“We've (found) lots of activities and engagements for the Chicago-based universities, but I think where we found there was most synergy and most academic appetite, and also institutional appetite, was with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,” said Catherine Lemon, Head of Global Partnerships (North America and Australia) at the University of Birmingham.
Editor’s note: This is the first story in a series highlighting the partnership between the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Birmingham in Birmingham, England that was formally established in 2014. These stories lead up to the 10-year anniversary celebration that will take place in April 2024 in Birmingham.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill.— The University of Birmingham in England and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will celebrate a decade of collaboration and success when their strategic partnership passes the 10-year mark in April 2024.
Birmingham and Illinois have been working together under the Birmingham-Illinois Partnership for Discovery, Engagement, and Education (or “BRIDGE”) framework since its establishment in 2014. The formal partnership agreement was renewed in April 2018 for five years, then again in 2023 for an additional five years.
The BRIDGE acronym—which was creatively teased out of the longer partnership name—originates from some of the earliest collaborations between the two institutions, which centered on research regarding cultural heritage management associated with the Ironbridge Gorge UNESCO World Heritage Site.
BRIDGE has become one of the most robust strategic alliances between Illinois and an international partner. This is due to consistent investment and ongoing collaboration efforts in the form of the BRIDGE Seed Fund and the BRIDGE Fellowship, both of which have produced an arsenal of outcomes for over a decade.
Outcomes include cultivating ongoing engagement of 100 pairings of academics across all five Birmingham colleges and 13 colleges and schools and four institutes at Illinois via the seed fund and securing $800K and £600K in grant awards via the fellowships.
Although Birmingham and Illinois formalized the BRIDGE framework in 2014, that was not the first time both universities worked together.
In fact, their partnership can be traced back to the turn of the century.
Back to the 90s
Catherine Lemon, Head of Global Partnerships (North America and Australia) at Birmingham, said the partnership took off following several years of engagement and activity between the two universities, which all started in the late 90s.
It was around that time, Lemon said, when Birmingham leadership decided to engage more intentionally in the United States as part of its international strategy.
The goal of this U.S. strategy was simple— identify partners and collaborators to establish the framework for a long-term partnership.
Lemon said since Chicago was Birmingham, England’s sister city that shared civic links and a relationship spanning nearly 30 years at that time, Birmingham thought the Windy City would be a great starting point.
Once they identified a location, they started navigating the crux of the strategy.
Lemon said the Birmingham team identified where current areas of academic activity were between Birmingham academics and academics in the Chicago area and identified where there was academic interest and synergy.
The process was rigorous.
Lemon said several delegations by senior academic colleagues and Birmingham members, along with international relations, performed scoping work to find out where synergy and academic interest was between the university and partners in the in the Chicago area.
Eventually, they found that synergy, but it was not in Chicago.
“We've (found) lots of activities and engagements for the Chicago-based universities, but I think where we found there was most synergy and most academic appetite, and also institutional appetite, was with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,” Lemon said.
Thus, collaboration began on a smaller scale at first until 2014 when a formal partnership was born.
The partnership has been thriving ever since.
So, What’s the Difference: The BRIDGE Seed Fund
The BRIDGE partnership produced the BRIDGE Seed Fund and the BRIDGE Fellowship, and while both opportunities provide funding for academic research, there are distinct differences.
Take the BRIDGE Seed Fund for instance. In the original BRIDGE agreement both universities committed to an annual seed fund. This fund was launched at the same time as the partnership in 2014 and since then more than 100 projects were funded.
Overall, the seed fund is supported by $100K in funding annually from both institutions that is broken up into grants for full-time faculty.
These grants are awarded in three categories:
- Implementation grants to support and strengthen existing faculty-faculty relationships leading to clearly defined outputs.
- Initiation grants to encourage wider faculty involvement and expand institutional engagement.
- Teaching and learning grants to develop educational relationships with counterparts at Illinois to enhance student learning.
A call for projects to receive grants is launched annually, and typically between 10 and 14 projects are funded to support collaborative activities.
As of December 2023, more than $1.1 million has been invested in the joint seed fund since 2014, and the 2021 BRIDGE Seed Fund review evidenced a strong return on investment with:
- Eleven projects to date leading to external grant capture worth $3.5 million (£2.5 million) secured from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the British Academy, Wellcome Trust, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE), the International Forum for Volunteering in Development, the National Environment Research Council, the Global Challenges Research Fund, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and many more.
- Two-thirds of the 41 respondents reported that BRIDGE funded projects have resulted in publications.
- Twenty-seven of the 41 respondents report that Principal Investigators (PIs) are still collaborating, and 15 reported that initial funding has led to new projects.
- A solid output of jointly authored papers since the partnership was established including 114 jointly authored papers published in 2020 and 142 in 2019. This is a significant increase from 95 joint publications in 2014.
So, What’s the Difference: The BRIDGE Fellowship
On the other hand, the BRIDGE Fellowship program or scheme was created after the potential for it was discussed with the previous director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology at Illinois.
