In recognition of a decade of successful collaboration, Illinois and Birmingham invested $400,000 in 2024 to establish strategic research partnerships within the Global South, focusing on global health, sustainability, and education access and equity.

Research Areas

Three broad research topics were identified as the focus areas of the strategic initiative: global health, sustainability, and education access and equity. Each area builds upon previous research between the two institutions with the goal to add partners and organizations within the Global South as collaborators. The research topics also emphasize the responsibility of higher education institutions to serve local and global communities.

Intended Outcomes

Each of the three core research projects have demonstrated potential to:

Extend beyond localized links (e.g., between individual academics) and lead to wider-scale and sustained collaborative activity.
Build productive and impactful relationships with other leading academic, scientific, cultural and policy communities in the Global South.
Enhance the global profile of all involved partners and progress joint institutional priorities.

Core Research Projects

Related Initiatives

In addition to the three core research projects, funding for the signature initiative is supporting the development of a Global South Fellowship Program.