The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Birmingham are tripling their investment in their partnership to develop new signature research collaborations.
To commemorate a decade of the BRIDGE Alliance, both universities announced an investment that includes $400,000 to establish strategic research partnerships with the Global South, focusing on global health, sustainability, and education access and equity. The BRIDGE Alliance—which stands for the Birmingham-Illinois Partnership for Discovery, Engagement and Education—already boasts some 115 collaborative projects tackling major global challenges.
Additionally, the BRIDGE Seed Fund, some $200,000 of annual funding, continues to kick-start research projects between the two universities. This year, a further 12 projects are being supported, with half of them focused on the Global South.
The two universities solidified their plans for the additional investment during a visit by senior leaders from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to the University of Birmingham on April 10 and 11. The visit served as both a celebrate the successful BRIDGE Alliance and an opportunity to further develop the joint vision for the next phase of the partnership. The Universities had previously agreed to continue BRIDGE for another five years, to strengthen strategic collaboration, not just with each other, but with other partners around the world.
University of Birmingham Vice-Chancellor Professor Adam Tickell welcomed the delegation and said: “The partnership between Birmingham and Urbana-Champaign represents all that is best in two great universities working together - built as it is on 115 research collaborations between faculty colleagues.
“Building on such strong foundations, we look forward to developing close working partnerships with research institutions across the Global South that will enhance people’s lives by delivering innovative research in sustainability, education equity and global health.”
Led by Illinois Chancellor Robert J Jones, the US delegation met Birmingham experts to discuss how the partnership might grow in the future. Chancellor Jones and Vice-Chancellor Tickell both emphasized the critical importance of addressing shared global challenges, such as healthcare disparities, climate change, and the right to access education, in true partnership with institutions in the Global South.
“The launch of the BRIDGE strategic initiatives is a triumph underscored by the promise of innovation yet to come,” emphasized Chancellor Jones. “As institutions of higher education that serve local and global communities, we have a responsibility to seek new discoveries will have a direct and measurable impact on the way people live, work and thrive.”
The visit also featured a conversation between Chancellor Jones and Professor Tickell on shaping the future of education, as well as a visit to Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BiFOR). A tree was planted on the Birmingham campus to mark the BRIDGE Alliance’s tenth anniversary.
An innovative feature of the first decade of the Alliance has been the BRIDGE Fellowship program. The program began in September 2016, with Fellows appointed for three years, with the first and third years spent at Birmingham and the middle year at Illinois. Fellows spend the time conducting high-quality research before assuming an academic lecturer post at Birmingham. The program has already brought together international research teams in the UK and USA to recruit high-potential, early-career researchers, who have contributed to the research and academic excellence of both institutions in six key areas:
- Aging and Cognition
- Brain Trauma
- Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Economic Development
- Diversity, Race and Education
- Population Dynamics
The partnership renewal includes a five-year Fellowship in Water Sciences - an area of long-standing collaboration. Birmingham aquatic biogeochemist Sophie Comer-Warner is working closely with senior researchers in the UK and USA.
The announcement represents a new era for BRIDGE, which celebrates a milestone ten years of collaboration this April. Prof. Reitumetse Obakeng Mabokela, Illinois’ Associate Chancellor and Vice Provost for Global Affair & Strategies said: “For the last decade, our universities have truly nurtured this partnership and worked together to foster collaborative research that expands the human experience. With a new focus on developing trilateral and collaborative relationships with partners in the Global South, I have no doubt that we will be even more successful.”
Professor Robin Mason, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) at the University of Birmingham, commented: “Through the BRIDGE Alliance, we have developed research collaborations producing outstanding results that help address global challenges of our time, while nurturing researchers with potential to reach the top of their field and boosting our universities’ existing academic strengths. We are looking forward to seeing the fruits from the next 5 years of the BRIDGE partnership, and the impact that we will have as we work in partnership with our collaborators in the Global South.”
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For more information about BRIDGE, explore the partnership website: https://bridgepartnership.org.
For more information, please contact Tony Moran, International Communications Manager, University of Birmingham on +44 (00) 782 783 2312 or t.moran@bham.ac.uk. For out-of-hours inquiries, please call +44 (0) 7789 921 165.