Institutional research infrastructure of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Abstract

The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCF) is UNICAMP's youngest faculty, having started its operation in the second half of 2014. The faculty has currently 16 lecturers (three Full Professors, three Associate Professors and 10 Assistant Professors) at full-time contracts, and 217 students enrolled in the undergraduate degree in Pharmacy. The Postgraduate courses, both in Master and Doctoral levels, will start in 2017 and will be organised under the Postgraduate programme in Pharmaceutical Sciences. This programme is currently in the final process of analysis by CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel/Ministry of Education-Brazil) and will encompass different research fields such as Natural Products, Biotechnology, Synthetic Products, focusing on projects related to research and development of drugs, foods and cosmetics. Despite not being part of a specific Postgraduate programme in Pharmaceutical Sciences, all lecturers of the FCF are involved in different Master's and Doctoral degree courses in other UNICAMP's faculties, some of them as Full Professors, and with expressive scientific production. Our current Institutional Funding ("Reserva Técnica Instituicional - RTI"), received from FAPESP organization and intended to be applied in improving our infrastructure for research, is the first granted to this faculty and shall contribute significantly to enhance current and future research. In this scenario, and prior to the Congregation approval, the FCF Governance Committee discussed the possible usage of this type of funding, in order to develop guidelines for a rational application of those and future resources received from FAPESP. In sum, the proposed use of funds was based on the following guidelines: 50% for the infrastructure of basic research throughout the whole faculty, and 50% for supporting activities developed by the specific research groups which received the original RTI. (AU)