Research Areas

Geospatial Science and Technology

The research in Geospatial Science and Astrophysics encompasses both the study of the Sun, its activity and their effects on Earth ionosphere as well as on technological systems installed on the ground or in space, as well as spatial geodesy which uses space-related technologies to produce a spatial reference system of very high precision.

Health and Child Development

The research in health covers the study of the clinical nutrition, public health, the food industry and technical, political and social processes that involve medicine. The main objectives of research in child development are the typical development and its developmental disorders and the basic neural mechanisms which are determinants or play a part in the establishment of developmental disorders.

Information Technology and Communication

Interactive systems, such as hypermedia, virtual reality and augmented reality, are present in many industries such as health, tourism, advertising, games, entertainment, automotive, education, among others. This line focuses on two thematic axes: Interaction Design/User Experience and Virtual Environments and Digital Entertainments. The Artificial Intelligence and Big Data axes are dedicated more directly to the question of how machines can be taught to solve problems and the treatment of large data bases, seeking to study the concepts and instruments that allow this data to be able to be submitted to analysis. In the Digital TV line we work with baseband transmission, channel models and digital modulation, optimal receivers, synchronization and digital communication.

Architecture, Urban Studies and Design

This area emphasizes academic research into Architecture and Urban Planning and its connections with practice, in particular with design in every scale – from buildings to cities – and particular emphasis on representation and/or intervention, contributing to the construction of theoretical and conceptual frameworks of reference needed for the critical thinking of researchers, professors and/or professionals. The themes addressed include: the study of the public space and urban mobility; historic heritage; collective and social-interest housing in central urban areas; verticalization; documentation, plans and reference sites; interventions for urban and environmental recovery and revitalization of degraded and vulnerable areas, among others.

Economic and Political Law

Research in the area of Political and Economic Law aims to stimulate and consolidate critical reflection on the impact that the main changes in contemporary society have been exerting in the legal sphere, creating new relationships between Law, Economics and Politics. The approach to Law as a cultural phenomenon allows addressing the great challenges and conflicts typical of a plural society, and provide responses for increasingly complex social demands. One such challenge lies in understanding and regulating new technologies, as graphene and nanotechnology. The regulation of research support, the regulation of the use of these materials, and the legal protection thereof are issues under discussion in this research area. The debate is associated with the greater goals of creating a technological innovation policy that will reflect on the country’s economic development, as is already the case elsewhere.

Governance, Culture and Economic Freedom

In the Governance, Culture and Economic Freedom area the researches addresses the relationships between language, society and culture, as also contemporary regional and global problems of the human, social and organizational phenomena, in relation to the coexistence of the diverse cultures in their multiple identities. Development of business networks aiming for social change, as well as the training of managers through transformative learning to address collective dilemmas in different cultures, economic freedom, governance, corruption are some of the studied themes side by side with others as human mobility and communication, processes and creations of artistic languages in line with new technologies.

Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials

The researches on nanotechnology at MPU are related to synthesis, processing, modification and characterization of nano-structured materials. In this context, graphene and graphene oxide can be cited, which can be used pure or mixed with others compounds, producing materials with appropriate characteristics for applications in several areas of knowledge, such as health, electronics, aerospace, aeronautics, and sensors.