RESEARCH AND COLLABORATION - queen's links WITH THE AMERICAS
02 July 2020
With the rate of internationalisation growing rapidly, universities – including Queen’s – are fostering an increasing number of important research relationships and forming global partnerships across a broad range of subject areas, as can be seen in the worldwide response to the current pandemic.
Queen’s is a driver of innovation and talent based on excellence. We are globally connected and networked with strategic partnerships across the world, helping us to expand our impact on wider society locally, nationally and internationally. We are ranked 16th in the world for international outlook (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019) and are in the top 25 of the most international universities (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018).
Education and research are global by nature. As a member of the prestigious Russell Group, Queen’s already has ties with many top universities in the UK and Ireland. Exchanging ideas and offering intellectual mobility are essential if we are to address the many challenges facing the world. The University is therefore collaborating across disciplines and with outside agencies and global institutions on projects of world significance pushing forward the boundaries of science, training the next generation of innovators, and, ultimately, benefitting all, from the staff and students to the world as a whole.
Long standing partnerships
Our educational partnerships help the next generation of students become world-class scholars and our research partnerships strive to help build a better society. We have also established strong research connections with institutions and researchers in the US. Between 2014 – October 2019, academics secured over £30m in funding for research engagement there, including 7 projects funded by EC-Horizon 2020 with US based collaborators and 44 projects with other funders.
The current institutional engagement with the US includes partnerships with several of the top ranked US universities, such as Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and Stanford University.
Researchers have been particularly successful under the US-Ireland Research & Development partnership, a unique initiative involving funding agencies in the United States of America, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Since 2014, Queen’s has received over £8m for US-Ireland tripartite projects, with a current research portfolio worth over £6m.
Additionally, since 2014, over £8m of research funding has been received directly from US-based funders and, in the same period, over 3,000 publications have been co-authored by Queen’s staff with collaborating researchers from institutions in the US.
New opportunities
Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) provide a general framework for future alliances with international institutions. The primary objective is the development of cooperative efforts between Queen’s and the international partner, which will enhance the research interchange between the two institutions and the performance of both.
Currently, the University has over 20 MOUs with institutions around the world, in Asia and, increasingly, in North and South America and Canada:
- Brazil, Universidade Estadual Paulista
- Canada, University of Regina
- Chile, Universidad de los Andes
- Ecuador, The Charles Darwin Foundation
- USA, University of Chicago
Research funding
Funding is available from a variety of UK and international sources. Queen’s has been successful in securing funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and has a current portfolio of more than 25 ongoing projects across 30 countries. In addition, the University has seeded research workshops and pump-priming pilot projects across over 50 countries.
A priority of the Queen’s GCRF strategy is to provide capacity and capability training and development for academics to engage in international research activities. To fulfil this commitment, the University has developed a Global Research Training Programme (GRTP) to provide support for a selected group of early-career academic staff to lay the groundwork for conducting international research to address global challenges.
Queen’s has also secured awards from the Newton Fund, with a current portfolio of more than 70 projects across 14 of the 17 Newton partner countries.
Dr Trung Duong from The Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology was the winner of the 2017 Newton Prize for his work with Vietnamese partners on a Catastrophe-Tolerant Telecommunications Network.
Successful international partnerships also support student recruitment. Domestic students are afforded the opportunity to travel internationally via exchange initiatives arising out of many partnerships, while students in the partnered institution often get the chance to come to Queen’s. And International partnerships enable staff, students and universities to better understand the culture of other nations, which will also make it easier to introduce Queen’s to new markets and to encourage new cohorts of international students to come to Belfast.
A win, win for all parties involved.
Contact information for Queen’s international research is available online.
For general enquiries about this story, or to submit a graduate news item, please contact Gerry Power, Communications Officer, Development and Alumni Relations Office, Queen’s University Belfast.
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