18 Aug Research Collaboration Fund Awards 2020
The UGPN is pleased to announce the Research Collaboration Fund (RCF) awards for 2020.
The University Global Partnership Network (UGPN) is pleased to announce awards for eight new research projects as part of the ninth round of research funding for international collaborations across the consortium.
The Research Collaboration Fund (RCF) is a joint initiative in which all four UGPN Partners participate, with an annual call for proposals tackling issues of global importance. This year’s RCF call invited applicants to consider global challenges addressing the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDG’s), as well as opening up the call to projects enhancing our understanding of the COVID-19 global pandemic and its impact.
The selected projects include one quadrilateral collaboration, two trilateral projects and five bilateral collaborations bringing together researchers from across the globe working on topics including infectious diseases, green infrastructure, clean energy, plastics pollution, media and education. Two projects will focus specifically on the outbreak of COVID-19, one investigating the impact of media coverage and the other on frameworks which might allow us to successfully identify risk factors and future outbreaks.
All selected projects will address specific UN SDG’s and involve diverse research teams led by senior academics, with four projects led by female scientists this year. The announcement of these awards brings the total number of UGPN RCF funded-projects to 72 since the fund’s inception in 2011/12.
“Many congratulations and well done to all the recipients of the UGPN grants. I’m delighted that the UGPN has funded such impactful research, especially when each research project addresses sustainability and two projects specifically address our pandemic response”
(Professor Jennifer Martin, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Innovation, University of Wollongong and Chair of the UGPN)
| Project title | Type | Partners | United Nations SDG’s | Principal Investigators |
| Defining the molecular signature of pericyte dysfunction in severe dengue patients | Bilateral | University of Surrey, University of Sao Paulo | 1,3,4 & 8 | Dr Campagnolo (UOS), Prof Sabino (USP) |
| Production and validation of a bovine lung-on-a-chip to study bovine respiratory diseases | Bilateral | North Carolina State University, University of Surrey | 2 | Prof Chambers (UOS), Prof Smith (NCSU) |
| Street-scale Greening for Cooling and Clean Air in Cities [SCAN] | Bilateral | University of Surrey, University of Wollongong | 3, 11, 13 & 15 | Prof Kumar (UOS), Prof Perez (UOW) |
| 2D quantum materials for clean energy harvesting | Trilateral | North Carolina State University, University of Wollongong, University of Sao Paulo | 13 | Prof Martelli (USP), Prof Kumah (NCSU), Prof Du (UOW) |
| Monty Goes Down Under: Adapting a Game-Based Learning Environment for International Student Collaboration | Bilateral | North Carolina State University, University of Wollongong | 4, 5, 13, 15,14 | Prof Nietfeld (NCSU), Prof Howard (UOW) |
| Rethinking Plastics Pollution post-Pandemic: no virus, no plastics waste | Trilateral | University of Surrey, University of Wollongong, University of Sao Paulo | 12, 14 & 16 | Prof Malcolm (UOS), Prof Goncalves Dias (USP), Dr Forehead (UOW), Dr O’Meara (UOS) |
| Understanding the Emotional Impact of COVID-19 Coverage in Popular Media, and its Implications | Quadrilateral | All Partners | 1,2,3 & 4 | Dr Mougoei (UOW), Dr Evans (UOS), Prof Prokopenko (UOS), Prof Sichman, Prof Singh (NCSU), Prof Ghose (UOW) |
| Development of a machine-learning framework to identify risk factors for COVID-19 infection in swine caretakers and estimate the chances of new COVID-19 waves. | Bilateral | North Carolina State University, University of Sao Paulo | 3 | Dr Pairis-Garcia (NCSU), Dr Machado (NCSU), Dr Zanella (USP) |