One year of INCT-MQA

INCT-MQA Steering Committee

This September, INCT-MQA celebrates its first year of existence. INCT-MQA represents the culmination of a community that, for more than 30 years, has been actively and successfully engaged in the study and development of quantum materials, with a focus on superconductors, heavy-fermion systems, topological materials, and their applications. Today, this community brings together more than 100 researchers from over 30 institutions.

In addition to recognizing and strengthening an integrated and collaborative scientific community, INCT-MQA has provided financial resources and fellowships that can be applied and managed autonomously, addressing the specific needs of different working groups. During this first year, the main focus of INCT-MQA was to organize its structure, assess the community’s main demands, and define the pillars of its activities as a National Institute of Science and Technology. This consolidation will serve as the foundation for INCT-MQA’s actions over the next four years of project implementation.

Beyond this organizational process, INCT-MQA has worked actively to support its research groups, beginning its budget execution through a funding model based on calls for proposals submitted by the community. During this first year, eight different calls were launched, covering both research funding and fellowships. So far, INCT-MQA has made available to the community two PhD fellowships and 14 postdoctoral fellowships. In addition, R$ 1,200,000.00 has been offered in research funding for reagents, computational tools, and equipment repair. INCT-MQA also maintains a continuous-flow call to support participation in events and work missions, which has already invested more than R$ 200,000.00 in mobility during this first year alone.

Among other achievements of our INCT, we highlight: (i) the organization of two official events, one held remotely to introduce INCT-MQA and launch its activities, and another held in person, a superconductivity school dedicated to training students and future researchers of this community; (ii) the creation of thematic groups to promote activities and seminars; and (iii) the launch of a newsletter and an Instagram channel to disseminate INCT-MQA activities, opportunities, and initiatives.

And there is still much more to come. The Steering Committee has been working actively to discuss the next steps of INCT-MQA, including new calls, new facilities, new forms of communication, and outreach strategies. Above all, we count on the participation of the entire community to make our Institute increasingly strong, integrated, and active.