Internationalization

1.International Material Flow Management – IMAT

Universidade Positivo and Trier University of Applied Sciences Dual Degree Program: International Material Flow Management (IMAT)

ABOUT THE IMAT PROGRAM

IMAT is a dual-degree program managed jointly by UP and the Institute of Applied Material Flow Management (IFaS), an innovative research institute of the Trier University of Applied Sciences (Germany). Students will spend their first year studying at UP and the second year at the Zero-Emission Campus Birkenfeld in Germany.

The program offers integrated knowledge in engineering, economics, law natural, and social sciences. In addition to the learning goals of the Sustainability Science division, IMAT offers multidisciplinary courses to prepare students to become young professionals in zero emission systems design with profound knowledge in renewable energy, integrated water resource management, and other sustainable community development areas. Students will also have the opportunity to conduct field work and internships in both Brazil and Germany. IMAT students will submit one master’s thesis to both UP in Brazil and IfaS in Germany. Upon completion of the program, students receive two master’s degrees, a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Environmental Management (from UP) and a Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) in International Material Flow Management (from Trier University of Applied Sciences).

A noteworthy aspect of this approach is that IMAT-M.Eng. is offered to and open to all potential students notwithstanding their non-natural-science-based baccalaureates—such as economics, social & political sciences, etc.

The Graduate Program in Environmental Management (PPGAMB) of Universidade Positivo and the IMAT Program of the Trier University of Applied Sciences together represent what the future of higher education should look like, applied and multidisciplinary with a focus on sustainability. Both programs have faculty from a diverse range of areas of science together with other IMAT network universities around the world, students are provided the opportunity to study and learn across various cultural settings.

PROGRAM INFORMATION

APPLICATION INFORMATION

SUBJECTS

Students take Environmental Management subjects and a selection of IMAT subjects such as:

-Global Environmental Challenges and Green Business Opportunities

-International Policies, Strategies and Case Studies on Circular Economy

-GHG Mitigation in Industry and Society: Technical and Economical Aspects of Climate Protection

SAMPLE THESIS TOPICS

John James Loomis (United States) Graduate of the Universidade Positivo and Trier University of Applied Sciences Dual Degree Program: International Material Flow Management (IMAT)

-Integrated quantification of forest total economic value;

-Current Situation and Challenges of Biomass Town: Case Study of Hita City, Japan;

-Waste–To–Wealth Potentials Of Municipal Solid Waste: The Case Of Ga-East Municipal Assembly, Ghana;

-Measures for Scarce Water Resource in Fukuoka City, Japan;

-Off-Grid RET Barriers and Supports in Developing Countries with Case Study of Solar Home System in Cambodia;

The dual degree program between Universidade Positivo (UP) and Trier University of Applied Sciences (TU) helped me develop a greater appreciation of systems approaches to the multidimensional challenges of sustainable development. The program offers two diverse settings that challenge candidates to develop both the hard and soft skills required to develop innovative solutions to environmental management problems such as material flow analysis and zero emissions concepts. At UP in Brazil the faculty and classes are truly multi- and interdisciplinary spanding the breadth of environmental sciences, environmental law, sustainable waste management, sustainable water management, environmental economics, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, in addition to other offerings. While at TU in Germany, the classes had a heavy focus on field visits to circular economy designed public and private facilities such as solid waste or “resource” management centers and energy independent villages. Together the dual program helped me develop my technical and intercultural skills necessary to excel in the global workforce.

IMAT Program Course Model

COURSE MODEL

At UP the IMAT Program is housed in the Graduate Program in Environmental Management (Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gestão Ambiental – PPGAMB). As such, the completion requirements for the IMAT portion of the program are compatible with those of the PPGAMB program. Students from PPGAMB who wish to participate in the IMAT program after enrolling should consult the PPGAMB coordinator.

UP/IMAT students must submit a master’s thesis to both institutions. Further details regarding thesis topic and report requirements will be provided during by students’ advisors.

Course Structure

The program consists of 15 modules and 1 Master thesis module.

First Year: Courses taught at UP by UP faculty members and IMAT partner faculty via e-learning.
Second Year: Courses taught at TU by IMAT faculty and IMAT partner faculty via e-learning. Specification courses (or internships) during the third semester and graduation thesis work during the fourth semester at TU.

Example…

2.BEESNESS Project for International and National Cooperation

Plant-pollinator interactions are vital relationships that involve mutual gains  between both players. About 90% of all flowering plants require pollination to reproduce, and 75% of food crops show increased production when  pollinators are involved. Although most agricultural pollination is attributed to social bees, solitary bees contribute decisively to crop pollination. However, the importance of bees in ecosystem services and in the maintenance of life on the planet is countered by the increasing decline of these pollinators, due to the destruction and fragmentation of habitats, insufficient floral resources and the use of pesticides.

Brazil is the third largest producer of mango in the world (43.8 M ton/year), and the São Francisco Valley (VSF), located in the morphoclimatic domain of the Caatinga, is responsible for 85% of Brazilian’s fruit exports, as indicated by the official statistics of Valexport. This and other crops, which depend on the cross-pollination of bees, are exported to several Atlantic countries. Globally, 187 bee species have been described in the Caatinga beingmost endemic and rare. Thus, the knowledge of the interactions between bees, as drivers of production and the agricultural system, is fundamental for sustainable production and protection strategies. As serious as interfering with the survival and longevity of bees is the contamination of pesticides in bee products widely used by the population, such as honey or produced fruits. However, basic data on bee biodiversity, interactions between communities, pesticides in honey and fruits, and the impact of pesticides on bee behaviour and survival are scarce. The incipient data available for this domain also hinder the establishment of effective management and conservation actions that prevent  bee production and harvest decline.

