How WUN supports international collaboration
WUN helps to build and accelerate the development of international communities and facilitate the development of substantial proposals – we provide pump-priming funding, administrative and project management support, and access to information, facilities and resources across the partnership; we also provide access to contacts at various levels within our partners.
To date we have helped partners to win almost $40 Million and we have around 70 substantive activity areas in research, education training and outreach – we are also active across the university landscape from Spintronics to Medieval Studies. Over 3000 individuals are currently engaged in taking forward WUN activities and we have made over 600 awards under the WUN Research Mobility Program to foster international overseas experiences for graduate students and other early career professional. We have a number of eLearning master’s programs and other collaborative educational activities underway to enhance learning experiences and internationalise the curriculum.
The 20 Most Common Forms of Support and Facilitation offered by WUN
In WUN you will find energetic and imaginative faculty and staff who are committed to making things happen as well as a access to a wide range of expertise to help get up new activities up and running quickly. We provide tailored support based on what faculty determine is required for a particular project, but in many cases the requirements are similar and so detailed below are the 20 most common forms of support that WUN provides:
- WUN "Gordon" Conferences - WUN has supported over 50 Gordon conference-style events (see for example http://www.grc.uri.edu/) – symposia bringing together intellectual leaders for 2 days to develop a collaborative research and educational agenda that faculty wish to pursue and then WUN works with them to move activities to the point at which they can bid for external follow-on funding. Any faculty member can propose that WUN sponsors such an event. An illustration of a WUN symposium with people invited and details of the outcomes can be found at http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/chess/se_pacific.html
- WUN Fellowships - Fellowships are provided to experienced faculty members and professional services individuals within the partnership who are interested in a secondment or course buy-out to take forward specific academic initiatives or general organisational developments. For a successfull example see http://www.wun.ac.uk/view.php?id=2220.
- The WUN Research Mobility Program - has made over 600 awards in the four years it has been running - at a variety of levels from graduate student to full professor - though the majority of the awardees are people who are about to or have completed their theses. The program is universally popular with students and supervisors – it is extremely flexible and tailored to the individual needs of applicants. Experiences of some of the awardees are detailed at http://www.wun.ac.uk/rmp.php. WUN provides central administration of the scheme and provides help with visas, accommodation etc – and will seek faculty advisors for students who have not been able to find an appropriate supervisor. These awards have given rise to several substantial research collaborations – including the very successful WUN Weathering Consortium http://www.wun.ac.uk/wsc/.
- WUN Summer Institutes - We have an excellent track record of running world class Summer Institutes – generally 1 week residential events at one of the partners which bring a cadre of students together to both define the future of a discipline and develop the research leaders of the future. A good example is that established in Economic Geography http://www.wun.ac.uk/economicgeography/. Templates are available to provide a quick start guide for those interested in running such an event.
- Intellectual Venture Capital - WUN can provide flexible pump-priming monies to take forward any sort of academic development where the intellectual returns are substantial . Increasingly this is done on a matched funding basis with partners to bring additional financial and human resources into the projects.
- Global Virtual Research Seminars - WUN routinely runs international virtual research seminars across 14 sites and 9 time zones. These bring thought leaders from around the partnership to any videoconference facility on a regular basis and in a structured research and training context. These seminars also create a global dialogue at both faculty and student levels, generate ideas for collaboration and exchange and create world class eLearning material. They have given rise to several substantial research collaborations that have won considerable sums of money – most recently for our Biogeochemistry (http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/BIOTRACS/) and Weathering groups (http://www.wun.ac.uk/wsc/index.html). Details of the Contemporary China series which is a good example of how such an approach can foster a unique global dialogue can be found at
- Collaborative graduate/ Post-Baccalaureate eLearning programs - WUN has facilitated a number of world-class eLearning programs jointly authored across the partnership to widen students’ choice and enhance learning experiences - drawing on academic and technical expertise across the partnership and making use of the worldwide spread of WUN partners. One good example can be found at http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/odl/index.htm.
- Corporate relationship building - Corporates are increasingly looking to their university partners globally to be talking to one another in a structured and coherent way. WUN fosters these discussions creating worldwide university / industry fora and creating a global dialogue in key areas. For example, WUN has worked closely with Sun Microsystems to build the first ever international, interdisciplinary grid (see http://www.soton.ac.uk/mediacentre/news/2005/jul/05_129.shtml).
- Administrative and project management support - There is a wealth of support within the partners and WUN centrally to assist faculty and accelerate the development of proposals. All partners have an identified WUN Co-ordinator and in many cases these are full-time individuals who will work very closely and in a hands-on fashion with faculty to support team-based approaches drawing on the complementary expertises of leading faculty in order to support innovative new developments that would not be possible without an international platform.
- Website design and hosting - We provide design and/or hosting resources for communities wishing to establish a web presence. We are particularly pleased to be able to do this at an early stage to facilitate community building. This service is provided by an experienced graphic designer who produces high quality sites, rapidly and with a minimum of input from faculty. WUN is also able to offer specialist multi-media websites that enable streaming of various media and photogalleries – this has proved particularly helpful in enabling a community to maximise its web presence.
- Advice on funding opportunities - Each of the partners has experts on the various funding opportunities available: from national funders, international organisations like the European Union, Foundations and Corporates. WUN provides access to these experts in other universities and countries in order to secure the funding necessary to take large programs and innovative proposals forward.
- Mapping - WUN has considerable expertise in mapping the opportunities in given areas to a brief from faculty and working directly with these faculty to build a coherent international, interdisciplinary, community to respond to these opportunities. Analysis may include review of web-based information on expertises and strengths to identify leading participants and potential complementary interests or other more specialist information sources.
- Advice on funding opportunities - Each of the partners has experts on the various funding opportunities available: from national funders, international organisations like the European Union, Foundations and Corporates. WUN provides access to these experts in other universities and countries in order to secure the funding necessary to take large programs and innovative proposals forward.
- Contacts and “professional services” information bank - As a dynamic and well connected partnership we have an extensive net of contacts across the alliance at all levels within the partner institutions and their associates and including all professional services activities that can be put at the disposal of faculty members and communities.
- Details of local academic and operational arrangements - WUN acts a general information resource for faculty, staff and students contemplating making contact with others in the partnership. We can provide advice on facilities, expertise, institutional structures and resources, travel and accommodation arrangements etc – whatever is helpful in allowing a meaningful relationship to develop very quickly.
- Quality assurance framework - WUN has established a pan-partnership quality assurance framework and models for effective collaboration in the development of delivery of curriculum material that considerably reduces the work and time associated with establishing collaborative accredited programs.
- Models and templates - WUN has developed a number of model agreements and templates that can be used as the starring point to effectively and efficiently establish new initiatives.
- Quality assurance framework - WUN has established a pan-partnership quality assurance framework and models for effective collaboration in the development of delivery of curriculum material that considerably reduces the work and time associated with establishing collaborative accredited programs.
- Best practice framework - There are a number of best-practice groups within WUN that share and spread expertise across the partnership.
- Letters of support - We have written many letters of support for faculty submitting proposals who are able to note that they will be drawing on the WUN framework and our resources in order to help deliver challenging international projects. Feedback from funders shows that evidence that a collaborative infrastructure is in place to support an international initiative weighs heavily in the assessment process.
- Partner searches - We are able to provide information of potential partners from around the partnership and, through our communities, in associate universities. This is particularly useful for researchers early in their careers who wish to use WUN to build their research networks systematically focussed on centres of excellence.
If you are interested in learning more about WUN in general or any of these specific opportunities please contact
or your local WUN contact.