The Graduate Program in Psychology (PPGP), offered by the Psychology Department at the University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto School of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters, was approved by the University of São Paulo Graduate Program Council at the end of 1994, and started its activities in February/March 1995 with an Academic Master’s and a Doctoral Program, recommended by the Brazilian Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) in October of that same year.

The aim of the PPGP is to prepare faculty members and researchers who actively participate in scientific knowledge construction in Psychology, in a close link with social reality, grounded in the dynamics of the area as a Science. The professionals involved in the PPGP are aware that changes over time demand the construction of new psychological knowledge in order to support the expansion of their actions, and their further social involvement. Over the years, the Program has promoted restructuring movements in their curriculum as well as in the research areas, reinforcing components that enhance the integration and interdisciplinarity of its research projects. The Psychology Department at FFCLRP-USP has two Graduate Programs (Psychobiology and Psychology), compound by faculty members who are active in different areas and specialties. These faculty members are the teaching core of the research areas, and they work together with faculty members from other centers, such as the Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences of FMRP-USP and EEFERP-USP, in accordance with the traditional constitution of inter-unit and interdisciplinary research groups. Their research projects are supported by different funding agencies, mainly CAPES, the Brazilian Scientific and Technological Development Council (CNPq) and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).

After several years of work and reflections, it was established that the PPGP would articulate five research areas, which are constantly reformulated to assess the advisors’ range of perspectives, both in terms of the research problem and theoretical-methodological approaches.
As from 2008, after a large-scale discussion among peers, the program was rearranged around four research areas, each of which involves a specific faculty group with renowned expertise in their area, and the respective research projects, joining Master’s and Doctoral students, besides undergraduates with their respective scientific Initiation activities. This restructuring enhanced exchange and the establishment of teamwork, which is fundamental for proper research and teaching skills development in Psychology. These research areas were constituted as follows: Area 1: Subjectification: Cultural Processes, Language and History; Area 2: Subjectivity: Family and Education; Area 3: Socialization and Human Development: Vulnerability, Risk and Protection; Area 4: Health-disease: Prevention, Promotion, Intervention and Evaluation.

Throughout the 21 years of its existence, at the same time as the PPGP has consolidated its activities, its qualified teaching staff and its excellent student education, the program also displays a clear growth in the number of accredited faculty members and areas of interest and research. As a result, in 2010, to promote greater coherence and homogeneity among the research areas and projects, the subjects offered and current professional education needs, a new restructuring process of the PPGP was elaborated. This proposal was constructed and authorized by the faculty members, and will be implemented after the administrative process required by USP. As a result, the name Graduate Program in Psychology will be maintained, but will be internally organized based on two concentration areas. In addition, a Structural Educational Axis has been constituted in the PPGP with a compulsory course for the Master’s program, called “Research Methodologies”, with the aim of reflecting on the different research methods in Psychology, supporting research practices in the different areas and projects developed in the program, in response to the needs for recycling and the promotion of scientific knowledge in Psychology. A structural axis is considered as the theoretical-methodological tools needed to produce relevant knowledge in Psychology. The concentration areas are now called:

CONCENTRATION AREA 1: Psychology in Health and Development. The Research Area is called: “Health, Development and Work”.

CONCENTRATION AREA 2: Psychology: Cultural processes and Subjectification. The guiding Research Area is: “Psychological and cultural processes”.

In this reorganization process of the research areas and the PPG, the curricular structure was detailed and the subjects were reviewed, with updated program contents and bibliography. The Thematic Axis was established as follows: offering the students fundamental contents from a specific body of knowledge, centered around a psychological viewpoint, maintaining the interfaces with the related areas, discussing the theoretical foundations for the interpretation of human development and knowledge construction methods.

