I’m also an interdisciplinary scientist and agree that, while it gets a lot of lip-service and superficial encouragement, there aren’t many opportunities for career advancement as a truly interdisciplinary researcher, either in Brazil and abroad.
The destruction of the Amazon and traditional communities is truly sad. I don’t know much about this personally, but I recall friends from Australia asking if the ‘Amazon fires’ were under control last year… Well, in Australia we generally expect wild-fires to be controlled but I’ve seen a lot of wild-fires burning during winter in rural MG and have never seen any firefighter attending them - so I doubted there was much attempt to control the ones in the Amazon, particularly if they were deliberately lit…
With regards to graduate students, I’ve heard a lot are still working through the pandemic. I think many got extensions on their positions but not on their fellowships, so they still want to finish on time. Certainly not an ideal set of incentives from a public health perspective.
As you might notice I’m not Brazilian (I’m Australian) and I haven’t actually worked in a Brazilian University (besides doing fieldwork at some USP sites a few years ago). However, my partner is Brazilian and does have quite a few connections in USP and among Brazilian biologists. She might be able to connect us to a few interested academics and, as her visiting professorship is currently finishing, she is also becoming interested in alternative academic approaches herself!
I’m not exactly sure what data needs to be gathered to make a blueprint for survival though. Are you talking about documenting grant outcomes, or opportunities for alternate academic income? In the latter case, I may be able to help - I’ve been doing scientific consulting for European Universities since moving to Brazil, and I think it could be a good option for Brazilians who are able to do desk-based work remotely. The bureaucracy of starting a limited-company to export services is tedious but manageable.
It seems like this paper/discussion could be relevant:
@surya may also be interested in the final point here?