“Cérebros” brasileiros pelo mundo: mobilidade acadêmica, carreiras científicas e internacionalização da ciência nacional

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the international academic mobility of Brazilian researchers sponsored by the public funding program for a full doctorate abroad. I analyzed the construction of this policy historically, and, considering the time frame from 1999 to 2014, I observed the profile of the subjects who carried out their PhD abroad, investigating the experience of some of them through semi-structured interviews. Taking into consideration that there is currently a consolidated system of research and postgraduate studies in Brazil, I sought to understand the reasons that led these subjects to carry out part of their training abroad in recent years; and apprehend the experience of living in another country and attending another university, in view of the different challenges of mediation and adaptation that are part of this process. Finally, I carried an analysis of the return process - what it is like to return to Brazil and/or build a career abroad having done an important part of your education in another country. The results show that, despite the particularities that each individual experience present, there are some regularities that help us better understand this phenomenon: the existence of a network that has already been built, especially by Brazilian teachers and supervisors, facilitates the construction of a personal life project that includes the perspective of undertaking doctoral studies abroad; highly internationalized environments in foreign institutions facilitate the experience abroad, despite prejudices and representations about Brazil being present; and the absence of a consolidated return policy hinders the professional insertion in the country of origin. Understanding the experience from these researchers helps us better understand the current scenario of intensified international mobility of highly qualified people, recurrently referred to by different terms, such as brain drain, brain circulation or scientific diaspora, but seldomly analyzed in qualitative terms, which was the objective of the present investigation.