The University of Washington (UW) and The University of Manchester have taken an important step forward in strengthening their global partnership through the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
The agreement was formally signed by Ahmad Ezzeddine, Vice Provost for Global Affairs at UW, and Stephen Flint, Associate Vice-President International at The University of Manchester.
Also present at the signing were Ladi Carr, Senior Director for Global Engagement at UW; Sara Curran, Associate Vice Provost for Research at UW; and Angelia Wilson, Associate Dean for Internationalization at The University of Manchester.
This new MOU paves the way for expanded collaboration across a wide range of disciplines. The agreement also emphasizes opportunities for joint interdisciplinary research, faculty exchanges, and enhanced support for early career scholars at both institutions.
Both universities are enthusiastic about the opportunities ahead. This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to advancing innovation, deepening international engagement, and supporting the next generation of researchers and educators.
We look forward to seeing this partnership grow and to the many contributions it will bring to our global academic community.
With support from the Global Innovation Fund, Dr. Faisal Hossain, UW Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, used satellite imagery and data to help Pakistani farmers make informed decisions about irrigation. Later, using a similar approach, Hossain informed multi-country decisions about water use in the Mekong River with the goal of protecting the river’s freshwater fisheries. Today, Hossain is working with graduate students and tribal communities along the Columbia River to help restore tribal fishing stocks by harnessing satellite data to determine river temperatures.
Four UW researchers will conduct research or teach abroad and seven UW students will pursue graduate study, conduct research, and teach English around the world.
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program
From left to right: Jamie Donatuto, Shelly Gray, Michael Kula and Yen-Chu Weng.
Four University of Washington researchers have been selected as Fulbright Scholars for 2025-2026 and will pursue studies in Spain, Taiwan, Poland and Japan.
The scholars are Jamie Donatuto, a clinical associate professor in the Department of Environment & Occupational Health Sciences; Shelly Gray, a professor in the School of Pharmacy; Michael Kula, an associate professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at UW Tacoma; and Yen-Chu Weng, an assistant teaching professor in the College of the Environment.
Fulbright Scholars are college and university faculty, administrators, and researchers, as well as artists and professionals, who build their skills and connections, gain valuable international insights and return home to share their experiences with their students and colleagues.
Top row: Emily Bassett, Thomas Key, Vincent Da, Elana Skeers. Bottom row: Sabrina Prestes Oliveira, Jack Regala and Annabella Li.
Seven UW students and recent alumni were awarded Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships for the 2025–2026 academic year, joining about 2,000 students and recent graduates from around the country to pursue graduate study, conduct research and teach English abroad.
The Fulbright scholarship program is the largest U.S. international exchange opportunity for students to pursue graduate study, advanced research and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide.
Among this year’s recipients are four UW undergraduate students or recent alumni. They plan travel to Europe, Central Asia and Mexico to take part in graduate study, research and teaching assistantships. Three graduate-level students plan to travel to Scandinavia, Southeast Asia and South America. This year’s finalists attended all three UW campuses.
The UW also had two students — one undergraduate and one graduate level — selected as alternates.
The Office of Global Affairs has awarded $363,300 to 40 outstanding projects, sparking transformative global collaborations and advancing interdisciplinarity across the UW.
The Global Innovation Fund (GIF) seeds initiatives and programs developing cross-college and cross-continent collaborations that enhance the University of Washington’s global reach. Global Innovation Fund awards provide initial funding for faculty research proposals, leading-edge global Husky learning experiences, and collaborations aligned with the University of Washington’s strategic initiatives and regional priorities.
The new federal REAL ID Act goes into effect May 7th. This will change the way we are able to board flights to travel within the United States. Your standard driver license or identification card will no longer be accepted by the Transportation Security Administration.
This webinar will provide information about the new federal REAL ID travel requirements and your options for acceptable travel documents.
The University of Washington made the Chronicle of Higher Education’s list of the top Fulbright producing institutions. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar and Fulbright U.S. Student Programs are sponsored by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to support academic exchanges between the United States and over 160 countries around the world.
Five undergraduate or recent graduates and eight graduate-level students (a total of 13 students) received Fulbright awards and six UW faculty were named Fulbright scholars. The Fulbright experience gives students and scholars the opportunity to live and work abroad, learning about their host country and developing a new community of colleagues and friends. These programs are designed to help participants gain a greater understanding of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, ultimately promoting an atmosphere of openness and mutual understanding.
Founded in 1946, the Fulbright Program is an international academic exchange program that aims to increase mutual understanding and support friendly and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The UW is proud to have had Fulbright recipients as far back as 1949.
The Office of Global Affairs is the liaison for UW faculty for the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Please contact Anita Ramasastry (arama@uw.edu) if you have any questions or need support.
Join us for a spring lecture series on the international impact of the second Trump presidency.
These talks and discussions are available as an in-person 2-credit/no-credit course for UW students. It is also available and free for the public via livestream only. Faculty and guest speaker presentations will explore how different regions and global issues are affected by the policies of the Trump administration. Moderated by Danny Hoffman, Director of the Jackson School of International Studies and Stanley D. Golub Chair of International Studies.
JSIS 478 E – Trump in the World 2.0 (SLN 21568) – listed in MyPlan under Special Topics in International and Global Studies. Register in MyPlan for the course; regular attendance required if taking the course
Patience Komba, a Doctor of Global Health (DrGH) candidate in the Department of Global Health, describes her experience navigating Hurricane Beryl in Jamaica this summer.
Tracking Hurricane Beryl
Tell us about your background.
