This year’s Global Innovation Fund awardees represent a number of disciplines across 29 schools, colleges and programs. The funds are managed by the Office of Global Affairs, who had to choose from a record 95 applications. Only 26 applications were awarded funds, and of those, eight involve Global Health faculty.

Awardees were selected through a highly competitive process managed that awards seed grants to projects in two areas: a) innovation in study abroad and b) innovation in global engagement and partnerships.

“The large number of applications clearly demonstrates the appetite and need for this type of funding,” said Vice Provost of Global Affairs, Jeff Riedinger, “and we were gratified by the quality and number of applications submitted.”

One of the seed-funded projects is a student-focused research symposium on critical development studies in Nepal to help build a strong program of Nepal studies at UW, with collaborative academic engagements from students from both countries as a central foundation of the endeavor.  

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Photo credit: Ashish Acharya
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“Our goal is to develop an annual student-focused research symposium in Nepal that brings together Nepali and UW students to critically explore the breadth of contemporary issues in Nepali society,” said David Citrin, Affiliate Instructor of Global Health and Anthropology. “This program will provide students an opportunity to explore some of the ideas and debates surrounding development as a set of shifting practices and contested ideals that animate Nepali society, particularly in the wake of the 2015 earthquakes.”

“There is great enthusiasm for the Office of Global Affairs Innovation Fund program. Our faculty – particularly our junior faculty -- are very grateful for the opportunities that these funds provide,” said Department of Global Health Chair, Judith Wasserheit.  

Congratulations to all of the awardees! The following projects were funded through the Global Innovation Funds and involved global health faculty:

Awarded Projects – Innovation in Study Abroad Programming

These awards support new study abroad program development or innovative program development for existing faculty-led programs:

Project name

Engaged UW faculty

Engaged UW college, school or program

Countries of engagement

Nepal’s first student-focused research symposium on critical development studies

David Citrin, Biraj Karmacharya, Maya Magarati, Deepa Rao, Annette Fitzpatrick, Nicolaas P. Barr Clingan, Scott Halliday

Arts & Sciences, Global Health, Medicine, Social Work, Public Health

Nepal

Design, implementation and evaluation of community-driven interventions in low-income urban areas

Benjamin Spencer, Kimo Griggs, Roark Congdon, Tracy Harachi, Jim LoGerfo

Built Environments, Social Work, Global Health, Medicine

Cambodia

Awarded Projects – Innovation in Global Engagement & Partnerships

These awards support research collaborations, faculty and student collaborations, faculty exchanges, distinguished scholar support, cross-college and interdisciplinary conferences, symposia and workshops, as well as seed funding for new project development:

Project name

Engaged UW faculty

Engaged UW college, school or program

Countries of engagement

The Children’s Healthy Oral Management Project (CHOMP) – Pediatric dentistry and HIV

Ana Lucia Seminario, Jennifer Slyker, Sarah Benki-Nugent

Dentistry, Global Health

Kenya

Expanding professional social work education: Hands across the border

Tracy Harachi, Nancy Hooyman

Social Work, Global Health

Cambodia, Vietnam

Generative innovative solutions to the global tuberculosis epidemic through collaboration

Paul Drain, Judy Wasserheit, Jerry Cangelosi, Chetan Seshadri, Theo Vos, Barry Lutz

Medicine, Engineering, Global Health, Public Health

Bangladesh

Global parent-child mental health initiative: Building capacity for primary care and school settings

Cecilia Breinbauer, Suzanne Kerns, Susan, Spieker, Nancy Grote, Janine Jones, Marcia Weaver

Nursing, Education, Social Work, Arts & Sciences, IHME

China, Peru, Kenya, Chile

China-UW nursing and psychology partnership

Jane Simoni, Shannon Dorsey, Pamela Kohler, Deepa Rao

Arts & Sciences, Nursing, Global Health

China

Improving diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease in low-resource settings

Nona Sotoodehnia, James Kirkpatrick, Tood Zwink, Annette Fitzpatrick, Michael Chung

Medicine, Global Health

Nepal