Conferencing in Brazil
About the author: Josh Gagné is a recipient of an FSI conference grant, which he used to travel to Brazil to present his work. He is a doctoral candidate in Stanford’s Sociology Department and the Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA) at Stanford University.
March 28, 2020
To everyone at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies,
I am deeply indebted to you. The FSI GOES small research grant you gave me enabled me to have a truly career-altering experience in Brazil this January.
I used this funding, and funds I received from other sources, to cover my travel and stay in Belo Horizonte, where the Minas Gerais Department of Education, which serves over 3 million students (more than New York state or Florida), had invited me to give a 1 hour talk about my research. This turned into a two and a half hour talk thanks to the lengthy discussion it inspired. I ended up in a full day of meetings with undersecretaries, data managers, activists, and researchers. I received tons of useful feedback, particularly on framing and historical context I hadn’t been aware of.
Apparently word got around; on my last day in the country, I was able to meet 1:1 with the state’s Secretary of Education and discuss my research and the policy ideas it has inspired them to consider. She was even talking about my policy recommendation as though her team had come up with it — a fantastic sign that there is energy behind this and people who will push it forward. We’re now in talks about a research and data collaboration which would include me helping them develop a policy tool to reduce classroom segregation statewide.
After the talk, I was also invited to give a talk at the city’s federal university — UFMG, one of the largest in the nation — to present my research. A student in the education school had heard about my talk at the Department of Education and her advisor decided to reach out. I made plans to return to Belo Horizonte to give that talk in March, at the same time I had been planning to visit Sao Paulo, where I had presentations scheduled at Universidade Sao Paulo (the country’s most prestigious university) and Instituto Unibanco (a major NGO). Unfortunately, these presentations have been pushed until after the pandemic, but I am confident they too will be fruitful.
It looks like my research could impact millions of lives, even if it doesn’t catch on beyond Minas Gerais. I couldn’t imagine a better outcome from my trip; I literally hadn’t even considered the possibility things could go so well so quickly. I’m finding myself relating to my work differently, with a renewed passion and a deeper commitment to pursuing research on racial and economic inequality in Brazil. More than anything, my work has a greater sense of purpose.
My sincerest thanks,
Josh Gagné
