Professor Carvalho has been a Full Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) since 2011, where she teaches physiology and is Principal Investigator in the Endocrine Physiology Laboratory. She has published approximately 190 scientific papers and holds a PhD in Science (Physiology and Pathophysiology, 1994) and a Master’s degree in Biological Sciences (Biophysics, 1989), both from UFRJ, and qualified as a Medical Doctor in 1987.
Since July 2025, she has served as President of the Scientific Council of the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), based in Marseille, and since February 2024, she has also been President of Brazil’s Federal Agency for the Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES), under the Ministry of Education.
From 2023 to 2024, Professor Carvalho was Vice-Minister of Higher Education at Brazil’s Ministry of Education, leading national higher education policy and overseeing the federal university system of 69 universities.
Professor Carvalho was Rector of UFRJ from 2019 to 2023, the first woman elected to the position. Between 2015 and 2024, she held senior scientific and academic leadership positions, including Reviewer at the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research and President of the Latin American Thyroid Society in Buenos Aires (Argentina). At UFRJ, she was Vice-Director (2007–2010) and Director (2010–2013) of the Carlos Chagas Filho Institute of Biophysics, where she coordinated major teaching and research activities.
Under the UNESCO80 reform, the Director-General decided to merge the previous Natural Sciences and Social and Human Sciences Sectors into a single Sciences Sector. This new structure aims to develop synergies among all sciences, bringing together natural, social and human sciences to address complex global challenges in a more integrated and coherent way. Professor Carvalho will join UNESCO’s Senior Management Team, supporting the Director-General in advancing the Organization’s global leadership in the sciences sector, strengthening international scientific cooperation and open science, and reinforcing the role of science as a driver of sustainable development.
