The three representatives from Santa Catarina were nominated by the Foundation for Research and Innovation Support of the State of Santa Catarina (Fapesc) and complete the list of 18 finalists representing several Brazilian states. The result was announced during the Forum of the Council of Research Support Foundations (Confap), in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, this Thursday.

The president of Fapesc, Fábio Zabot Holthausen, accompanied the award and highlighted the importance that the Science, Technology and Innovation ecosystem in Santa Catarina has for the country. “For us at Fapesc, it is an honor to have three representatives in a national award that recognizes researchers, entrepreneurs and those who work in the dissemination of science, technology and innovation in our country. There are three professionals who are taking the name of Santa Catarina throughout Brazil. I congratulate everyone who received this award, but also everyone who competed and those who are part of this journey that has raised the name of Santa Catarina on the national scene”.

Eonir closely followed the dissemination of the result and did not hide his emotion when he was recognized with first place in the Professional Communication category, the result of a 36-year trajectory dedicated to scientific journalism, to the dissemination of knowledge generated by researchers, especially directed to development sustainable rural environment in Santa Catarina. “ The research in Santa Catarina is fantastic and society needs to be aware of what is produced in laboratories, universities and research stations ”, observes Eonir. “We value what we know, and we Communication professionals have the growing challenge of bringing science and society closer together. With simple, accessible language, making the population understand the importance of the result that reaches their hands “, completes the winner.

Professor Aloísio Nelmo Klein also attended the award ceremony. For him, the idea of ​​rewarding researchers is an excellent incentive for anyone who dedicates a lifetime to research. “Whenever I did my job, I didn’t think about one day being awarded, but the result ended up bringing us here. For me, the most important thing is human capital, it’s the people who went through me”, said the professor.

Discover a summary of the trajectory of the awarded researchers:

• Eonir Teresinha Malgaresi – 1st place in the Professional Communication category

Eonir Teresinha Malgaresi, TV journalist at Epagri, has been working for 36 years in programs aimed at rural communication.

He started working as an extensionist in 1979, at Acaresc – a company that in 1991 joined Empasc to create Epagri. In 1985, he started working as a reporter for the program Campo e Lavoura, produced by Acaresc and broadcast throughout the state by RBS TV. In 2001, he completed the Journalism course at the University of the South of Santa Catarina (Unisul) and, in 2003, he became a specialist in Entrepreneurial Journalism.

The journalist produced more than 2,500 reports, among the more than 10,000 videos that are part of Epagri’s collection in its 40 years of rural television.

He is currently part of the team that produces the television program SC Agricultura, broadcast nationally by Canal Terra Viva and 22 other cable TV channels. The program is also available on YouTube, in a channel with 220 thousand subscribers and more than 27 million views, establishing itself as one of the best known and most popular in the segment.

Check out three reports produced by the journalist, focusing, respectively, on research, technology and innovation: Production of vegetables in cultivation shelters; Hydraulic Ram: assembly and installation; Citrus: dwarf plants. Together, the stories have more than three million views on YouTube.

• Aloisio Nelmo Klein – 2nd place in the Outstanding Researcher category – Exact Sciences (Exact and Earth Sciences, Engineering, Technology)

Full professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Aloisio Nelmo Klein was one of the founders of the Materials Engineering course and the Graduate Program in Materials Science and Engineering and is one of the leaders of the Laboratory Materials (LabMat), pioneering scientific center and one of the centers of scientific and technological development in the area, in Brazil.

Powder metallurgy and plasma technology were two of the work fronts that placed it at the forefront of innovation. With the investigation of porous sintered materials, he built two patented products, with one of these patents already granted in the United States. The researcher also investigates new plasma-assisted processing techniques and the development of plasma reactors – an area in which the UFSC Materials Laboratory stands out as a center of excellence. This technology is responsible for a series of physicochemical processes that directly benefit the materials industry.

Throughout his career at UFSC and at the head of LabMat, Klein also coordinated a series of projects approved in competition to obtain resources in public notices from development agencies. The sum reaches R$ 70 million, just in the last 20 years.

The UFSC professor was responsible for a total of 142 patent letters, abroad and also in Brazil, which resulted in 22 families of invention patents, with filing requests in 11 different countries. Around 40% of these applications are still being analyzed and some of these patents have already fallen into the public domain.

