The University of Illinois System’s Brasillinois Initiative and the Brazilian National Council of State Funding Agencies (CONFAP) announced the projects selected for funding through the 2026 University of Illinois System and CONFAP Collaborative Research Program.

The program will support 16 collaborative projects bringing together researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Illinois Chicago and the University of Illinois Springfield with colleagues at universities and research institutions across Brazil. The selected projects address shared challenges in climate, sustainability and agriculture; public health and medicine; and democracy and inclusion, among many others.

Each selected project may receive up to $40,000 in combined support, with funding of up to $20,000 for the Illinois research team and up to $20,000 for the Brazilian team through a participating state research funding agency. The two-year projects are expected to begin in January.

“The Brasillinois seed grant program continues to connect researchers at the University of Illinois System with collaborators across Brazil in areas of strategic importance to both countries and to our faculty and students,” University of Illinois System Vice President for Economic Development and Innovation Jay Walsh said. “We have seen impact of this seed funding in previous rounds and look forward to the progress that this group of projects makes.”

Fundação Araucária will support three collaborations in Paraná. Ana Luiza Favarão Leão of the State University of Londrina and Shelby Keye of UIUC will lead “Advancing Public Health in Londrina: Equity-Focused Strategies to Promote Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Supportive Environments in Underserved Families.” Tatiana Colombo Pimentel of the Federal Institute of Paraná and Oguz Kaan Ozturk of UIUC will lead “Sustainable Engineering of Agro-industrial Biomasses through Emerging Non-Thermal Technologies: A Brazil-Illinois Project.” Tiago Santos Telles of the Paraná Institute of Rural Development and the State University of Londrina and Angela Lyons of UIUC will lead “From Forest to Farm? Deforestation, Farm Lifecycles, and Long-Run Agricultural Sustainability in Brazil.”

The Amazonas State Research Support Foundation, FAPEAM, will support two projects. Iolete Ribeiro da Silva of the Federal University of Amazonas and Stevan Weine of UIC will lead “Climate Disruption, Child Maltreatment, and Mental Health in Amazonian Brazil: A Convergent Mixed-Methods Study.” Michele Rocha de Araujo El Kadri of Fiocruz Amazonas and John Vozenilek of UIUC and UIC will lead “Healthcare Systems Engineering Frameworks for Infrastructure-Driven Public Health Challenges Along the BR-319 Amazonas Corridor.”

The Rio Grande do Sul State Research Support Foundation, FAPERGS, will support three collaborations. Lucas Oliveira Junqueira e Silva of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and Pavitra Kotini-Shah of UIC will lead “Point-of-Care Ultrasound Velocity-Time Integral for Pulmonary Embolism: A Multicenter Diagnostic and Prognostic Pilot Study.” Lucielli Savegnago of the Federal University of Pelotas and Jacob Allen of UIUC will lead “Strengthening Brazil-US Collaboration in Translational Research on the Gut-Brain-Microbiota Axis.” Nelson Guilherme Machado Pinto of the Federal University of Santa Maria and Megan Styles of UIS will lead the “Rio Grande do Sul and Illinois Climate Change Resilience Network: Joint Disaster Response Planning.”

The Espírito Santo Research and Innovation Support Foundation, FAPES, will support two projects. Francisco de Assis Boldt of the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo and Isabella C.F.S. Condotta of UIUC will lead “I-LABEL: International Low-Annotation Benchmarking and Edge Learning for Livestock: A Brazil-Illinois Collaboration to Develop Scalable Computer Vision Pipelines for Swine Monitoring.” Jones Bernardes Graceli of the Federal University of Espírito Santo and Megan Mahoney of UIUC will lead “Do Pesticides Affect Anxiety, Depression and Ovarian Function in Females?”

The Bahia State Research Support Foundation, FAPESB, will support three collaborations. Helton Estrela Ramos of the Federal University of Bahia and Julia Anglen Bauer of UIC will lead “Exposomic and Endocrine-Metabolomic Determinants of Congenital Hypothyroidism in Newborns: A Dried Blood Spot Study from Brazil.” Juneo Freitas Silva of the State University of Santa Cruz and Almudena Veiga-Lopez of UIC will lead “From Farm to Fetus: Pesticides, the Placenta, and the Developing Brain.” Weiner Gustavo Silva Costa of the Federal University of Recôncavo da Bahia and Erol Tutumluer of UIUC will lead “Toward Sustainable Tropical Unpaved Roads: Bender Element Evaluation of Geogrid and Natural Fiber-Stabilized Soils.”

The Santa Catarina State Research and Innovation Support Foundation, FAPESC, will support two collaborations. Cassiano Rech of the Federal University of Santa Catarina and Andiara Schwingel of UIUC will lead “Advancing Public Health in Florianópolis: Equity-Focused Strategies to Promote Physical Activity in Underserved Populations.” Fabio Daura-Jorge of the Federal University of Santa Catarina and Stephen Maren of UIUC will lead “From Stress Physiology to Cultural Transmission: Linking Population-Level Biomarkers to Social Learning Mechanisms in Bottlenose Dolphins.”

The Paraíba State Research Support Foundation, FAPESQ, will support “Digital Democracy and Sociotechnical Inclusion in Vulnerable Regions: An Information Infrastructure Perspective for Brazil-Illinois Cooperation.” The project will be led by Alandey Severo Leite da Silva of the Federal University of Paraíba and Zachary McDowell of UIC.

The projects will support activities such as researcher mobility, international exchange visits, collaborative workshops, data collection and other early-stage research. In addition to producing new knowledge, the program is intended to build lasting institutional partnerships and create opportunities for faculty, students and emerging researchers in Illinois and Brazil.

The call attracted 59 eligible proposals involving researchers from 12 Brazilian states and all three University of Illinois System universities. Proposals underwent independent review by the University of Illinois System and participating Brazilian funding agencies, followed by a joint selection process.

The collaborative research program is part of the Brasillinois Initiative, which fosters research collaboration and student mobility between the University of Illinois System and partners throughout Brazil. Brasillinois advances equitable cooperation between Illinois and Brazil in research, education and institutional partnership.

See additional information about the program and the selected projects.