History
The PPGNUT/UFG creation was approved by the responsible agency (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – CAPES) in 2008, with grade 3, which was repeated in the following evaluation period (2010 – 2012). The first master's class started in 2009, aiming at meeting the demand for Stricto Sensu capacitation in the area, mainly due to the great expansion of private higher education in Brazil. By that time, seven new undergraduate courses in Nutrition had been created only in Goias. The PPGNUT/UFG aims to capacitate and educate high-level professionals to work in higher education teaching, scientific research, and the production of new knowledge in Nutrition and Health. Its proposal emphasizes the interface between Nutrition and Health, which allows studies and research directed to individuals, social and family groups, and communities. The masters in Nutrition and Health, in its multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary scope, seeks to educate researchers and develop scientific and professional improvement in Nutrition and Health, with the capacitation of highly qualified human resources for the development of research, teaching in undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as the dissemination and education activities contemplated in the PPGNUT/UFG research lines. The first master’s thesis was defended on December 20, 2010, and by the end of 2019, thirteen classes of students had joined the PPGNUT/UFG, through selection processes with more than 50 candidates, from different professional categories. Over these ten years, the PPGNUT/UFG has already awarded 167 master’s degrees and currently has 25 masters and 15 PhD students enrolled.
The following points can be highlighted along the PPGNUT/UFG history:
[April 2009 to April 2011]
Coordinator: Estelamaris Tronco Monego; vice-coordinator: Maria Raquel H Campos
The first coordination had the administrative and academic master's structuring as goal, with the design and approval of the statute and other documents, to guarantee the execution of the approved proposal.
[April 2011 to April 2013]
Coordinator: Érika Aparecida da Silveira (2011-2012); vice-coordinator: Caroline Dário Capitani (2011-2012). From 2012 to 2013 professor Cristiane Cominetti was the pro-tempore coordinator
This second coordination aimed at consolidating the PPGNUT/UFG, by encouraging the increase of scientific production, attracting funding, and establishing partnerships in the national and international scenarios.
[April 2013 to April 2017]
Coordinator: João Felipe Mota; vice-coordinator: Maria Raquel H Campos
In this coordination, the following objectives were established: to adapt the Program's statute and internal resolutions, to expand the supervisors board, and to increase scientific production by attracting research funding, encouraging internationalization and establishing research partnerships with greater scientific and social impacts, to pursue grade 4 from CAPES and, consequently, requesting the PhD course opening. In 2014, the PPGNUT/UFG organized and hosted the National Annual Meeting of the Forum of Coordinators of Graduate Programs in Food and Nutrition, in which coordinators from 26 Stricto sensu graduate programs in the Food and Nutrition area, created by CAPES in 2012, had participated. This meeting contributed to the PPGNUT/UFG strengthening, through exchanges with participating programs, partnerships with researchers, and consolidation and expansion of research lines.
[May 2017 to May 2019]
Coordinator: Maria Margareth Veloso Naves; vice-coordinator: Cristiane Cominetti
This coordination started at the time the PPGNUT/UFG received the concept 4 in CAPES’ four-year evaluation. Therefore, the major aim was to elaborate a concise proposal for a PhD course, that would meet CAPES expectations and the challenge of developing PhDs in the area. The proposal was sent for evaluation by the UFG in March 2018, and subsequently it was sent to the CAPES. At the end of 2018, the proposal for the PhD course was approved by the CAPES. In parallel, a new statute including the PhD course was prepared and approved in the UFG different instances. On December 28, 2018, the current statute was approved, through the Resolution CEPEC/UFG nº 1627. In addition, the first PhD candidate’s selection process call was published at the end of 2018, so that the first class could start in 2019, the year of the 10th anniversary of the PPGNUT/UFG. In addition to creating a PhD course, this coordination has endeavored to update some specific resolutions, as well as to encourage partnerships between its academic board and other graduate programs, at local, regional and national levels, in order to increase the qualified scientific production. In addition, to improve the social insertion and contribute to the students qualified development, the coordination started to work with academic boards from other institutions of undergraduate education in Nutrition in Goias.
[May 2019 to March 2021]
Coordinator: Cristiane Cominetti; vice-coordinator: Patrícia A de Souza Tette
The current coordination started working with the great challenge of adapting to the new way of evaluating graduate programs in the country, which has been implemented by the CAPES. This new form of multidimensional evaluation requires the programs to have well-defined processes of self-evaluation and strategic planning. The PPGNUT/UFG self-assessment principles are truthfulness, honesty, transparency, impersonality, and impartiality. Another goal of the current coordination is to initiate the PhD course consolidation process, which will contribute to the reduction of local, regional, and national demands for qualified developing in the area. This consolidation will also contribute to the strengthening of existing research groups and the creation of new research centers, to an increase in qualified scientific production and to the PPGNUT/UFG internationalization. Finally, with the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, additional challenges were imposed to the PPGNUT/UFG coordination and academic board. Adaptations in the classes format, research projects development, student’s supervision, and deadlines for qualification and defenses sessions have been necessary. However, the current coordination believes that with everyone's efforts, the PPGNUT/UFG will overcome all challenges and be further strengthened.