Second meeting of students and teachers of humanities and social sciences UNIFAP-UG

Closer academic collaboration

The 2nd UNIFAP-UG meeting of students and teachers of the humanities and social sciences was held from 13 to 15 November 2024 on the UNIFAP Binational Campus in Oiapoque. The three-day event brought together more than a hundred teachers, students and administrative staff from the two universities for a symposium exploring various themes in contemporary social sciences. The focus was on research and educational practices in so-called 'peripheral' universities, both in the European Union and in Brazil, without neglecting general research.

Following a preparatory meeting in Oiapoque in April 2024, this second edition was jointly organised by Lucinéia Alves dos Santos (UNIFAP) and Mabiane Batista França (UG). A joint scientific and organising committee for the conference was formed by academics from both institutions:

• UNIFAP Evilania Bento da Cunha, Luis Carlos de Santana, Eduardo Margarit, Sâmella Paungartten, Bianca Beatriz Roqué and Rafael Santos
• UG Satenik Bagdasarova, Orëa Garde-Le Bretton, Corinne Le Sergent, Nicola Todorov and Hartmut Ziche.

A solemn opening and closer cooperation

The symposium began on 13 November with an official opening ceremony, with speeches by Weverton Sousa Matos, administrative assistant, and Francisco Otávio Landim Neto, academic director, from the Oiapoque campus. On the University of Guyana side, the Vice-President for International Relations, Rosuel Lima-Pereira, took the floor.

The representatives of the two universities expressed their satisfaction at the scale of this second meeting, which surpassed the first edition in 2023. They stressed the importance of collaboration between two neighbouring institutions, separated by a border but sharing similar challenges and aspirations in their respective academic contexts.

Inspiring workshops and round tables

With its emphasis on multidisciplinarity and academic inclusiveness in the humanities and social sciences - with papers from both teaching and student researchers - the conference began with an inaugural round table on the theme of 'History and Literature', which laid the foundations for stimulating exchanges.

The second day was marked by three thematic workshops in the fields of literary and linguistic research, geography and educational sciences.. These workshops enabled participants to address issues relating to the humanities and social sciences in regional and international contexts. The day ended with a double seminar on literature and linguistics, presenting the research work of students from both faculties: Rayana Paranatinga Gomes, Joyce Felipe Anika and Florian Porfal.

The final day, 15 November, opened with another double seminar, focusing on regional geography and presenting student research. This session was an opportunity for Fernando Brito, Kyliannn Costrowa, Rosimere Guedes, Joselma Mendes, Mary Jane Santos and Antônio Silva to present their work and exchange views with academics from different backgrounds.

A necessary and promising collaboration

UNIFAP's Oiapoque campus and the University of Guyana share an isolated geographical location. This makes the mobility of students and staff, essential for research and university studies, very costly. Against this backdrop, the two institutions are committed to strengthening their collaboration to overcome common challenges in teaching, learning and research. For many students, the colloquium represented a first opportunity to engage in dialogue with foreign academics, to discover new academic approaches and to feel fully integrated into an international academic community.

The symposium demonstrated once again that, despite geographical and financial constraints, initiatives such as the UNIFAP-UG human and social sciences meeting are making a significant contribution to broadening academic horizons, while consolidating cross-border partnerships that are essential for the development of the Pan-Amazon region.