Informal Networks Portugal-Brazil: Braspor Network and Cooperation Across Disciplines

Abstract

BRASPOR Network was created in 2011 in Oporto as an informal open network of Portuguese and Brazilian researchers working about coastal systems. Its purpose is to stimulate the collaboration between scientists from different background areas to develop more holistic approaches to both Human and the Environment and their entangled relations. The Network works as a discussion forum allowing researchers to share their results and to improve them based in constructive criticism. Also it potentiates the formation of transnational and interdisciplinary research teams working about the same subjects in both sides of the Atlantic. Benefits of this complementary interaction propitiate the development of new research projects, the raise of funds to support them and the dissemination of scientific knowledge not only within academia, but also to the general public. In this presentation, first, we will talk about the creation, the objectives, the evolution and the outcomes of BRASPOR Network in the last five years. Referring also its challenges for the future since its members have different opinions about what the network should be and accomplish. Second, we will point the relevance of the dialogue between natural science and social sciences to better understand the complexity of certain phenomena, such as environmental and sustainability issues. Based in the discussions of a historian and a geologist, we will set out the importance of linking Environmental History with other disciplines, as Geology, Climatology and Biology, to achieve a deeper knowledge on the impact of human activities on coastlines in a dialectical and historical perspective. We will focus on how these joint efforts can offer new approaches on present and future risks concerning human presence in the coasts, in order to work out adaptation and mitigation measures and to achieve the effective participation of citizens in the decisions.