UNC-Tübingen partnership wins national IIE Heiskell Award for Strategic Partnerships
April 19, 2024UNC Global Affairs
(Photo by Laura Pratt.)
Institute of International Education recognizes data science collaboration
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen have won the Institute of International Education’s (IIE) 2024 IIE Heiskell Award for Strategic Partnerships, honoring their innovative partnership in data science and society.
“Democratic societies, particularly ones with slightly different legal and constitutional frameworks, benefit from working together to shape the use of emerging technologies so that they improve the lives of citizens and allow our democracies to thrive,” Vice Provost for Global Affairs and Chief Global Officer Barbara Stephenson said. “Carolina and Tübingen share a commitment to these outcomes, and this partnership — and now this award — underscores that commitment.”
UNC-Chapel Hill’s partnership with Tübingen began in 1986 with the launch of a student exchange and has since flourished into a robust and transformative alliance. Numerous faculty and departments at the two universities have collaborated on research throughout the decades. The launch of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Data Science and Society (SDSS) in 2022 opened new areas of research collaboration. Like Carolina’s data science school, Tubingen’s data science research emphasizes the impact of new technologies on democratic societies. Tübingen, which was established in 1477, remains one of the most prestigious universities in Germany. They maintain several clusters of excellence, several of which incorporate data science research.
In 2022, the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs (OVPGA) helped establish the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen Data Science and Society Collaboration. A longstanding relationship and shared values with Tübingen underpin the groundbreaking effort, which includes a joint seed fund to spark innovation. The fund supports interdisciplinary projects spanning many fields, including bioinformatics, education and the humanities. The OVPGA and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research provide the support for Carolina’s portion of the fund.
“Carolina researchers are committed to expanding the frontiers of human knowledge and discovery to improve the health and well-being of people across the globe,” Vice Chancellor for Research Penny Gordon-Larsen said. “Our historic and strategic partnership with Tübingen — which led to this joint seed fund — allow faculty from UNC-Chapel Hill and Tübingen to tackle grand challenges together using cutting-edge data science research methods and techniques to solve those challenges.”
Both institutions have committed to broadening their research collaborations, involving faculty and students for the next several years. In 2024, six joint projects will be funded through the seed fund, representing eight units and departments at UNC-Chapel Hill, as well as their counterparts at Tübingen.
“We are inspired by the groundbreaking work already underway in this collaboration and excited to continue to work with UNC-Chapel Hill on what we both believe is a new, innovative way to frame global partnerships,” Monique Scheer, Tübingen’s vice president of international affairs and diversity, said.
The first project funded by the joint seed fund was led by three Carolina faculty and one from Tübingen. Tori Ekstrand (UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media), Priscilla Layne (UNC Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures), Francesca Tripodi (UNC School of Information and Library Science) and Guido Zurstiege (Tübingen’s Institute for Media Studies) created the project: “The Weaponization of Intellectual Thought.”
“Internal seed funds are critical for international research projects, especially with strategic partners like Tübingen,” Ekstrand said. “This collaboration has allowed us to discover common ground between our institutions and build relationships among researchers. It offers a chance to engage with diverse perspectives and cultures, providing fresh insights into research and aiding in addressing global problems. We are so lucky that UNC Global Affairs and UNC Research have provided support for this relationship.”
According to IIE, which administers Fulbright and other international education programs, the IIE Heiskell Award for Strategic Partnerships “recognizes innovative partnership efforts that foster international education and demonstrate strong, sustainable linkages among higher education institutions.” Carolina partners with institutions around the world to further student engagement, research and teaching, and to pursue solutions to shared global challenges.
IIE created the IIE Heiskell Awards in 2001 to recognize the most outstanding initiatives in international higher education. There are four categories: widening access for international education, student mobility and exchange, models of international education financial support and strategic partnerships.
To learn more about the IIE Heiskell Awards click here.