Number of recipients
The Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Awards, Fulbright-FAPESP Network are pre-arranged affiliations to host exceptional scholars who conduct research relevant to any of the six public universities in the state of São Paulo. These universities are interested in hosting Distinguished Scholars and encouraging them to engage with students, faculty, and the broader community. Scholars can conduct their own research, work collaboratively with Brazilian colleagues, guest-lecture, mentor students, network, and promote their research while representing the United States, the Fulbright Program, and their home and host universities. Teaching activities, if any, should not exceed three hours per week.
The applicant must select one of the six public universities in the state of São Paulo from the list below and indicate their choice as the main host university in the application form. If selected, the scholar will develop their work at the chosen host university and be granted the opportunity to join the Fulbright-FAPESP Network (FFN).
Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP)
Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar)
The awards can be two, three, or four months long. Two-or four-month awards can be split into equal segments of 1+1 or 2+2 months. Split awards are known as Flex Awards. For additional information, please see the Flex description below.
The Fulbright Scholar must take their award between July 1st, 2026 and September 30th, 2027.
Please be aware that most institutions in Brazil take a recess between December and January.
Flex awards allow the stay to be split into two visits of one or two months each between July 1, 2025, and September 30, 2026. There must be a period of at least two months between the two in-country stays.
Sustainable Food Production
Please note that Fulbright Scholars may not engage in activities that require direct patient or clinical contact.
The Fulbright-FAPESP Network is a unique initiative to promote innovative partnerships, expand education ties and strengthen long-term U.S.-Brazil institutional linkages through a qualified dialogue about strategic U.S.-related topics within Brazilian society and disseminate these topics to a larger audience.
To achieve these goals, the Fulbright Commission and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) are establishing this partnership. The scholar will be able to participate in online and onsite activities, e.g., seminars, conferences, and roundtable discussions, at the six public universities in the state of São Paulo, and diversify their knowledge about Brazil.
For the award period, the host university will help the scholar find housing. It will also provide an English-speaking student to help the scholar settle in.
All applicants must meet the Program eligibility requirements (click to review the requirements).
We encourage candidates to contact the chosen Brazilian institution, among the six institutions in the state of São Paulo eligible for this award, to discuss interests, project feasibility, and availability to host them for the proposed award period. If you need assistance facilitating this conversation, please reach out to the Fulbright Commission in Brazil.
Candidates should not wait until near the application deadline to contact the Brazilian institution of their choice to obtain a letter of invitation. If that will be your first time communicating with a potential Brazilian host, please be aware that a response can take longer than expected.
The letter of invitation can include:
- Confirmation of the Brazilian institution's interest in hosting the U.S. scholar, professional, or artist
- Confirmation that the U.S. Scholar will have access to the institution's facilities and services
- Information about project feasibility in regards to language skills
- Information on how the proposed project will impact ongoing activities in the Brazilian host institution
and what the projections are in the long term for the research partners and their institutions.
- Any further relevant information
The letter of invitation can be in Portuguese or English. If the letter is in Portuguese, please submit a translated version and the original with your application.
The scholar will receive a fixed sum of US$ 5,400 per month to cover all expenses but housing. The host university will help find accommodation for the award period. The Fulbright Commission will pay the scholar an additional U$ 1,200 monthly to help with housing costs. This amount corresponds to the estimated housing costs at a medium-priced hotel or Airbnb in a good location.
Scholars who opt for a Flex Award will receive US$2,400 for two international roundtrip tickets. Scholars on non-flex awards will receive US$1,500 for an international roundtrip ticket.
Information on the following website can help scholars figure out the cost of living, meals, and incidentals in different capital cities in Brazil. There can be significant differences in smaller towns, with lower prices. https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/country/brazil
The host university will help the scholar find housing for the award period. It will also provide an English-speaking student to help the scholar settle in.
During their grant period, Fulbright U.S. Scholars in the Western Hemisphere (WHA) region may apply for a short-term regional travel grant for activities such as workshops, seminars, presentations, lectures, performances, exhibits, curricular advising, and similar projects, at institutions in eligible WHA countries (Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados and Eastern Caribbean, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay). The Regional Travel Program covers travel to and from the destination; lodging may be offered by the hosting institution. Scholars may only apply for this grant once in country on their Fulbright grant. Scholars who apply for the Flex award are ineligible for the Regional Travel Program. Additional information can be found at the Regional Travel Program website.
