Ricardo Galvão is a Brazilian plasma physicist who has spent the last several years in prominent positions within the science-policy interface. I spoke to Galvão in the lead-up to the 2022 Brazilian presidential election, at a time when he had just completed an unsuccessful campaign for federal representative.

Galvão has long been a respected research professor at the University of São Paulo, but gained both national and international notoriety in 2019 when he firmly stood up to the anti-scientific rhetoric of the then-administration against robust deforestation data published by Brazil’s Space Agency, INPE, of which Galvão was director at the time. He was summarily fired for taking this stand and exposing skyrocketing deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon.

In our InterDialogue, an impassioned Galvão spoke about his experience and the setbacks faced by INPE, as well as the risks to Brazilian science in general. We also spoke about how to get the public to respect science, the troubling isolation of researchers from public anti-scientific trends fueled by misinformation, and his shock at the sound rejection of him and other scientists who were running for public office in 2022.

As a positive addendum to our conversation, after the 2022 election, in early 2023 Galvão was appointed as president of Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), which is an important government institution tasked with promoting scientific research and advancement throughout the country.

Chapters

00:00 – Introduction to the Conversation

01:52 – Monitoring Deforestation in the Amazon

03:22 – Government Response to Deforestation

07:53 – Controversy Surrounding Data Accuracy

11:28 – Impact of Anti-Scientific Rhetoric

27:04 –Challenges Faced by Scientists in Politics

35:42 – Challenges Faced by INPE under the Bolsonaro Government

39:09 – Impact of Controversy on Deforestation Data

41:03 – Changes and Funding Cuts at INPE

49:45 – Hope for a Change in Government

55:03 – Importance of Sustainable Development and International Collaboration

01:03:47 – Investment in Science and Education for Brazil’s Future