Getting Started

Many unique challenges are present when researchers seek to collaborate internationally. Not only are personal interactions and relationships key to the success and sustainability of a project, but varying levels of resource availability, institutional infrastructure, and research capacity can greatly help of hinder a project. In this section, you will find resources that focus on finding funding, proposal development, and protect start-up. Please use the comment box below to add additional topics that you would like to see here (or links to good web resources), or the Contact Us tab to send us resources to publish within these categories.

Finding Funding and Collaborators

Funding can come in many forms, and should be considered with a measure of creativity when building a research portfolio. U.S. federal funds can often be used abroad, Fulbright Awards can be used to sponsor people within and outside of the U.S., synergies exist between some national funding outlets, and some countries have institutions that offer aggregated funding searches.

Communication, Culture, and Ethics

Communication, culture, and ethics should all take center stage when working on an international collaboration. Not only do you need to be able to communicate effectively with your project researcher, but you should also be able to communicate with other administrators on the project as well as carry realistic expectations on project progress.

Managing the Start-Up Process

Nothing is more frustrating than receiving funding and later discovering that something in your project was not taken into account that now threatens its sustainability. Find resources here to assist in preventing roadblocks and navigating them successfully when they do occur.

Contracts and Sub-Awards

Each institution has its own rules and regulations for when to utilize a sub-contract and when not to. However, depending on certain foreign factors, it may be in your best interest to consider this option as a non-traditional way of working with certain collaborating foreign institutions. Find flowcharts and checklists here to help navigate contracts and sub-recipients.

Clinical Trials: Human and Animal Subjects

If your project will deal with animal or human subjects in any capacity, there are certain international ethical guidelines that must be followed. While you will find the compliance and legal issues related to this in another module, you will find useful discussions to have with your researchers here at the proposal development stage.

Templates, Presentations, and Other Resources

Are you wondering what not to do on a project? Have a story where everything went as expected (does this Holy Grail exist within global collaborations)? Did you learn something important in an instance that you would like to share with the community? Find these cases and other “I wish I knew…” examples here.