Support to the Regional Development
Researchers and professors at PPGZOOL actively participate in government programs aimed at reducing regional inequalities and qualifying high school teachers. The program professors make up the executing center of the Biodiversity Research Program (PPBio) in the Eastern Amazon. This program proposes the development of research centers (Regional Centers) in biodiversity linked to teaching and research institutions in the Amazon. These Regional Centers are located in the states of Amapá, Maranhão, Mato Grosso and Santarém, in the state of Pará. In this way, professors have been responsible for several technical leveling actions and training that has helped to reduce the gaps that persist between research and teaching in northern Brazil.
The PPBio recognizes the important role that the Zoology Graduate Program plays in the consolidation of these centers, absorbing demands for the formation of qualified human resources in the study of the Amazonian biodiversity. PPGZOOL's partnership with PPBio – Eastern Amazon resulted in the feasibility of Master's and Doctoral projects in conservation areas, such as the National Forest of Caxiuanã, Amapá National Forest, the Amazon National Park and the participation of teachers and students of the Program in scientific expeditions to areas of special taxonomic, biogeographic and conservationist interest, such as the Serra das Andorinhas State Park and the Serra do Pardo National Park. These activities contributed with unprecedented knowledge that will subsidize the management plans of these areas.
The course has actively contributed to the professional qualification of other teaching and research institutions, expanding the training and the qualification of employees and nucleating PPGZOOL graduates in these institutions. Doctorate and Master’s students have worked as lecturers in other UFPA units or in other universities, such as UFMA, UEMA, UFAC and UFAM. In addition, graduates of the program acted as technicians specialized in research institutions, composing field teams and laboratory. Professors of the Program are also involved in the training of primary and secondary school teachers, in the context of the National Plan for the Training of Teachers of Basic Education, assisting in the technical qualification of teachers who will disseminate knowledge to the students of the public education system.