In 2017, still at the beginning of Serrapilheira’s activities and inspired by the American movements #MyOneScienceTweet and #WhyMyScience, which called on scientists to summarize their research, we launched the Brazilian version: “#MinhaCiênciaEmUmTweet” (#MyScienceInOneTweet). We invited Brazilian scientists to the challenge of explaining in a tweet what they research and/or why they research. In just the first 36 hours of the campaign, we counted 1,068 tweets.

We launched the Brazilian version: #MyScienceInOneTweet, inviting Brazilian scientists to the challenge of explaining their research in a tweet.

“Desafio Serrapilheira” (Serrapilheira Challenge)

In 2018, we challenged 65 young Brazilian scientists to present their research to three different audiences: a 10-year-old child, a college student, and a researcher in the same field. The objective? To show how young scientists think and what they are doing.

“Perguntas Fundamentais” (Fundamental Questions)

What are the fundamental questions that drive scientists in their discovery processes? In 2019, the Serrapilheira Institute launched a video series to explore where these big questions come from and the role of intuition and creativity in research. We spoke with five young researchers: Bruno Mota (physics and neuroscience), Marina Hirota (mathematics and ecology), Tiago Jalowitski (geology), Rafael Chaves (quantum physics), and Rafael Silva (chemistry).

“Modos de ver” (Ways of Seeing)

“Ways of Seeing” was a video series launched by Serrapilheira in 2021. We spoke with 12 scientists about their work, methods, and interfaces to show that different ways of conducting research construct what we know as Science. Geology and physics, mathematics and chemistry, biology and oceanography all intersect in concepts, hypotheses, and inquiries. Here, we dived into six different perspectives: landscape, time, evolution, community, representation, and limit.

In July 2022, we organized a new takeover of newspaper columns under the hashtag #ScienceInElections. Throughout the month, columnists and bloggers yielded space to scientists, opinion leaders, and policymakers for reflections on the role of Science in rebuilding Brazil. This initiative highlighted the interconnection between politics and Science, as well as its embedding in public interest issues—economy, education, health, environment, culture, and more.

Using the National Day of Science, July 8, as a hook, we made July the “Month of Science,” repeating an experience from 2020 when we organized the #WorkingScientist column takeover to reflect on the scientific process.

The #ScienceInElections initiative occupied 117 spots in over 20 media outlets. The takeover began with an article by Gilberto Gil in the Folha de S.Paulo’s Ilustríssima section titled “Glitter beyond the dark night.”

Here is the list of all the articles.

The year 2022 was an unusually political period. Although non-partisan, the institute could not remain neutral amid a polarized presidential race between a candidate who valued Brazilian Science and another who had dismantled it during the previous four years of government. Therefore, in September 2022, we entered the electoral campaign in an unusual way: we “launched” the presidential candidacy of Zé Gotinha (Droplet Joe), the iconic vaccination advocate and a character deeply ingrained in Brazilian culture. He even had a government plan. However, a few days after the announcement, Zé Gotinha’s candidacy was disqualified because plush toys cannot run for president. Then, the character encouraged his supporters to vote for candidates who valued Science, public health, and the SUS. The action was actually a lighthearted social media campaign. In less than two months, the posts reached over 30 million people and were viewed more than 90 million times on the “Zé Gotinha Presidente” accounts on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok.

Between 2021 and 2022, in partnership with José Henrique Bortoluci and Caio Favaretto founders of Maranta Political Intelligence, we conducted 31 interviews with relevant actors from the national political-scientific scene to map the main challenges to promoting scientific policy. The goal was to understand how Serrapilheira could contribute to overcoming these barriers. We then took the first steps by supporting projects that seek to gather and analyze data on science funding, combat misinformation, and promote communication about the importance of Science in the context of elections.