About the Elections for the Academy

Here’s how to become part of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

BAS Statute

This document is based on rules imposed by the Selection Committees, the Board of Directors, but above all, by the process described in the BAS Statute, available on this site at the link https://www.abc.org.br/en/a-instituicao/estatuto/.

Member Categories

The Brazilian Academy of Sciences has five categories of Members, which are:

    1. a) Full Members;
    2. b) Corresponding Members;
    3. c) Collaborating Members;
    4. d) Affiliate Members;
    5. e) Associated Institutional Members.
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The category of Institutional Members is only for companies and institutions that contribute to Brazilian science and to the BAS (Statute Art. 9). The other categories are intended for individuals whose merit is recognized by the Full Members of the Academy.

Nominations

There is no self-nomination. No person or institution can apply to become a Member of the BAS. Candidates for Collaborating Members and institutional members are exclusively nominated by the Board of Directors. Candidates for Full and Corresponding Members are exclusively nominated by the Full Members. Candidates for Affiliate Members are exclusively nominated by the Full Members from the same geographical region as the candidate (Statute Art 8). The geographical regions are defined in Art 3 of the Statute.

Election Schedule

The election schedule is set by the Board of Directors at the end of the year prior to the process and published on this site at the link https://www.abc.org.br/membros/eleicoes/. The election of Collaborating Member and Associated Institutional Member can take place at any time of the year, always initiated by a nomination made by a member of the Board of Directors..

Selection Committees

The Brazilian Academy of Sciences has a national committee responsible for coordinating the election of Full and Corresponding Members, and six regional committees responsible for coordinating the election of Affiliate Members. The composition of the national committee is available at the link https://www.abc.org.br/en/a-instituicao/estrutura/, and the regional committees are available at this link http://www.abc.org.br/membros/eleicoes/.

The national election committee’s composition and functions are determined in the Statute. It consists of twelve Full Members, elected by the Ordinary General Assembly, for a three-year term. Every year, four of its members are renewed. This committee is chaired by the President of the BAS, or, in their absence, by the Vice-President.

The regional committees are appointed and chaired by the Regional Vice-Presidents. As far as possible, there is a variation of the members of the committees in relation to the previous year, to cater to the various areas of science covered by the BAS.

Electoral Process

Full Member

The national selection committee initiates the process, designing the nomination form model, defining what information is relevant about the candidate. Once the nomination period is open, one or at most two Full Members endorse the nomination of a candidate. This candidate must be a scientist based in Brazil for more than 10 (ten) years, Brazilian or not, with distinguished scientific performance and notable national leadership in their area. Each Full Member may nominate up to two candidates from any area of science, based in any geographical region of Brazil.

At the end of the nomination period, all candidates are separated by area of Science (the areas are defined in Art. 2 of the Statute), and their forms are sent to the Full Members of their area. The Full Members are called upon to give grades, evaluating the candidates in their area, where 1 is not recommendable and 5 means highly recommendable for joining the Academy.

At the end of the evaluation period, a table is created for each area of science covered by the BAS, with the number of grades (between 1 and 5) each candidate in that area of science received.

The selection committee is called to approve the number of vacancies to be filled for Full Members that year, examine the curriculum of the candidates, and the evaluation table for each area and prepare the voting ballot.

The number of candidates to be presented on the ballot for each area is equal to twice the number of vacancies opened for that year. If there are not enough qualified candidates, the vacancies are suppressed until this proportion is observed. In extreme cases, the selection committee may not open any vacancies for an area that year.

The elected will be the most voted candidates by the Full Members from all areas of the BAS. The Full Member can vote in all areas of science.

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Corresponding Member

The national selection committee initiates the process, designing the nomination form model, defining what information is relevant about the candidate. Once the nomination period is open, a minimum of ten Full Members, among them, a minimum of five Full Members from the same area as the candidate, must endorse the candidate’s nomination. This candidate must be a scientist based outside Brazil for more than 10 (ten) years, foreign or not, with distinguished scientific performance and strong collaboration with Brazilian science. When foreign, it is desirable that the candidate be a member of their national Academy.

The selection committee is called to examine the curriculum of the candidates and prepare the voting ballot. There are no limits on vacancies for Corresponding Member candidates.

The elected will be the approved candidates by the Full Members on the voting ballot.

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Collaborating Member

Proposals for admission of Collaborating Members will be presented by the Board of Directors, fully justified and accompanied by the candidate’s curriculum vitae. The candidate must be a personality who has rendered significant services to the Academy or to national scientific development. The election for a collaborating member is quite rare. In over 100 years of existence, the Academy has elected only four Collaborating Members..

Affiliate Member

For this election, the nomination form is published on this site at the link https://www.abc.org.br/membros/eleicoes/. Once the nomination period is open, a Full Member must endorse the nomination of the candidate. This candidate must be a young researcher, up to 40 years of age, with a promising career, based in Brazil, in any region of the country, Brazilian or not. Female candidates over 40 years of age who are mothers are accepted, provided they meet the following requirement: the age limit for these candidates will increase by 1 year for each biological or non-biological child. Example: Mothers with 2 children can be candidates if they are 42 years old or younger.

The selection committees are called to examine the curricula of the candidates and select up to five new Affiliate Members for each of their respective geographical regions.

The Affiliate Member serves a five-year, non-renewable term.

Associated Institutional Member

The board meets to analyze the proposal for the nomination of an associated institutional member. Once a positive deliberation is made, the Board of Directors extends the invitation to the institution. The institution must commit to making an annual financial contribution to the maintenance of the BAS. The mandate of the associated institutional member is temporary and must be validated each year, at the discretion of the Board of Directors.

Induction of New Members

The induction of associated institutional members takes place on a date agreed between the board and the elected institution. All members of the other categories take office on January 1st of the year following the election. During the year, the BAS holds investiture ceremonies, often associated with scientific events, where the inducted members of that year are honored. The term of the Affiliate Member automatically ends on December 31st of their fifth year in the BAS.
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General Provisions

Traditionally, there are no electoral campaigns in the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. The board must always and routinely express itself in the objective of curbing the manifestation of people, members of the BAS or not, who ask for votes or recommend candidates. In case of recurrence, the Selection Committee may advise against candidates for practices of vote campaigning.

Throughout the process, the candidate is passive. There is no communication between the BAS and the candidate. It is up to the elected to accept or decline the invitation to join the Academy’s ranks, which is made by the President of the BAS, at the end of the process. The BAS only publishes a list of the elected, without revealing non-elected candidates.

Questions can be addressed through the email : eleicao@abc.org.br.