Márcio Pereira’s academic interests have always been as ambitious as they are wide-ranging. Pereira, who completed his undergraduate and master’s studies in his native Brazil, has studied law and philosophy. He has been deeply inspired by the struggles that emerged around the globe since 2011, including the Spanish Indignados and Occupy Wall Street that directly address the question of democratic governance.

During the past few years Pereira has been participating in and learning from these social movements, and has led him to research questions surrounding contemporary challenges to representative democracy. So in 2014, Márcio was torn between applying to the Law PhD program at Queen's University and the Philosophy program at University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil.

“I ended up choosing Queen's mainly because, for me, pursuing a PhD in another country seemed more challenging,” he says. “However, despite being very enthusiastic with my acceptance at Queen's, I felt that I should keep exploring my academic possibilities with USP. I believed that an approximation between the two universities could not only be rewarding to my research project but also the institutions themselves could benefit from this international academic exchange.”

Upon receiving the consent of his thesis supervisor, Professor Chris Essert, and then-Associate Dean Sharry Aiken during his first PhD year (2014–15), Pereira decided to try a dual doctorate agreement between Queen's and USP. He recalls it was a long and demanding process, which involved creating an agreement in both English and Portuguese under the supervision of the staff of both institutions. The agreement was finally signed by all parties in June 2015.

“In the process of getting the agreement done, the support from the staff of both universities – the School of Graduate Studies from the part of Queen's, and FFLCH, from the part of University of Sao Paulo - was crucial, says Pereira. “In particular, I feel privileged to have the support of my thesis supervisor, Professor Chris Essert, my thesis co-supervisor, Professor Homero Santiago, and from the coordinator of Law’s PhD graduate program, Associate Dean Michael Pratt. I am deeply indebted to all of them. I am also very indebted to Dilton Ribeiro, a former Law PhD colleague, who constantly encouraged me to get the dual doctorate agreement done.”

Pereira’s dual program requires him to fulfill all the academic requirements from each graduate program. For example, this means he will have to take all the mandatory courses required by each graduate program, and his thesis committee will be jointly appointed by the two universities. His thesis will be submitted in English accompanied by a title, resume, and key-words in Portuguese. Upon passing the Oral Defense and satisfying all the degree requirements at both Queen's and USP, each university will award him a doctorate degree.

At the moment, Pereira is living in Sao Paulo and taking a mandatory course at USP, which he expects to complete at the end of June.

“The cities of Kingston and Sao Paulo are very different,” he says. “While Kingston is a calm and quiet city with a strong sense of local community and wonderful landscapes, Sao Paulo, with a population of almost 12 million people, is an enormous busy city with an intense cosmopolitan culture. I appreciate the fact that I have been in contact with such diverse cities. I try to benefit from the peculiar characteristics that each city offers me.

“Similarly, the two universities, as expected, are also different in cultural backgrounds, atmospheres, and practices,” he adds. “Nevertheless, I feel that their graduate programs are both committed to produce high-quality research. In both institutions I find stimulating conditions to bring out the best in me.”

Pereira holds a professorship position at a public university in Brazil (Federal University of Ceara). He is on a leave permit from this institution to pursue his studies. After he completes his dual doctorate degree, he plans to compete for a professorship position as a research-oriented professor in Brazil and perhaps abroad.

—Karl Hardy