Professor Karl Erik Schollhammer will be announced as the new Rio Branco Chair at the King's Brazil Institute. The Rio Branco Chair is supported by the Brazilian higher education research council, CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior), and the Rio Branco Institute of Brazil’s Foreign Ministry.

• 16:45: Welcome remarks by Brazilian Ambassador Antonio Patriota;
• 17:00: Introduction to the new Chair by Dr Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos, Director of the King's Brazil Institute;
• 17:10-17:25: Professor Karl Erik Schollhammer introduces his research focus and plans;
• 17:30-18:00: Drinks.

The event will take place in the Brazil Embassy at 14-16 Cockspur Street, St. James's, London - SW1Y 5BL. 

About the speakers

Antonio de Aguiar Patriota

Antonio de Aguiar Patriota was appointed Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2023. Previously, he was Ambassador of Brazil to the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Eritrea (2019-2023); Ambassador of Brazil to Italy, Malta and San Marino (2016-2019) and Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations (2013-2016). He served as Foreign Minister (2011-2013), Deputy Foreign Minister (2009-2010) and Ambassador to the United States (2007-2009). During his period as Ambassador to the UN, he was Chairman of the 60th and 61st Sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women and Chairman of the Peacebuilding Commission of the UN (2013-2014). During his diplomatic career, he was also posted in Geneva (1983-1987 and 1999-2003), New York (1994-1999), Beijing (1987-1988) and Caracas (1988-1990).

Dr Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos

Andreza completed her PhD in Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews, and holds a master’s degree in Social Sciences jointly awarded by the University of Freiburg and the University of KwaZulu Natal, in Durban. Andreza completed her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Brasilia. Having studied in Brazil, Germany, South Africa, India, and the UK, Andreza writes about Brazilian politics and city governance comparatively. Before joining King's, she was a lecturer at the University of Oxford and director of the Brazilian Studies Programme (2018-2023). Before that, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Oxford’s School of Anthropology, where she worked at the Urban Transformations portfolio (ESRC). She has previously worked at Brazil’s Ministry of Social Development, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Vienna), at the Indian Embassy in Brazil, and at the Brazilian Confederation of Municipalities.

Professor Karl Erik Schollhammer

Karl holds an MA in Nordic Literature and a PhD in Semiotics and Latin American Literature from Aarhus University (Denmark). He has taught at the Aarhus University, at the Federal University of Brasília, and has been Obel Guest Professor at the Aalborg University, Denmark. Since 1994 he is a professor at the Pontifície Universidade Católica in Rio de Janeiro at the Department of Language and Literature, where he currently occupies a position as a Full professor and teaches comparative literature, Brazilian literature, arts and culture, and literary theory.