11th meeting (February 2021)

Introduction

BRaS academic committee met online on Friday, February 26, 2021, at 2 pm (Berlin time) to discuss general matters of the organization. Anna Bennech conducted the meeting and Giovanna Imbernon was in charge of the minutes. Doctor Thomas Kestler, Matheus Zago, Matheus Hebling, Cláudia Pires, Anna Bennech, Eric Nogueira, Jayane Maia, Luíza Cerioli, Luísa Turbino Torres, and Lucas Fraga also attended the meeting.

The committee proposed the discussion of the following agenda:

1. General Secretariat
   1. Draft Annual Report [Comments, debate, and voting]
   2. BRaS internal processes flow [Follow Up] 
2. Communication and PR Updates
   1. Social media Updates
   2. IT Updates
   3. IR Updates
3. Research Department
   1. BRaS-J Updates
   2. BRaS-Blog Updates
4. General Issues

Annual Report

Anna Bennech started the meeting by reminding all members to send the requested/missing information to complete the Annual Report (AR) by the 28th. An extraordinary meeting was also suggested so the members may discuss any amendments or issues.

Doctor Thomas Kestler thanked all for the work done and suggested streamlining the AR layout and the content. 

Processes 

Regarding the workflow and processes, this topic will be later checked – after finishing the AR – and the General Secretariat and C&PR will request the missing information and the team will then propose the best deadline and next steps. 

C&PR Updates

Claudia Pires presented the numbers and commented on the performance of different areas of BRaS, including the statistics of social media. She pointed out that their organic traffic is increasing (Twitter, Facebook, etc.). Regarding the website, the traffic and access statistics were also presented by Matheus Zago.

BRaS-J 

Matheus Zago commented on two topics regarding the next steps of BRaS-J. First, he reminded all that in the next weeks the professors and researchers should be invited to the Academic Committee and asked for any suggestion on how to write the invitations. Second, he reminded them there is a journal platform for testing and all members are invited to try and see how it works. 

Regarding the invitations, the group discussed and voted to send the invitations starting with the closest connections. Other updates will be presented at the next BRaS-J meeting on March 24, 2021.

BRaS-Blog

Matheus Hebling provided the committee with an overview of the blog and pointed out that the public is becoming limited to the Brazilian audience and this is diverging from the target aimed at by the Blog and BRaS. 

Matheus Zago suggested investing more in publishing texts and content from scholars outside Brazil. 

Cláudia Pires, Matheus Zago, and Matheus Hebling agree that the Blog should invest more in this strategy and that the interviews (also videos) have a positive impact on the numbers. 

R&F Updates

Jayane Maia informed the committee that the department is having trouble publishing the opportunities on time this month but will solve it soon. 

General

Matheus Zago informed they are working on a process to automatically issue the certificates. 

Luísa Turbino suggested the members could use their personal profiles or social media to create content and collaborate to BRaS visibility. Jayane Maia added that this is a great strategy and organizations as DAAD use it with their research fellows.

For last, the final version of the AR will be sent to all members and the approval will also be done by e-mail.

As usual, the next monthly meeting will take place online on March 26, 2021.