Covid-19 and doctoral research in Brazil and Portugal: who pays the bill for confinement and remote work in research?

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about several changes to doctoral programs due to the prohibition of face-to-face activities. This situation has generated many difficulties but has also facilitated research activities in Sociology in Brazil and Portugal. This essay discusses the changes introduced in sociological research and the main strategy found to overcome the difficulties – remote work – with the aim of raising questions for a research agenda on the subject. The notes and analyses presented here are produced from participant observation and full participation as an academic linked to three universities, where I had access to remote work data and operational notes issued by these universities during the pandemic. In these observations, I have identified that the professors, technicians and researchers pay the bill for remote work in the doctorate programs, and that the pandemic affects researchers unequally, depending on their gender, the stage of the course they are in, whether the academic relationship is national or foreign, whether they receive a scholarship or not, and whether they are at home or on student mobility.