To learn more about Fulbright U.S. Scholar awards in Brazil for 2026-27, please view our archived webinar and slides to hear directly from the Fulbright Commission, IIE staff and U.S. Scholar alums regarding award details, the scholar experience and application guidance.
Summary
Up to 40 awards are available in Brazil. This includes up to 30 All Disciplines awards for early and mid-career scholars, professionals, artists, and 10 Distinguished Scholar Awards in all regions in Brazil. The Distinguished Scholar Awards are opportunities for mid-career, senior academics, artists, and professionals with experience in Arts and Design, Medical Sciences, Social Innovation and Sustainability, and other disciplines.
Fulbright Interdisciplinary Network (FIN)
To foster meaningful discussions about contemporary issues in Brazil from a U.S. perspective, the Fulbright Commission and the U.S. Embassy in Brazil have established the Fulbright Interdisciplinary Network (FIN). This initiative provides Distinguished Scholars with the opportunity to connect with five Brazilian universities during their award period. Scholars can enhance their experience through online and in-person discussions, collaborating with faculty and advising students across Brazil.
Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, and it is similar in size to the continental United States. It is also the largest country in South America and the largest Portuguese-speaking country globally, with around 211 million people and 43% living in its Southeast region. Agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and services are the most important economic sectors. In spite of poverty reduction achievements over the last decades, inequality remains at high levels in one of the world's largest democracies and economies.
After achieving universal coverage in primary education, Brazil is now struggling to improve the educational system's quality and outcomes, especially at the lower and upper secondary levels.
Brazil has a wide range of higher education institutions, with over 200 universities, as well as 3,472 master’s programs and doctoral programs with 122,000 graduate students. There are currently over 37,000 research groups around the country, with more than 200,000 researchers. Its leading research centers in agriculture, energy, biotechnology, environmental sciences, and epidemiology attract scholars and students worldwide. Brazil is considered by Times Higher Education as an emerging market in higher education in 2025. Additionally, Brazil is responsible for 52% of Latin American publications in indexed journals, which places the country as fourteenth worldwide by the Scimago Journal and Country Rank.
The extended coverage of Fulbright U.S. Programs in the country has been possible thanks to the significant contributions from Brazilian strategic partners such as the Brazilian Government through the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES).
U.S. Scholar 2023 Catherine Tinker in Porto Alegre, Brazil
Things turned out differently than planned for teaching my semester course at UFRGS-PPGD Law School and my research on freshwater governance.
Midway through my Fulbright US Scholar visit at UFRGS-PPGD, catastrophic flooding hit Porto Alegre, and the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The waters rose to historic levels right outside my door, roads were impassable, supplies ran low, and the international airport closed for months. Despite this challenge, my connection to Brazil deepened in personal and professional ways as part of the community.
My students remained in contact, and several offered me shelter and collected supplies for the rescue effort. The Fulbright Commission Brazil aided my evacuation, approved by my host university and the US Consulate. When classes resumed, we decided to publish our reflections and proposals. 200 years of diplomatic relations between Brazil and the US and the rising waters in my host city brought us closer in 2024.
U.S. Scholar Edmund Acevedo in Natal, Brazil
My Fulbright experience in Brazil is one of the most exciting, satisfying, and engaging learning/growing experiences in my career. I learned about different approaches to addressing research questions and conducting research in my field, as well as how culture and social context influence the perceived value of a research question. I also observed new strategies for working with and training students. Most importantly, I experienced the critical importance and value of collaboration and appreciated that there are often numerous valid perspectives on how to examine a research question that can often provide unexpected insight. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting the people from Brazil and experiencing the food, culture, and natural environment in Natal and during my adventures throughout Brazil. My research collaborations with scientists in Brazil continue, and I have developed a study abroad program for students from my home institution to visit the faculty and students at my host institution in Brazil during the summer of 2025.
U.S. Scholar Theresa Robbins Dudeck
Blog from 2019-2020 U.S. Scholar to Brazil Theresa Robbins Dudeck in Theater Studies in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais: https://www.theimprofessor.com/single-post/2019/11/29/impro-in-brazil-endings