Greening steel in the laboratory: associating science, mining and metallurgy for the sustainable agenda

• Grant number: 25/04905-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 20, 2025
• End date: March 19, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Anna Catarina Morawska Vianna
• Grantee: Carolina Lara Suzuki de Matos
• Supervisor: Marie Soenderup Kolling
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Denmark
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/10510-0 - The green of metal: an ethnography of metal extraction from mining tailings, BP.MS

Abstract

This project proposes a 6-month research internship at the Sustainable Development and Governance Research Unit at the Danish Institute for International Studies under the supervision of Dr Marie Kolling. The main purpose is to develop the analysis of my Master's thesis, focused on the production of 'green steel' by the North American company Boston Metal. They have recently started their activities in the city of Coronel Xavier Chaves, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. This company has introduced a new technology, developed in a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), that extracts metals from mining tailings without emitting CO2. During this research internship abroad, I intend to delve deeper into the bibliography of STS, Anthropology of Mining and Anthropology of Science in relation to recent discussions on the global economy and sustainable development, considering that the context of this research has raised many questions about sustainability and the involvement of science in the production of new technologies and business projects. With this in mind, this internship at the Danish Institute for International Studies, specifically at the chosen research unit and under the supervision of Marie Kolling, will allow me to meet and discuss with other researchers and to access recent literature on these issues that take into account international dynamics between the global North and South. This experience should also initiate an internationalisation of my academic network and strengthen the relationships that my research laboratory has cultivated over the years.