Cornell faculty have until Oct. 14 to apply for Global Hubs Research Seed Grants, a program that helps researchers begin projects with partner universities abroad. Each award provides $5,000 for costs such as travel, research supplies and student participation, and some partner institutions offer additional support.
The grants are intended to start collaborations that can develop into larger research efforts. Global Cornell said it has awarded more than $800,000 to 158 Cornell researchers over the past four years. Projects supported by the program have gone on to generate $14 million in additional funding and more than 89 peer-reviewed publications, according to the university.
The university also credits the program with supporting 239 events, 101 reciprocal visits and training opportunities for more than 233 Cornell students and postdoctoral scholars. Those figures describe past projects and do not guarantee that a new grant will produce the same results.
One example is a project involving Cornell seed biology professor Collins Bugingo and researchers at the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement at the University of Ghana. Cornell said their work strengthened research ties on seed systems and helped build capacity for seed-health diagnostics.
Another funded collaboration examined the development of Bali. Cornell Asian studies professor Chiara Formichi worked with Faizah Zakaria of the National University of Singapore. Formichi said extended in-person conversations helped the researchers find connections between their interests that would have been harder to develop remotely.
The university also highlighted a project in the Ecuadorian Amazon using artificial intelligence-assisted acoustic identification to monitor birds. That work involves Cornell Lab of Ornithology researcher Glenn Seeholzer and Gonzalo Francisco Rivas-Torres of Universidad San Francisco de Quito.
Faculty can learn more at a virtual information session Sept. 24 or review the partner list and proposal timeline on the Global Cornell website. Cornell said award decisions are expected by Dec. 18.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to news@fingerlakes1.com.