PhD Candidate João Pedro Silveira Martins from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, visited the University of Miami for his COST-funded Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM).
This STSM aimed to understand the shared challenges and persecutions experienced by LGBT+ Brazilians on both sides of the Atlantic (Spain and the USA). Additionally, João intended to discuss aspects of his theoretical approach with Professor Steven Butterman, an expert in Brazilian queer migrant studies at the University of Miami. This collaboration was pivotal for completing João’s PhD dissertation by June 2023 and establishing stronger international networks. According to João, these networks would support publishing with scholars and exploring post-doc opportunities:
“Working with peers in Miami was a fantastic experience as I could share the situation of the queer and trans communities in Europe and understand the challenges in the USA. Having a global vision of the challenges faced by queer and trans migrants is essential for my studies as I could see some international trends on persecution or over-bureaucratization of visa and asylum procedures. In the USA, there is also a growing rhetoric of populist governments to use religious discourses to forge the idea of heteronormative family and persecute LGBT+ people, especially trans people, and this has been causing a lot of harm for the queer and trans migrants, which are already living under a lot of pressure and precariousness. All of these experiences have helped me understand the meaning of my dissertation and helped me realise that my chapters are very relevant for international publications since they talk about a global phenomenon” – shares PhD Candidate João Pedro Silveira Martins.
A Short-Term Scientific Mission, funded by the COST Action COREnet, consists of a visit to a host organization located in a different country to the country of affiliation of a Researcher in order to carry out specific work as part of a research project. In addition to research purposes, Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) are aimed to support researchers’ individual mobility, to strengthen existing networks and to foster collaboration between individuals. The purpose of a STSM is thus to gain new partnerships, to learn new techniques and to gain access to specific data, instruments and/or methods not available in their own institutions/organizations.
In the photo: PhD Candidate João Pedro Silveira Martins giving lecture at the University of Miami