Unicamp approves the creation of the Center for Sustainability Research.

In a session held on May 26, the University Council of Unicamp (Consu) unanimously approved the creation of the Center for Sustainability Research (CPqS). The new structure will result from the merger of the Center for Meteorological and Climatic Research Applied to Agriculture (Cepagri), the Center for Studies and Research in Food (NEPA), and the Center for Environmental Studies and Research (Nepam), three units with a consolidated track record in complementary areas.

The new center was created with the mission of bringing together already established expertise within the University to produce knowledge and support responses to contemporary challenges at different scales, from the local to the global. 

“We presented this proposal to the council because we believe it is a mature project that will bring important benefits to the University. The approval, in a historic session, represents not only an administrative reorganization, but the consolidation of a strategy based on the integration of skills and the production of knowledge oriented towards complex problems,” declares Raluca Savu, coordinator of the Coordination of Interdisciplinary Research Centers and Nuclei at Unicamp (Cocen).

From the date of publication of the resolution, Cocen will have a maximum period of 18 months to conduct the implementation of the CPqS and organize the necessary steps for the start of its operation.

“The planet’s sustainability will be on the world agenda for at least a few decades. This center will monitor and project scenarios at different spatial and temporal scales, seeking innovative and inclusive solutions to address planetary crises,” Savu adds.

The new center will be organized into four major research areas: Climate, biodiversity and socio-ecological systems; Agriculture, production, food systems and well-being; Governance, public policies and social transformations; and Culture and communication for sustainability. 

Based on these central themes, it will bring together studies on different topics, including climate and ecosystem modeling, climate impacts on agriculture, remote sensing, food and nutritional security, food product development, environmental education, memory, heritage, human rights, and public archaeology. 

According to the coordinators of the three research units involved, the integration should expand Unicamp's capacity to produce interdisciplinary knowledge and bring research even closer to society.

Until the first coordination team of the new center takes office, Cepagri, NEPA, and Nepam will continue operating. The formal dissolution of the three units will only take place after this step.

The proposal envisions a dedicated building on land already reserved for Cepagri, near the Exploratory Science Museum. 

collective construction 

"Science has established that sustainability is a matter of complex systems whose parts feed back into each other," declares Cristiana Seixas, deputy coordinator of Nepam.

Seixas explains that the creation of CPqS resulted from a "bottom-up" process, built through dialogue among those involved. "It was very laborious and took almost four years from when the idea emerged until this historic day of approval by the University Council," he states.

This collaboration gained momentum between 2022 and 2023, within the context of the Cocen Convergences Call for Proposals, an initiative conceived by Ana Carolina de Moura Delfim Maciel, then coordinator of the organization, to stimulate joint projects between Interdisciplinary Centers and Nuclei at Unicamp around major contemporary challenges. 

Although the call for proposals initially envisioned convergences around specific research projects, the dynamics revealed broader affinities between Cepagri and Nepam, paving the way for a more structural academic and institutional collaboration. In 2025, NEPA formally joined the partnership. 

The process involved 25 meetings with researchers and staff from the three units. Preliminary versions of the proposal were also discussed with the coordination and faculty of the Postgraduate Program in Environment and Society, currently based at Nepam and linked to the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH).

"Without a doubt, the three units were already highly regarded, but we understand that CPqS will be greater than the sum of these units and will further enhance research, human resource development, and university outreach," adds Seixas.

The coordinator of Cepagri, David Lapola, observes that CPqS formalizes an approach that already existed in practice. "The new Center arises from the convergence of trajectories that have been interacting for decades within the University."

According to Lapola, the creation of the Center responds to a demand inherent in contemporary science. “From a scientific point of view, it makes perfect sense to increase the level of interdisciplinarity in research. Sustainability demands this. Just look at the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations), which are profoundly interdisciplinary.”

Alline Tribst, coordinator of NEPA, points out that the Center brings to CPqS a trajectory of more than 40 years in research on food, covering topics such as food security, process development, and public policies.

For Tribst, the connection with the areas of climate and environment opens up new possibilities for systemic research on sustainable food systems, adaptation to climate change, and solutions aimed at mitigating the impacts of planetary crises.

“The expectations of the research teams and staff regarding the merger are positive, especially due to the prospect of greater integration between complementary areas, institutional strengthening, expansion of projects, and the creation of a more modern and collaborative structure,” reports Tribst.

From Convergências to CPqS

The Convergences Project was inspired by an academic mission Maciel carried out in Paris in 2022 at the Institut Convergences Migrations, located on the Condorcet Campus.

"I returned deeply impacted by that organizational model, which brings together hundreds of researchers from different institutions and areas of knowledge around complex and strategic themes for society," she reports.

The experience prompted a mapping of possible thematic convergences between the Interdisciplinary Centers and Nuclei of Cocen, taking the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a reference. 

“The result was surprising: we identified numerous possibilities for joint research that were still largely unexplored,” recalls Maciel.

Based on this diagnosis, Cocen promoted workshops and activities with researchers, professors, and directors of the Centers and Nuclei, a movement that led to the first Convergências Call for Proposals.

“This positions Unicamp at a level of excellence, aligning it with the most successful international experiences. This initiative will impact society by conducting research guided by major contemporary challenges that will surely offer transformative answers,” assesses Maciel.