Patience Komba
My background includes extensive work in strengthening health systems with a focus on Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) and digital health. For several years, I worked in Tanzania, supporting efforts to improve the quality of HIV/AIDS services across numerous regions and health facilities. Due to the challenges of providing on-site technical assistance to all facilities, my team and I developed the Digital CQI Platform—a web-based tool designed to streamline the monitoring and reporting of CQI initiatives. This platform reduced reliance on paper-based systems and enabled remote support for facilities that were difficult to reach promptly. The success of the platform in Tanzania led to its expansion into other countries, including Kenya, Zambia, Rwanda, and Botswana.
Why were you in Jamaica this summer?
My involvement in Jamaica began under the guidance of my supervisor, Nancy Puttkammer, a co-faculty lead at the Digital Initiatives Group at I-TECH (DIGI) and a Professor at the Department of Global Health, as part of our efforts to adapt the Digital CQI Platform, better known as the CQI App, for use in the Caribbean. Working closely with other DIGI colleagues, we successfully rolled out the CQI App in Jamaica earlier this year. I traveled to Jamaica this summer as part of my DrGH program to conduct an evaluation, where I am honing my skills in evaluating digital health initiatives. The evaluation aimed to gather insights into user experiences and identify challenges to refine our adaptation and scale-up strategies for the CQI App.
The trip was meticulously planned and fully supported by I-TECH, C-TECH, DIGI, DrGH program leadership, and the UW Office of Global Affairs, all of whom worked closely with me to ensure I adhered to all safety precautions. Despite these thorough preparations, nothing could have prepared me for the experience of facing Hurricane Beryl—a challenge like none I had anticipated!
Describe your experience driving across the island before Hurricane Beryl landed.
Driving to Montego Bay
I arrived in Kingston, Jamaica, on June 29, with plans to begin our evaluation work on June 30. Despite having no personal experience with hurricanes, I was initially unfazed when I first heard of Hurricane Beryl’s approach. However, the severity of the situation soon became clear. As Georgia Simmonds, the CQI lead in Jamaica, and I drove from Kingston to Montego Bay on July 1, two days before the predicted landfall, the drive felt strikingly surreal. The weather was deceptively calm, with clear blue skies—a stark contrast to the Category 5 hurricane looming ahead. Georgia shared stories of past hurricanes in Jamaica, particularly one in the 1970s that caused widespread devastation, which underscored the potential threat we were facing.
The day before landfall
As we neared Montego Bay and settled into the Riu Hotel, the island’s preparations for the hurricane were evident. Military convoys, supply trucks, and locals scrambling for essentials highlighted the seriousness of the impending storm. Despite this, the serene drive seemed at odds with the palpable tension around us. That evening, our team wisely decided to return to Kingston immediately after our meeting the next day, ahead of the hurricane’s expected landfall. This decision was crucial, as a 24-hour curfew was enforced across the island early Wednesday morning, making further travel impossible.
The drive back to Kingston on July 2 was marked by an eerie quiet and heavy traffic, with residents rushing to secure their homes and gather supplies. Georgia’s insights into hurricane preparedness provided a clearer picture of what was to come. For someone like me, who had never experienced a hurricane, the journey was an eye-opening lesson in the gravity of natural disasters and the resilience required to face them.
What did you do once Hurricane Beryl hit the island?
Hurricane Beryl in Kingston
I initially stayed at the Courtleigh Hotel in Kingston before moving to the Riu Hotel in Montego Bay. However, as Hurricane Beryl approached, we returned to Kingston to be closer to established safety networks. On July 3, the day the hurricane was expected to make landfall, the island was under a strict curfew. The morning began with deceptively calm and clear skies, but as the outer bands of the hurricane reached the island, the situation quickly deteriorated with fierce winds and torrential rains.
I watched in disbelief from my hotel room as the powerful winds roared through the city, uprooting trees and causing significant damage, including downed streetlights and palm trees in nearby Emancipation Park. The winds were so intense that the hotel staff swiftly moved all guests to a secure, windowless room for protection. This precaution lasted about an hour before the intensity gradually subsided as the hurricane moved further from the island. Although its worst impact bypassed my immediate location, the broader destruction across the island was still severe, with widespread loss of power, water, and communication services. The experience was unique and sobering, making me reflect on the potential catastrophe that could have unfolded had the hurricane made a direct hit.
Were you able to complete your focus groups and key informant interviews after returning to Seattle?
When Yasir Zaidan embarked on his research journey to Sudan, he never anticipated that the peaceful pursuit of knowledge would be disrupted by the chaos of war. As conflict erupted in April 2023, his experience transformed into a harrowing tale of survival and resilience, illustrating the unpredictable nature of global events and their far-reaching impacts.
“Yasir’s journey to the University of Washington began in 2020 amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a PhD student in International Studies with the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, he embarked on a unique research endeavor focused on port cities and their interactions with global investment projects. With a prestigious fellowship from the Social Science Research Council, Yasir’s path led him back to his homeland of Sudan, where he intended to conduct critical field research on port development dynamics. However, his plans took an unforeseen turn as the eruption of war in Sudan in April 2023 disrupted his academic pursuits and necessitated his evacuation.”
Join us this Thursday for Falling Walls Lab in Seattle at CoMotion! Our finalists will pitch their cutting-edge ideas that have a positive impact on science & society and have a chance to win a trip to the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin this November.
📆 Thursday, May 16 | 4-8 pm (PST)
📍 CoMotion at the University of Washington
👉Register to Falling Walls Lab
The agreement was formally signed by Ahmad Ezzeddine, Vice Provost for Global Affairs at UW, and Stephen Flint, Associate Vice-President International at The University of Manchester.
