How researchers are overcoming a lack of funding in public universities

Dr. Marcos Fabio Henriques dos Santos is a dentist and professor of anatomy in the dental school of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in Brazil. He conducts two different lines of research, clinical and lab based. “My individual work focuses mainly on methods of brain stimulation which I also did in the United States called noninvasive neuromodulation,” he said. “These methods have very low incidence of side effects.” Henriques dos Santos said he has two main sources of funding for both lines of his research: The Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq) and the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ). However, money has not been arriving. With the ongoing recession in Brazil, several government entities are noticing the lack of financial provision - including how the budget for public universities are spent. For higher education, some state universities cannot even afford cleaning services. Research is one of the fundamental services a public university can provide. But when there’s no money, new discoveries are stalled. Many researchers are now forced with the choice to pay out of their own pocket or apply for grants outside of the country. “Due to the economic crisis, there has been a delay on the transfer of funds,” said Henriques dos Santos. “Since 2014 there has been some delay in the transfer of funds. In 2014 and 2015 the flow of money started to slow down.” This has led Henriques dos Santos to seek funds from outside of the country. He is currently trying to have one of his grants approved in the United States to continue research in Brazil. His colleague, Dr. Aleli Torres de Oliveira, a dentist and guest professor at UFRJ, faces a similar situation. She said that towards the beginning of her research projects, funds were being provided by an agency affiliated with the Ministry of Education known as Capes, which roughly translates to the Coordination of Improvement of Higher Level Personnel. “I could feel from the beginning that some financial problems were arising,” said Torres de Oliveira. “The time things really got bad was around the end from last year until now. When the impeachment process for President Dilma began, earning money for the budget became more difficult.” She added that they would reach out to Capes, but the agency would constantly answer that they could not provide funds. Torres de Oliveira said she has been involved with research for about two years. Since her team was not receiving any funds, their choices were to stall the research or pay out of their own pockets for the resources. Around the beginning of this year, she and her colleagues determined a solution. Torres de Oliveira and her colleagues decided to cover the most prevalent problems that are presented in orofacial clinics. They are providing private courses outside of the university to invest in the research. Torres de Oliveira said they use the money from enrollment fees to fund their research. Dentistry has many subjects in the field of study, and Torres de Oliveira decided to use her knowledge of orofacial pain as a subject to teach in these private courses. “It’s a very specific subject in dentistry,” said Torres de Oliveira. “Because in some dental schools in Brazil it is considered an elective course. There are many people that graduate from dental schools who have not taken this course.” Therefore, they created a course around the dysfunctions of the temporal mandibular joint (TMJ), or problems that affect the chewing muscles that connect the lower jaw to the skull. Torres de Oliveira said with the turnout of attendees, classes have been a success. There are lots of different age groups in her classes. Some students can include dentists that graduated many years ago; dental students that haven’t graduated yet and even former classmates of Torres de Oliveira. Dr. Ana Claudia, a retired orthodontist and former dental school classmate of Oliveira, is one of the attendees of the course. Claudia said Torres de Oliveira was tirelessly studious in this subject during college, which sparked her interest to attend the course. However, Claudia also mentioned she had a personal reason for attending. “I have temporal mandibular dysfunction,” she said. “I also wanted to contribute with the fees that they pay for the course because I know the difficulties that Aleli’s clinic is facing to operate.” Torres de Oliveira said that the classes are held at a private university’s study center. On Saturdays, they are allowed to use the classrooms. Due to the purpose of the class being to support research, they are not charged for the usage of the classrooms. The courses do not compete with the same curriculum as university classes because they only happen one day, every two months. They decided this time period because of financial constraints dental students face today in Rio de Janeiro. Since Torres de Oliveira is mainly involved in clinical based research, she and her colleagues are trying to develop a new protocol of treatment. “The research I am doing is not with a new or experimental medication,” she said. “There is not a consensus in the dental literature for how many treatments are needed for TMJ dysfunction. There is a discordance in the dental literature of how many injections are needed. The research is determining if the right number is 3 or 5.” Torres de Oliveira continues by saying that many patients need this medication but cannot afford it. Patients can be enrolled in the research protocol to receive access to treatment. Some patients who can afford the medication bring it to Torres de Oliveira’s clinic themselves. But for those who cannot, that’s when Torres de Oliveira uses the money from her private courses to supply the medication.

