A scientific partnership agreement for the next three years was signed during the state visit of the President of Angola, designed to strengthen CISA – the Health Research Centre of Angola.

The signing ceremony took place on 23 November in the Palácio da Bolsa in Oporto and attended by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation director, Guilherme d’Oliveira Martins, the Angolan ambassador to Portugal, Carlos Alberto Fonseca and the president of Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, Luís Faro Ramos.

The objective of this agreement is the consolidation of CISA – the Health Research Centre of Angola, identified in the Portugal-Angola Strategic Cooperation Program 2018-2022 as determinant to empowerment and research in health in the latter country.

The agreement foresees the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in coordination with Camões IP, contributing towards the qualification and enhancement of Angolan human resources and the scientific autonomy of the Centre. This involves contracting researchers and experts, awarding study grants to Centre members of staff, participation in international research congresses and the publication of articles in peer reviewed scientific journals.

The agreement also extends to complementary support for contracting qualified Angolan research/technical staff with the objective of encouraging their scientific careers as well as drafting and submitting applications for international financing and sponsorship. Annual funding is to be purpose provided for the preparation and launch of new projects.

The Foundation may also contribute towards fostering international partnerships and mobilising additional resources as a means of guaranteeing the complementary nature of CISA's intervention projects. 

The results attained over the last decade prove the great potential of CISA for the production of knowledge in the field of health research, in the training of early-career human resources in technical and scientific fields and in the capacity to mobilise and leverage partnerships.