The UGPN exists to create a foundation for international collaboration enabling academics and students from world-leading universities to work together on issues of global importance. Its members are North Carolina State University (NC State), the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), the University of Surrey (UoS) and the University of Wollongong (UoW). The Research Collaboration Fund (RCF) supports international activities leading to high-quality research collaborations between UGPN partner institutions.

The UGPN RCF funds joint projects of up to US$10,000 per participating university. The call for applications opened on March 25 and closed on June 21, 2021.

A total of 23 proposals were submitted for review. PIs from NC State were involved in 13 of those proposals. In the end, a total of seven projects received funding of which NC State is involved in six.

2021 (UGPN) Research Collaboration Fund Recipients

Melis Duyar (UoS) and Joel Pawlak (NC State, College of Natural Resources)

• “Converting Textile Microfibres to Carbon Nanomaterials to Prevent Water Pollution from Laundering”
• $10,000.00 fund awarded by NC State

Carlos Hotta (USP) and Colleen Doherty (NC State, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences)

• “Acquired Thermotolerance and Heat Stress Memory in Plants”
• $10,000.00 awarded by NC State

Matteo Barberis (UoS) and Nicolas Buchler (NC State, College of Veterinary Medicine)

• “Improving Metabolic Product Yield by Decoding the Coupling between Metabolic and Cell Cycle Oscillations in Bakers’ Yeast in Industrial Bioreactors”
• $9,544.00 awarded by NC State

Bethany Hoye (UoW), Daniel Horton (UoS) and Aram Mikaelyan (NC State, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences)

• “Incorporation and Maintenance of Carrion Microorganisms in Blowflies”
• $9,615.70 awarded by NC State

Liang Cui (UoS), Wanniarachchige Gnamani Pabasara Kumari (UoW), and Mohammed Gabr (NC State, College of Engineering)

• “Synergistic Hybrid Marine Renewable Energy Harvest Systems”
• $10,000.00 awarded by NC State

Thomas Astell-Burt (UoW), Birgitta Gatersleben (UoS) and Aaron Hipp (NC State, College of Natural Resources)

• “Less Netflix, More Nature! Unlocking the Potential of Green Social Prescriptions to Reduce Health Inequity and Strengthen Environmental Sustainability”
• $10,000.00 awarded by NC State

Catherine Barbour (UoS, USP)

• “Women’s (Im)Mobility in Times of Crisis”
• $20,000.00 awarded by University of Surrey and Universidade de São Paulo

This post was originally published in Office of Global Engagement.