“The Beckman Institute is an incredible interdisciplinary institute at Illinois, and they run their own fellowship scheme that is incredibly prestigious and has been running for years,” Lemon said. “The former director of the Institute and colleagues at the University of Birmingham thought it would be a great initiative as part of the BRIDGE alliance to see whether we could develop a joint fellowship program between the two universities.”
The first fellowship was launched in 2016 and since then five fellowships were created based on areas that were identified as a priority. Those areas are education, neuroscience, psychology, maternal health, and cultural heritage.
The idea for the fellowship scheme was that the fellows would spend time conducting their research at both universities, therefore creating a “bridge” between the two institutions.
“The fellowship scheme has worked really well and with strong outputs in terms of recent joint research publications and external funding,” Lemon said.
The BRIDGE Fellowship has its own list of successes as well. For example:
- All fellows moved on to full academic positions at Birmingham with solid research outcomes.
- One fellow alone (Magda Chechlaz, researching cognition and ageing) published 11 papers, with an additional two papers in review.
- All fellows have been ambitious in their external grant applications, and as a result gained successes totaling over £685K. Fellows have also received MRC-CiC, Royal Society, and Wellcome Trust awards.
- Fellows are actively engaged in projects to further collaboration with Illinois colleagues, including a project to study the impact of COVID-19 on sleep.
Now, there’s a new fellow in water sciences pursuing their unique research— Prof. Sophie Comer-Warner.
In 2022, the new fellowship in water sciences was jointly proposed after both institutions identified the interface between water sciences and emerging pollutants as a new priority area.
During their time as a fellow, Comer-Warner will leverage resources and existing projects from both institutions and stimulate further collaboration across the two institutions and beyond.
In doing so, Comer-Warner will bridge the gaps between interdisciplinary approaches to a common goal. These potential contributions would not only bring together the research community working in this area across our institutions but would also yield a well-rounded professional in water science.
This fellowship adopts a five-year scheme that includes a two-year period at Illinois. Comer-Warner started their fellowship at the start of 2023 in Birmingham. They are now on the Urbana campus.
Through Thick and Thin
In May 2023, senior leadership from both universities met in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic to renew the partnership for an additional five years.
And during a May 16, 2023, meeting, they touched on how the partnership survived so many years.
Prof. Robin Mason, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) at Birminigham, said although the relationship both entities have built over the years is very serious and filled with strong areas of study and collaboration, he also said it is very special.
“I’m not aware of too many partnerships that make it to the decade mark,” Prof. Mason said. “I do think that (the partnership) is very special…and part of (why it is special) is the research strengths that complement each other and the cultural fit between our two universities. Even though we’ve been disrupted by the pandemic and haven’t seen each other (in years) …all that sets us up for the next ten years.”
Illinois Chancellor Prof. Robert Jones called the partnership mutually beneficial and even though it is important to have a vision and strategy to work toward every year, he said it is equally important to celebrate milestone achievements.
“This is a very exciting time and I think a critical juncture in our relationship, and I can’t wait to see what we will build together next,” Prof. Jones said during the meeting. “It’s been a great honor to be part of this and just to see first-hand what two major and important research universities can do together to not only work on complex issues but to train and advance the next generation of academics and researchers who are going to be working on the cutting edge of these challenging issues.”
Ultimately, Lemon said the partnership has withstood the test of time because of the institutional commitment and enthusiasm from both institutions that fosters a mutual understanding that this collaboration is vital.
Lemon also noted that not many bilateral partnerships last this long.
Certainly, there are several partnerships that last several years, but Lemon said it is quite unusual for an institutional partnership of this breadth of academic activity to reach a 10-year milestone.
Additionally, as Lemon put it, this 10-year partnership provides both entities great opportunities that help the partnership survive.
“Ten years enables us to look back and reflect and celebrate the outcomes of the partnership to date. There are still huge amounts of potential for future development of the partnership and lots of ideas and initiatives that that will be taken forward,” Lemon said.
Prof. Reitumetse Obakeng Mabokela, Associate Chancellor and Vice Provost for Global Affairs & Strategies at Illinois, said in addition to creating such a strong and vibrant collaboration between both universities, the BRIDGE partnership has been exemplary in facilitating collaboration across borders that positively affects so many lives.
“Our continued investment in the BRIDGE partnerships ensures that our students, scholars, and faculty will have access to a dynamic global network strengthened by the bridging cultures, disciplines, geographies, and worldviews,” Prof. Mabokela said.
In the end, it is this strong and powerful working relationship that was highlighted by Lemon, Prof. Mabokela, Prof. Mason, and Prof. Jones that makes this 10-year anniversary and partnership one to remember.
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Yasmin Farrington in External Relations at the University of Birmingham contributed to this story.
Analicia Haynes is the storyteller and social media specialist for Global Communication. She can be reached at ahayn2@illinois.edu.