For faculty with an interest in pursuing global engagement in research, outreach or extension, there are a wide range of opportunities to consider. However the current grant funding landscape does pose challenges for grant seekers. Competition is often fierce and the success rates in winning grants has been decreasing in recent years.

Funding for key federal organizations such as NIH and NSF are currently facing possible cuts in federal appropriations for scientific research, with the fiscal year 2020 Administration budget requesting a decrease in NIH funding by $ 4.941 billion (12.6%) and NSF funding by $1.01 billion (12.5%), (Congressional Research Service, Nov 2019). However, don’t despair yet. The House and Senate have the opportunity to replace, or even increase, funding levels for scientific research in the 2020 budget reconciliation process.

The number and quality of resources to help faculty find funding for their work has grown significantly.  A number of on-line subscription services aggregate a wide variety of grant opportunities, including domestic and global grant funding opportunities. These resources provide user-friendly platforms for grant searches that target specific interests.  The Virginia Tech Libraries currently offer free access to two sources: “Funding Institutional” and “The Foundation Directory”.

Funding opportunities for global research and outreach can be found in both the public and private sectors.  USAID targets a number of opportunities for faculty to engage in applied forms of research and outreach. For example, the DIV (Development Innovation Ventures) program sources innovative ideas, pilots and rigorously tests them and supports scale-up solutions that demonstrate proven impact and cost effectiveness.  Other USAID programs targeted to University faculty include the USAID International Research and Science Programs which seek to build partnerships between scientists and their communities in the US and developing countries.  PEER (Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research) is a research grants program in which developing country scientists partner with U.S. Government supported researchers.

NIFA also encourages global engagement to benifit U.S. agriculture in its funding programs.  The current list of NIFA RFAs offering international opportunities can be found at:  https://nifa.usda.gov/opportunities-global-engagement.

An alternative route is funding from private sources, including charitable foundations and other private sector grants to support faculty global research and engagement.  A number of grant funding platforms specialize in gathering information on funding on offer from various types of foundations, including those that are mission-driven (such as the Gates Foundation or Rockefeller Foundation), corporate foundations which may be either community focused or impact focused, and family foundations that are typically managed by wealthy families who wish to advance their charitable interests.  There are hundreds of these organizations with funds that may be the key to getting the funding needed to pursue an area of interest not currently funded via more familiar channels.