BEESNESS is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborative project involving international institutions (CIIMAR – Interdisciplinary Centre for Marine and Environmental Research,University of Porto – Portugal; Cardiff University – United Kingdom) and national (Universidade de Camplinas – UNICAMP, Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná – UNIOESTE, Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia and CEMAFAUNA/UNIVASF, Universidade Positivo – UP and the Centro de Pesquisa da Universidade Positivo – CPUP), in this context. It intends to generate data to improve knowledge to understand and prevent the decline of bees in VSF. The main objectives of BEESNESS are the exchange of knowledge, skills and infrastructure to assess bee biodiversity in the eroded and neglected biome of Caatinga, in diferent fruit crops and the relationship with the application of pesticides in the region under different climate scenarios. The team, led by researchers from the Portuguese side (Dr Laura Guimarães and Dr Nuno Ferreira, both from CIIMAR), also involves Brazilian and other nationalities researchers with complementary expertise in Brazilian bee ecology, environmental and chemical toxicology and environmental management, who have joined forces to deal with this urgent need.

The project was awarded by a funding notice within the scope of the celebrations of the V Centenário da Viagem de Circum-Navegação de Fernão de Magalhães, promoted by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), an organ of the Ministry of Education and Science of Portugal. On the Brazilian side, one of the groups that integrate the research is the Graduate Program in Environmental Management (PPGAmb) of the Positivo University, led by Prof Cíntia de Oliveira (UP), who had already participated in other previous projects in collaboration with Dr Nuno Ferreira (CIIMAR and Cardiff University), Prof Peter Kille (Cardiff University), Prof Ana Tereza Bittencourt Guimarães (UNIOESTE, Cascavel, Brazil), Prof Laura Guimarães (CIIMAR-University of Porto) and Prof Roberto Greco (UNICAMP, Brazil). In this sense, BEESNESS is configured as an opportunity to strengthen this collaboration and has involved  several other joint fundraising initiatives, co-orientations and participation in qualification and defence boards among professors.

The project has allowed rich exchanges of knowledge between the researchers involved, from periodic meetings of the team to discussion of methods and results, as well as preparation of manuscripts, among other production goals. The Portuguese researchers were at UP, in the 4th. International Symposium on Environmental Management and Climate Change (4th. SIMGAMC), event promoted by PPGAmb-UP, CPUP and MIT-ESI, in December 2022, a moment that also allowed the partners  meet and debate other collaborative projects. Part of the data generated by the BEESNESS group were presented by Prof. Laura Guimarães in one of the round tables of the event.

Knowledge about the Brazilian bee fauna will allow us to explore  how pesticides used in conventional agricultural crops interfere with the bee’s populations dynamics. The results of BEESNESS will bring, in addition to significant closer ties between partner institutions in the research, benefits for the training of human resources and scientific contributions to bee biodiversity in this biome. Data on the bee microbiome, its toxicological sensitivity to the application of pesticides, among other key aspects for the well-being and conservation of bees, will also be useful for understanding the resilience of species to climate change in a region of economic interest to the country, as is the case when it comes to the production and export of fruits to Atlantic countries.

3.Massachusetts Institute of Technology Environmental Solutions Initiative

The Positivo University Graduate Program in Environmental Management (PPGAmb) has an ongoing collaboration with MIT ESI through research project submissions, research papers, staff exchanges, and participation in classes as lecturers. ESI is MIT’s institute-wide effort to mobilize the scientific, engineering, policy, and design capacity of its faculty and staff to contribute to addressing climate change and other environmental challenges of global importance. MIT ESI is directed by Prof John E. Fernández, professor of building technology in the Department of Architecture and practising architect. In 2021, as part of MIT’s Climate Grand Challenge, PPGAmb professors worked with an interdisciplinary team of MIT faculty and staff to develop the white paper “Protecting and Enhancing Natural Carbon Sinks: Natural Climate and Community Solutions” which can be found published on the MIT ESI website here. The proposal sets out the design and methodology for protecting tropical forests, a key component of the biosphere’s carbon sink capacity, by integrating targeted technological advances, deep community engagement, and innovative bioeconomic opportunities. From 2021 to 2022, PPGAmb, MIT ESI, and other institutions participated in calls for research proposals for MIT, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and USAID. In 2022, the professors of PPGAmb successfully won the CAPES 6/2022 scholarship for Event Support in and subsequent funding from the Araucária Foundation to organize the 4th International Symposium on Environmental Management and Climate Change with support from MIT ESI. The purpose of the symposium is to provide an arena for research institutions, universities, NGOs, government agencies, and companies from around the world to exhibit and present their research and products, participate in dialogues to foster new collaborations and partnerships and provide operationalized recommendations through a conference statement to promote solutions to conservation challenges in tropical ecosystems. PPGAmb, in conjunction with MIT ESI continues to collaborate on these and more opportunities to deepen the relationship between the two institutions.