UW Global announced that it has awarded $662,000 to 52 outstanding UW projects through the UW Global Innovation Fund (GIF). This year’s awards were distributed across 16 UW colleges and departments as well as UW Bothell and UW Tacoma. In addition, the funds will support projects across 34 countries. These projects will spark transformative global collaborations and advance interdisciplinarity across the UW.
The GIF seeds initiatives and programs developing collaborations that cross disciplines and geopolitical boundaries that will enhance the University of Washington’s global reach. The awards provide initial funding for faculty research proposals, innovative global learning experiences, and collaborations aligned with the University of Washington’s strategic initiatives and regional priorities.
In addition to funding provided by UW Global, these projects leveraged $162,966 in matching funds and $128,000 in partner university funds for a total of $662,000 in financial support for this year’s global projects. For the Tier 3 Partnership Awards in the Research category, our partner institutions included Aalto University, University of Helsinki, Tohoku University, The University of Manchester, and the University of Sheffield.
The GIF awards are presented in three categories: Research, Teaching & Curriculum, and Study Abroad & Away. Below we highlight the impact of a few of last year’s winning projects to illustrate how they are driving innovation, changing lives, and delivering on our mission to serve the greater good. We look forward to sharing about the impact of the 2026 projects next year.
Research
From Quantum Breakthroughs to Global Partnerships: UW-Tohoku Collaboration Gains Momentum
June 2025 | Seattle and Tokyo
A transpacific partnership between the University of Washington and Tohoku University is accelerating research at the frontier of quantum materials and AI innovation through high-impact workshops, cross-sector engagement, and a major new funding win.
The first workshop was hosted by Tohoku University in June 2025, which leading quantum materials UW researcher Ting Cao, joined. When geopolitical and policy constraints disrupted plans for additional workshops at Tohoku, the team pivoted with GIF’s support to support a series of events in Seattle in September 2025 as part of the UW-Tohoku Academic Open Space (AOS) initiative.
That pivot paid off. The program effectively blended academic rigor with industry insight, featuring site visits to Amazon’s AWS Skills Center and Amazon Go, alongside discussions on advanced data infrastructure. Parallel events—including a Quantum Academic Workshop and an AI Innovation Meetup—drew researchers, students, policymakers, and industry leaders into the same conversation around quantum science and artificial intelligence.
The partnership’s growing momentum is underscored by a major achievement: securing a $3.5 million, five-year grant from Japan’s JST ASPIRE program. This funding will expand global research networks, support early-career scientists, and increase opportunities for international mobility, ensuring the sustainability of the partnership.
UW faculty members Cynthia Chen, Di Xiao, Fumio Ohuchi, Lyra Chen, and Xiaodong Xu were each awarded GIF funds last year related to this program.
Looking ahead, the team plans to scale joint research, deepen student exchanges, and pursue additional funding opportunities. Additionally, they hope to establish the Academic Open Space (AOS) framework as a model for sustainable UW-Tohoku collaboration.
In a time when international collaboration faces acute challenges, this partnership demonstrates the global value of continuing to work across boundaries.
Teaching & Curriculum
Connecting Global Health Perspectives with Local Community Impact
2025-2026 academic year | Seattle
Dr. Katarina Mucha (Department of Global Health) completed six videos presenting case studies that feature University of Washington (UW) alumni and graduate students working across diverse “glocal” health contexts. These videos highlight lived experiences and professional pathways that connect global health perspectives with local community impact in Washington State.
Each video provides students with a real-world case of how different UW alumni and graduate students have determined how they want to approach a career in global health through engagement with local communities. They serve as a personable and practical backbone to the asynchronous portion of the course, enhancing student engagement outside of in-person lecture time.
These narrative-driven case studies have enlivened Dr. Mucha’s undergraduate teaching and helped her students connect theory to practice. Each video was integrated into the Canvas site for the newly launched course, GH 375: Global Perspectives on Local Health Issues-Glocal Health, which Dr. Mucha taught for the first time in Winter 2026. These videos became foundational to the course design, serving as core preparatory material that complemented in-person lectures and guest speaker sessions. Importantly, these videos will remain permanently embedded within the Canvas site as a reusable, high-impact learning resource for future iterations of the course.
The GIF award directly contributed to the creation of a sustainable, reusable teaching resource that will continue to benefit future cohorts of students while amplifying diverse voices and experiences in glocal health.
Study Abroad & Away
Business Denmark: Decoding the Danish Model of Sustainability
August 22 – September 11, 2025 | Copenhagen & Aarhus
The Business Denmark program, led by the Foster School of Business’ Dr. Abhinav Gupta, provided students with a deep, experiential understanding of how sustainability is practiced by leading organizations in Denmark, and examined the institutional, cultural, and strategic factors that position Denmark as a global pioneer in sustainability.
Over the course of three weeks, 17 students engaged directly with 18 organizations across Copenhagen and Aarhus, spanning corporations, social enterprises, and sustainability-focused institutions. The program emphasized immersive, on-the-ground learning: students visited facilities, toured offices, and interacted with senior leaders who approach sustainability in analytically rigorous and grounded ways. These engagements offered students a rare opportunity to move beyond abstract discussions and observe how sustainability is embedded in real organizational decision-making and operations.
Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many describing the experience as transformative and life-changing, and it is clear that the program deepened students’ understanding of sustainability not just as an aspiration, but as a disciplined, implementable strategy.
The Business Denmark program represents a highly successful implementation of the Global Innovation Fund’s mission. It delivered a rigorous, immersive educational experience, fostered meaningful student learning, and established a strong foundation for continued growth and external partnership.