UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO ESTADO DO RIO DE JANEIRO - UNIRIO

Their core work

UNIRIO is a Brazilian federal university in Rio de Janeiro with a broad disciplinary range spanning humanities, social sciences, and applied sciences. In the H2020 context, the university has engaged with European research networks primarily through MSCA staff exchange and fellowship programs, contributing researcher mobility and local academic expertise. Their visible EU-funded work covers two distinct domains — organizational management science and the archaeology of religion and ritual — suggesting active international engagement from multiple faculties. As a non-EU academic institution, UNIRIO serves as a bridge between South American and European research communities.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

UNIRIO's early H2020 engagement (RISE_BPM, 2015-2019) was entirely in management and information science — no humanities keywords appear from that period. By the early 2020s, the visible focus had shifted completely to religious studies, ritual, and cultural memory (RITMO, 2021-2024), with rich keyword clusters around Roman religion, place-making, and comparative religious studies. This sharp pivot most likely reflects different faculties independently establishing EU research connections rather than a strategic institutional shift.

UNIRIO's humanities faculty appears to be the more active EU research engagement front as of the 2020s, particularly in religious studies and cultural history, though the earlier management science connection may still exist through different departments.

How they like to work

UNIRIO has participated exclusively as a third party in both H2020 projects, which is the standard role for non-EU institutions in MSCA programs — they receive and send researchers rather than leading or formally coordinating. With 14 distinct partners across 8 countries over just two projects, their consortia are reasonably broad, indicating UNIRIO connects into well-networked European academic groups. They are not a repeat-partner hub but rather a valued non-European node that gives consortia international reach.

UNIRIO has collaborated with 14 unique partners across 8 countries, a relatively broad network given only two projects. Their connections span European academic institutions through MSCA programs, positioning them as a Brazil-Europe research mobility gateway.

What sets them apart

UNIRIO's primary value to European consortia is geographic and institutional: as a large Brazilian federal university, they provide access to South American academic infrastructure and researcher talent that most EU-based partners cannot. For MSCA-RISE consortia in particular, a Brazilian institutional partner satisfies the non-EU "third country" requirement while bringing genuine research depth in areas like humanities and management. Any consortium seeking Brazil-EU researcher mobility would find UNIRIO a credible and well-connected entry point.

Highlights from their portfolio

• RITMO
  Thematically the most distinctive project — combining Roman religious studies, spatial analysis, emotional history, and cultural memory into a single interdisciplinary framework, with UNIRIO as one of the few non-European partners.
• RISE_BPM
  Shows the breadth of UNIRIO's faculty engagement with EU networks, covering an entirely different domain (management science and IT) than their more recent humanities work.