• Felipe Dal Pizzol – 3rd place in the Outstanding Researcher category – Life Sciences (Biological Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, Health Sciences)

Felipe Dal Pizzol is a professor in the Medicine Course at the University of Extremo Sul Catarinense (Unesc) and in the Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences (PPGCS) at the same university. In addition to his research and teaching trajectory, he has gained prominence in the fight against Covid-19.

With experience in Intensive Care Medicine and Pulmonology, the professor was part of the group of ten professionals in the country involved in the elaboration of the “Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Covid-19”, material that brought together, based on the main evidence available at the time, the recommendations to collaborate in the work of health professionals in fighting the pandemic. He is also a member of the Covid Brasil Coalition, a research group to assess the efficacy and safety of drugs for patients with Sars-CoV-2 infection.

Dal Pizzol is also among the most influential researchers in Latin America according to the AD Scientific Index, a system for measuring the potential of researchers from all over the world. He was ranked 102nd among Brazilian researchers and 138th among Latin American researchers.

In addition to having worked on the front line in care in the Intensive Care Units (ICU), the professor had a study approved by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. Entitled “Prospective and multicenter study of predictive factors of hospital mortality and disease burden of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome”, the project was led by Dal Pizzol and fell within the line of research “disease burden”. FAPESP granted scholarships within the scope of this notice.

About the Confap CTI Award

The Award is an initiative of Confap, sponsored by the Financier of Studies and Projects (Finep/MCTI). It was awarded to researchers who stood out in scientific, technological and innovation research, whose results produced knowledge and benefited, directly or indirectly, the development and well-being of the Brazilian population. It also recognized communication professionals who, through scientific journalism, contributed to bringing CTI closer to society.

The award was divided into two stages: State and National. From June to October, the FAPs carried out the state stages in their own formats for selecting candidates in each category/subcategory to compete in the National Stage. Each FAP nominated one candidate in each category/sub-category for the National Stage of the Confap Award.

The representatives from Santa Catarina were nominated by FAPESP through a public notice aimed at institutions in Santa Catarina. Of the six selected in Santa Catarina, three became finalists.

Check out the result of the Confap Science, Technology & Innovation Award

Featured Researcher Category – Life Sciences

• 1st place – Ricardo Tostes Gazzinelli (UFMG) Nominated by Fapemig – Minas Gerais
• 2nd place – Luis Augusto Paim Rohde (UFRGS) Nominated by Fapergs – Rio Grande do Sul
• 3rd place – Felipe Dal Pizzol (Unesc) Nominated by Fapesc – Santa Catarina

Featured Researcher Category – Exact Sciences

• 1st place – Paulo Eduardo Artaxo Netto (USP) Nominated by FAPESP – São Paulo
• 2nd place – Aloísio Nelmo Klein (UFSC) Nominated by Fapesc – Santa Catarina
• 3rd place – Ado Jorio de Vasconcelos (UFMG) Nominated by Fapemig –Minas Gerais

Featured Researcher Category – Human Sciences

• 1st place – Carlos Frederico Mares de Souza Filho (PUCPR) Nominated by Araucária – Paraná
• 2nd place – Maria Lúcia Teixeira Garcia (UFES) Nominated by Fapes – Espírito Santo
• 3rd place – Jacyra Andrade Mota (UFBA) Nominated by Fapesb – Bahia

Innovative Researcher Category – Innovation for the Business Sector

• 1st place – Eduardo James Pereira Souto (UFAM) Nominated by Fapeam – Amazonas
• 2nd place – Antônio Luiz Pinho Ribeiro (UFMG) Nominated by Fapemig – Minas Gerais
• 3rd place – Alberto Ferreira de Souza (UFES) Nominated by Fapes – Espírito Santo

Innovative Researcher Category – Innovation for the Public Sector

• 1st place – Ana Paula Salles Moura Fernandes (UFMG) Nominated by Fapemig – Minas Gerais
• 2nd place – Rodrigo Ribeiro Rodrigues (UFES/Lacen) Nominated by Fapes – Espírito Santo
• 3rd place – Leonardo de Azevedo Calderon (Fiocrus RO) Nominated by Fapero – Rondônia

Professional Communication Category

• 1st place – Eonir Terezinha Malgaresi (Epagri) Nominated by Fapesc – Santa Catarina
• 2nd place – Wedson de Castro dos Santos (Amazon Network – AP) Nominated by Fapeap – Amapá
• 3rd place – Herton Escobra (USP) Nominated by FAPESP – São Paulo

*With information from Agecom from UFSC, from Agecom from Unesc, from Epagri’s Communication and from Confap’s advisors

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