these insights throughout this project.