Call for Faculty Groups

The International Institute supports scholarship and teaching on international issues. One of the most important mechanisms for this is funding Faculty groups, where faculty and graduate students work together on specific themes. In 2017-18, we funded thirteen groups, in 2018-19 we funded sixteen, in 2019-20, we awarded funds to ten groups, and in 2020-2021, we funded 14 groups.

International Institute, UC San Diego

Call for Interdisciplinary Faculty Research Groups for AY 2026-27

Deadline: March 16, 2026

The International Institute offers support for interdisciplinary faculty research groups whose work addresses international issues. Our aim is to foster collaboration across departments and programs around particular research themes.

We are delighted to invite submissions for faculty groups and research collaboratories, which, if selected, will receive funding of $3,000 to $5,000. Proposals are welcome from all academic disciplines. As in the past, we aim to foster dialogue among scholars with diverse perspectives — across the arts, humanities, social sciences, STEM, medicine, and beyond — and who use a wide range of methods. Application details will be available from 02/12 at the International Institute’s website (https://internationalinstitute.ucsd.edu/) with a deadline of submissions on March 16, 2026.

Seminar Group/Collaboratory Organization and Proposal Requirements:

1. Each group should be made up of a minimum of 5 faculty members, from at least two Schools/Divisions, to constitute an area (eg. South Asia) or theme (eg. climate change) based group. Seminar groups typically host talks by internal and external speakers, and Collaboratories host groups working together on a project (a book, edited volume, journal issue, etc.) Once the groups are established, graduate students are also welcome to participate.
2. Groups should nominate one person who acts as a liaison between the II and the group.
3. Proposals for area or thematic groups should be no longer than 2 pages and should make a compelling case for advancing the vision statement of the II (see vision statement at the Institute’s website: http://internationalinstitute.ucsd.edu).
4. Proposals should also explicitly address how the group can further UC San Diego’s internationalization efforts either by creating and/or strengthening links with external institutions and scholars or expanding research areas that have an international dimension.
5. Groups will be awarded funding for this spring (2026) and the coming academic year (2026-27).
6. Groups should mention if there are possible external sources of funding in their proposal. The ability of groups to get external funding will be seen as a positive signal of an active and vibrant group, and our funding may function as seed money for future projects. This funding can be used in combination with the Convene and Influence funding offered by II if it has an explicit aim of leading to the submission of a grant application.
7. Each group will have to submit a short annual report of how the funds were used, and evaluations for continued funding of the groups will be based on how they helped advance the mission and vision of the II.
8. II will award between $3000-5000 USD to groups per year, depending upon the number of groups who apply.

How to apply:

Please send a single pdf application to iiprogram@ucsd.edu or iidirector@ucsd.edu with the following information:

Name, department, and email of liaison faculty member.
Names, departments, and emails of faculty and post-doctoral/graduate student participants.
A 2-page description of the goals and themes of the group, which should make a compelling case for how the group will advance the vision of the Institute. The description should also address:
1. How your faculty group will encourage online, digital or other low emission forms of participation.
  1. We ask you to actively act to reduce CO2 emissions by considering local speakers and limiting travel to reduce CO2 emissions.
2. How your group will encourage participation beyond the UCSD community.
3. Plans for tracking attendance at events (to be included in the year-end report)
A brief budget describing how much money the group is requesting and how the funds would be spent.
Please mention if the group has secured or plans to secure any additional external funding.