The PPGD-UFRRJ aims to offer, through an interdisciplinary approach that bridges the various branches of law with non-legal fields of knowledge, in-depth theoretical, technical, and practical training. It also serves as a forum for open debate, fostering critical thinking about legal phenomena as they unfold across multiple contexts, as well as the various forms of their development.

The PPGD-UFRRJ was founded with the aim of establishing a center for the generation of ideas and proposals focused on developing strategies to guide decision-making in the formulation and implementation of public policies related to environmental, economic, and, above all, social issues. This center stems from a deep concern for sustainable development, which is not limited to environmental and economic aspects but, in social terms, encompasses cultural, labor, and family issues as well as the issue of state violence and the use of punitive power; in other words, ultimately, the PPGD-UFRRJ was born out of the urgent need to approach the Law through solutions aimed at reducing social inequalities; that is, it is our commitment to reflect on the Law with a view to advancing what might be called a form of social development that fosters citizenship.

The primary objective of the Academic Master’s Program in Law is to train professionals—including lawyers, members of the judiciary, the Public Defender’s Office, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and state attorney’s offices, as well as researchers and academics—who are concerned with the realization of fundamental rights and who are capable of linking social issues to the relationship between the environment and development.

The PPGD Master’s program aims to promote the development of knowledge and the training of professionals dedicated to critical analysis, judicial and private practice, and the formulation and implementation of public policies related to and consistent with sustainable territorial and human development, particularly, but not exclusively, with regard to the Baixada Fluminense, the Metropolitan Region, and the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, as well as the Fluminense Mountain Region and the areas surrounding the UFRRJ campuses.