After a broad analysis by the faculty members affiliated with the PPGP, it was considered that the curricular structure should enhance its possibilities to stimulate the scientific knowledge, furthering the interaction among students from different educational levels, that is, Master’s and Doctoral students. Thus, the PPGP subjects are directed at the Master’s as well as the Doctoral program, with a focus on the construction of knowledge and scientific advances in Psychology. The Master’s students are expected to take 28 credits in curricular subjects, while 16 credits are expected to be taken by Doctoral students. In the Direct Doctoral Program, students need to take 44 credits. Students and their respective advisors are responsible for choosing the subjects that attend to their specific educational needs, keeping in mind that the origin of the graduate students can be very diversified, even though they share the same educational focus on Psychology.

It should also be highlighted that the PPGP faculty received quite substantial financial support from the São Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP, in its different modalities, besides important Research Supports from CNPq, without considering Master’s, Doctoral and Scientific Initiation grants. A significant number of faculty members work on a CNPq research productivity grant, as well as research projects funded on regular FAPESP research aid, CNPq and MEC/CAPES Universal funds and MCT/CNPq/FINEP National Post-Doctoral Program (PNPD).

The scientific production of PPGP faculty members is remarkable when compared to the area, in accordance with the assessment by CAPES. Publications have been mainly disseminated in indexed journals that are highly qualified in the CAPES Qualis Journal ranking, as well as in books, and book chapters that are highly considered in the CAPES system. One of the main public commitments of the PPGP, related to the systematic dissemination of the knowledge produced, is the responsibility to issue the journal “Paideia”, a consolidated Brazilian scientific journal. With a history that dates 23 years back (Qualis A1), the journal is one of our highlights.

The international activities of the PPGP are priorities and, in that sense, the Program has encouraged the exchange and scientific qualification of its students and faculty, and has also received visiting professors for teaching, conferences, scientific meetings and examination boards at Master’s and Doctoral levels. Some of these foreign researchers have also been accredited as co-advisors in the PPGP, underlining international partnerships in the students’ activities.

In the course of its history, until 2016, 592 Master’s students, and 332 Doctoral students have been admitted. The main quality indicator of the PPGP undoubtedly relates to its graduates, with a total of 761 (Master’s and Doctoral) granted degrees until 2016, most of whom were absorbed by different Brazilian teaching and research institutions, and public entities, mainly centered in the areas of Health and Education. Among the Doctoral degrees granted so far, most graduates were hired as professors at public and private universities throughout the country. The PPGP has been an important hub of research groups, preparing qualified human resources, both teaching staff and researchers, covering the entire country.

It can be affirmed that, today, the structure and dynamics of the PPGP reflect the consolidated position of its researchers and faculty, which created the conditions for its implementation. Its history has always privileged respect for diversity and the intent to include mature researchers for graduate research advice, achieving excellence. This option confronts all stakeholders with the challenge to produce and maintain coherence and comprehensibility, amidst the wide range of the teaching staff’ methodological and thematic options. The staff has successively faced this challenge, as perceived by the constant initiatives to restructure the PPGP, in line with the proposal that originated the program, through the restatement of scientific and academic commitments to student education and qualified knowledge production in Psychology.

The aim of the Graduate Program in Psychology (PPGP) is to prepare faculty members and researchers who actively participate in scientific knowledge construction in Psychology, in a close link with social reality, grounded in the dynamics of the area as a Science. The professionals involved in the PPGP are aware that changes over time demand the construction of new psychological knowledge in order to support the expansion of their actions, and their further social involvement.

CONCENTRATION AREA 1: Psychology in Health and Development.
The Research Area is called: “Health, Development and Work”.

CONCENTRATION AREA 2: Psychology: Cultural processes and Subjectification.
The guiding Research Area is: “Psychological and cultural processes”.

2017 – 2020 = 6

2013 – 2016 = 5

2010 – 2012 = 5

2007 – 2009 = 5

2004 – 2006 = 5

2001 – 2003 = 5

1998 – 2000 = 5

ATENTION

– Não serão aceitos depósitos após as datas limites estipuladas referentes a cada reunião.
– As pautas serão encaminhadas à CCP nos dias seguintes dos depósitos.