Full of symbolism for technical and administrative professionals, the 10th edition of the Unicamp Professionals Symposium (Simtec) will take place between September 22nd and 23rd in the auditorium of the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM). The event is part of the institution's 60th-anniversary celebrations and is expected to bring together around 2 participants and approximately 600 academic and technical papers. Among the criteria used for selecting the papers are innovation, internal and external impact, and institutional contribution.
According to Edison Cardoso Lins, president of the organizing committee, the idea for the congress arose in the 1990s, stemming from the need to recognize the contribution of technical-administrative staff to the production of knowledge within the University. “When university rankings came out, for example, the focus was always on faculty, which is natural. But the staff also participated in this process and sought recognition,” he recalls.
After its first edition in 1997, the event went through a period of discontinuation and was resumed in 2008. Since then, it has been held regularly every two years. Lins highlights that Simtec has consolidated itself as a space for valuing support professionals and as an opportunity to share experiences and projects developed in different areas of Unicamp, including teaching and research units, central administration, and health. "The event has also gained an academic dimension, with presentations of work in the university style, posters, and evaluation criteria similar to those of academia," details the committee president.
Social Impact
Beyond its internal impact, Simtec also began to influence similar initiatives at other Brazilian public universities. In 2011, the event inspired the creation of a meeting that brings together professionals from Unicamp, USP, and Unesp. Institutions in states like Rio de Janeiro also began to develop similar events, aimed at valuing technical and administrative staff, as Lins recounts.
According to the organizer, the congress helps to reinforce the role of support professionals in scientific production and the daily functioning of public universities. “We are not just university support. There is a whole construction of knowledge, development of techniques and innovation in the work of technical-administrative professionals,” he points out.
Lins invited the staff to participate in the program and submit papers for this year's edition. "We want the event to continue to be representative of this segment and highlight the importance of these professionals to the Brazilian public university," he said.
Digital kiosks
The organizer anticipates that this year's edition – celebrating a decade of existence – should also bring changes to the event's format. One of the novelties will be the replacement of traditional printed posters with digital totems, in an initiative aligned with environmental sustainability.
The program is still being finalized, but the goal is to broaden the dialogue with contemporary themes and new languages. "We want to break a little with the traditional format and bring in people who today strongly engage with the public through social media," adds Lins.