One of her colleagues involved with the research will use the results in a Master of Science dissertation. “We love to teach and do research,” she said. “Other people are in a research position not because they have the motivation, but because it’s what is available. Money is the least of our concerns, the research itself is our greatest passion.”Dr. Marcos Fabio Henriques dos Santos is a dentist and professor of anatomy in the dental school of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in Brazil. He conducts two different lines of research, clinical and lab based.“My individual work focuses mainly on methods of brain stimulation which I also did in the United States called noninvasive neuromodulation,” he said. “These methods have very low incidence of side effects.”Henriques dos Santos said he has two main sources of funding for both lines of his research: The Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq) and the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ).However, money has not been arriving.With the ongoing recession in Brazil, several government entities are noticing the lack of financial provision - including how the budget for public universities are spent. For higher education, some state universities cannot even afford cleaning services.Research is one of the fundamental services a public university can provide. But when there’s no money, new discoveries are stalled.Many researchers are now forced with the choice to pay out of their own pocket or apply for grants outside of the country.“Due to the economic crisis, there has been a delay on the transfer of funds,” said Henriques dos Santos. “Since 2014 there has been some delay in the transfer of funds. In 2014 and 2015 the flow of money started to slow down.”This has led Henriques dos Santos to seek funds from outside of the country. He is currently trying to have one of his grants approved in the United States to continue research in Brazil.His colleague, Dr. Aleli Torres de Oliveira, a dentist and guest professor at UFRJ, faces a similar situation. She said that towards the beginning of her research projects, funds were being provided by an agency affiliated with the Ministry of Education known as Capes, which roughly translates to the Coordination of Improvement of Higher Level Personnel.“I could feel from the beginning that some financial problems were arising,” said Torres de Oliveira. “The time things really got bad was around the end from last year until now. When the impeachment process for President Dilma began, earning money for the budget became more difficult.”She added that they would reach out to Capes, but the agency would constantly answer that they could not provide funds.Torres de Oliveira said she has been involved with research for about two years. Since her team was not receiving any funds, their choices were to stall the research or pay out of their own pockets for the resources.Around the beginning of this year, she and her colleagues determined a solution. Torres de Oliveira and her colleagues decided to cover the most prevalent problems that are presented in orofacial clinics.They are providing private courses outside of the university to invest in the research. Torres de Oliveira said they use the money from enrollment fees to fund their research.Dentistry has many subjects in the field of study, and Torres de Oliveira decided to use her knowledge of orofacial pain as a subject to teach in these private courses.“It’s a very specific subject in dentistry,” said Torres de Oliveira. “Because in some dental schools in Brazil it is considered an elective course. There are many people that graduate from dental schools who have not taken this course.”Therefore, they created a course around the dysfunctions of the temporal mandibular joint (TMJ), or problems that affect the chewing muscles that connect the lower jaw to the skull.Torres de Oliveira said with the turnout of attendees, classes have been a success.There are lots of different age groups in her classes. Some students can include dentists that graduated many years ago; dental students that haven’t graduated yet and even former classmates of Torres de Oliveira.Dr. Ana Claudia, a retired orthodontist and former dental school classmate of Oliveira, is one of the attendees of the course.Claudia said Torres de Oliveira was tirelessly studious in this subject during college, which sparked her interest to attend the course. However, Claudia also mentioned she had a personal reason for attending.“I have temporal mandibular dysfunction,” she said. “I also wanted to contribute with the fees that they pay for the course because I know the difficulties that Aleli’s clinic is facing to operate.”Torres de Oliveira said that the classes are held at a private university’s study center. On Saturdays, they are allowed to use the classrooms.Due to the purpose of the class being to support research, they are not charged for the usage of the classrooms.The courses do not compete with the same curriculum as university classes because they only happen one day, every two months. They decided this time period because of financial constraints dental students face today in Rio de Janeiro.Since Torres de Oliveira is mainly involved in clinical based research, she and her colleagues are trying to develop a new protocol of treatment.“The research I am doing is not with a new or experimental medication,” she said. “There is not a consensus in the dental literature for how many treatments are needed for TMJ dysfunction. There is a discordance in the dental literature of how many injections are needed. The research is determining if the right number is 3 or 5.”Torres de Oliveira continues by saying that many patients need this medication but cannot afford it. Patients can be enrolled in the research protocol to receive access to treatment.Some patients who can afford the medication bring it to Torres de Oliveira’s clinic themselves. But for those who cannot, that’s when Torres de Oliveira uses the money from her private courses to supply the medication.One of her colleagues involved with the research will use the results in a Master of Science dissertation.“We love to teach and do research,” she said. “Other people are in a research position not because they have the motivation, but because it’s what is available. Money is the least of our concerns, the research itself is our greatest passion.”