“The flag is back” – Jornal da USP

Galvao lost his position, but since then, he has emerged as one of the key leaders of the Brazilian scientific community in the face of denial and obscurantism. In the 2022 elections, he ran for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies for the Rede Sustenabilidade party. He was not elected, but received a meaningful vote of more than 40,000 votes.

Glaucios Oliva, a professor at USP’s Sao Carlos Institute of Physics and former head of CNPq, applauded Galvao’s appointment as head of the agency. “Professor Galvao combines the qualities of an excellent researcher with a long career, director of science and technology institutions, and staunch advocate for science, as evidenced by his unwavering stance in the face of the persecutions and attacks of the former President of the Republic against the irrefutable facts about deforestation in the Amazon,” Oliva said. USP Journal. “Therefore, the scientific community has high expectations that he will lead the resumption of CNPq’s role in promoting Brazilian research and training of researchers, which is essential for the sustainable and socially equitable prosperity of our country.”

At a ceremony on Tuesday, Galvao recapitulated a speech he gave at A.J USP event In August 2019, two weeks after he was cleared of directives by Inpe. At the time, he said that Brazil would not “go back into darkness”, because society and the scientific community would not remain silent in the face of attacks on science and universities. “Dear Minister, indeed, the Brazilian people have not kept silent,” he concluded, his voice choked with emotion and covered by the applause of the audience in the CNPq Hall.

Galvao participated in the government transition team and said he was shocked by the stance of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), led by astronaut (and now Senator) Marcos Pontes. He said, “In addition to the budget and the loss of personnel, there has been a major dismantling of the ministry’s operational structure, and the establishment of a paramilitary command and control system, in contrast to scientific and academic autonomy, which must be reversed.” USP Journal.