Residency Period: 06/01/2013 to 05/31/2014
Professor Léo Heller holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (1977), a Master’s degree in Sanitation, Environment and Water Resources from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (1989) and a PhD in Epidemiology from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (1995). He did postdoctoral work at the University of Oxford in the period 2005-2006. He is a professor at the Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. At UFMG, among other administrative functions, he was head of the Department (1995), Deputy Dean of Graduate Studies (1995-98), Director of the School of Engineering (1998-2002) and coordinator of the Graduate Program in Sanitation , Environment and Resources (2006-2008). He was national editor of the Sanitary and Environmental Engineering Magazine, of the Brazilian Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (1992-2011). He is a level 1 researcher in the area of Environmental Sciences at CNPq, having been a member of this CNPq CA (2008-11), its coordinator (2010-11) and a member of the CATC (2010-11). He has experience in the area of basic sanitation, working mainly in the areas of water supply, environmental health and public policies.
BREAKING THE DISCIPLINARY BARRIERS OF BASIC SANITATION
The project deals with the theoretical-methodological development of two interdisciplinary approaches related to the aforementioned central theme: the relationship between sanitation, public policies and environmental health and socio-technical innovations in basic sanitation.
As part of two projects, one approved under the Science Without Borders Program and the other funded by the European Commission, the project “Breaking disciplinary barriers in basic sanitation” will feature the participation of renowned researcher Sandy Cairncross from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and from researchers at Newcastle University. Seeking to break the relationship between public sanitation policies and collective health, the project will seek the theoretical-methodological development of themes linked to the concept of socio-technical innovation, a theme considered controversial and controversial in terms of its meaning and implications, which will require significant methodological effort to analyze approaches in different realities and different technological contexts.