Rio has a completely different atmosphere to the rather oppressive feel of Sao Paulo. It has spectacular natural surroundings, similar to Cape Town, and has the waterfront at the heart of everything. The Education delegation are taken to the Museum of Modern Art for a lunch with colleagues from the leading Universities in Rio. As was the case in Sao Paulo, there is much emphasis on science and engineering that will support the sustainable development of Brazil’s economy, particularly oil and gas production, sustainable energy and agriculture, and environmental protection. Southampton has a number of small scale connections to the main universities and it was a real pleasure to have lunch with the Provost of the University of the State University of Rio de Janeiro. She is an engaging geologist and I was impressed with the quality and sophistication of the work being undertaken at the University. We finished the afternoon with a tour of just one of the new facilities of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. This was a deep water experimental basin, nothing like a typical towing tank with which I am familiar – an extraordinary resource for research into ocean currents and their effects on surface and sub-surface structures, and quite unlike anything I have seen before. I am certain that we could find great mutual benefit from collaboration between our engineers, naval architects and oceanographers and hope to follow up on my return.
The day finished with an Olympic reception. Obviously, there is much experience in the UK to be shared with the next hosts, Rio. I took every opportunity to set out our credentials relating to the high performance engineering support we provide to elite GB athletes. David Willetts seized upon this as a tangible connection between science and sport, and has now become an advocate for the University in this domain! There were some surprise guests, including Olympic legend Edwin Moses and Brazilian F1 star Emerson Fittipaldi, as well as some of the medal winners from the Brazilian team at London 2012. The media scrum was especially intense and unruly at this event, but the PM seemed to be enjoying himself at the last event of a long day.
I said my farewells to the group who make a quick side-trip to Brasilia on Friday before returning to the UK Friday afternoon. I have a long promised conference speech to give in Tallinn, Estonia and the logistics of getting there require me to catch a midnight flight to Paris.
New York, Southampton, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Tallinn – not exactly a typical week in the life of a Vice-Chancellor.