The IBGE held, today (11), the installation ceremony of the new Directors of Surveys, Elizabeth Belo Hypolito, and of Geosciences, Ivone Lopes Batista. Both spoke, in a summarized way, of their career path at the IBGE and highlighted the relevance of their predecessors. With these two new directors, the IBGE now has three women in its board of directors, including Flavia Vinhaes, Executive Director of the Institute. Also attended the ceremony the Director of Information Technology, (DTI), Marcos Mazoni, and the Director for the Center for Information Documentation and Dissemination (CDDI/CCS), Daniel Castro.

Besides Marcio Pochmann, president of the IBGE, also attended the ceremony the ex-directors of Surveys, and of Geosciences, Cláudio Stenner, besides Flávia Vinhaes and the Director of Information Technology, Marcos Mazoni. The event was broadcast online on the IBGE website and on its the four social media channels.

website and on its the four social media channels. “In an event like this we need to be humble and thank those who have been part of this board of directors before us. In Brazil, it is not easy for an institution to celebrate 88 years of existence, and very few reach 100 years of existence. We have advanced towards new challenges that match the power of the IBGE. Both new directors have a work plan in their hands called Dialogues for the Future, which was built in a democratic, participative and transparent way, thus fostering internal debate. We have managed to set the guidelines that will define our actions up to 2026, when the Institute will celebrate its 90th anniversary. In 2024 alone, a total of 314 products will be made available by the IBGE,” the president said.

He referred to the target of creating a National System for Geosciences, Statistics and Data (SINGED), which was also mentioned by the new directors. Mr. Pochmann said Brazil is facing a transition from an urban industrial society to a services society based on digital transformation, and the Institute, once more, being summoned to be a protagonist in the conduction of ongoing changes.

“That demands that we take a new position, and that has been done by means of a consultation process within the Institute and with the executive, legislative and judicial power, with the academy and with society. This will be a key year for us: we will be engaged in the organization of the 2nd National Meeting of IBGE Servants, with the National System of Geosciences, Statistics and Data as the main topic in the agenda. After the meeting, scheduled for May, we will create a National Conference for Producers and User of Data, which is expected to take place in July. That will be a great opportunity for us to establish a dialogue with the community that uses the data we produce.

The new Director of Geosciences, Ivone Lopes Batista is a geographer who has worked for the IBGE for 22 years. She has a master’s degree in Economic Geography, focused on Territory Management (UFRJ). A collaborating professor in the Specialization Course in Environmental Analysis and Territory Management at the National School of Statistical Sciences (ENCE), her professional activity focuses on Environmental Studies, statistics, indicators, and environmental economic accounting.

Ivone Batista paid tribute to her thesis advisor and mentor Cláudio Egler and Miriam Barbuda, who was a coordinator in her department and who is now her assistant director. Ex-directors of Geosciences also attended the event. Ms. Batista worked in different departments at the Directorate of Geosciences. As an environment coordinator she delved into environmental issues. From there she resumed her activities with international projects of DGC.

“After that I went back to the Environment area as manager of Environmental Accounts and Statistics, Where I have been up to now when Pochmann invited me to take office as a director. I am very proud of being part of the IBGE and even more of DGC. I have met people from Rio de Janeiro and from State Branches all over Brazil. All of them do their best and are the arms and brains of the DGC around the country where they do field work despite budget limitations on many occasions.”

She mentioned advances in the are such as the production of the 2000 Census Map, and the mapping of the entire country at the 1/250 scale of the continuous cartographic base. In Geodetics, Precise Point Positioning, a service provided by the IBGE, was made available, to process GPS data and provide latitude, altitude, and longitude. Another product was the resumption of Regic 2007, which remains being produced and had its last edition released in 2018. In 2011, the Brazilian Journal of Geography was reopened.

“DGC also advanced within the Project of monitoring, land use and coverage and environmental economic accounts, which are essential for the evaluation of land use dynamics. The use of satellite image was also identified. And the map of biomes and of marine coastal systems were also released, being now updated into Blue Amazon.”

The new Director of Surveys, Elizabeth Belo Hypolito, has worked for the IBGE for 19 years. She has a PhD degree in Population, Territory and Public Statistics from the National School of Stastical Sciences (ENCE), a master’s degree in Statistics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and a bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Sciences , also from UFRJ. She is a professor of the undergraduate course at ENCE. Ms. Hypolito is experienced in the fields of planning, production, and analysis of household surveys, as well as in data quality from the perspective of total survey error.

Elizabeth Hypolito joined the IBGE on the day after her thesis defense. She worked on the reformulation of the National Household Sample Survey in order to include in it national indicators of labor market, and on the creation of the Integrated Systems of Household Sample Surveys (SIPD), having become department manager in 2007. In 2016, during her doctoral studies, she wrote a dissertation in the segment of survey data quality with a focus on Continuous PNAD. In 2020, when got her PhD degree she accepted the challenge of becoming a professor at ENCE.

“Now I am facing the main challenge in my career dealing with statistical products in a variety of topics: demography, economy, social, environmental and administrative statistics. We joined work groups and national and international forums. It is also a challenge due to our current moment of growing demands and economic restraints that get more severe each day.”

She highlights that the IBGE has faced some difficulties producing its own surveys as it witnesses the rise of new producers of statistics, besides dealing with new sources of data and technical challenges such as artificial intelligence. Also, the rate of non-response increases all over the world at the same time that fake news question the seriousness of statistics as a whole, even that officially produced.

“We won the Census battle with important victories. But an statistical operation doesn’t need to be a battle. We need to think of the future and in solutions to do our job safely. In order to reach this objective we need IBGE to be stronger regarding its technical staff and technically and financially autonomous. We need to reposition the IBGE nationally and internationally by means of the National System of Geosciences, Statistics and Data. We need to join efforts. As a director, I intend to promote more inclusion, respect, transparency and to listen to people.”

In the same ceremony, João Hallack Neto took office as Director of Surveys. Mr. Hallack has a PhD in Economics from UFRJ. He joined the IBGE working in the field of social indicators and in the system of national accounts. He is a member of the Regional Council of Economics in Rio de Janeiro and was a professor and advisor at PUC – Rio and ENCE.