Call for Proposals: Global Hubs Research Seed Grants

Virtual Q&A session: September 24, 2026, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. EDT / NY time. Cornell PIs and researchers from eligible partner institutions may drop in anytime to ask questions. Questions are also welcome anytime by email to globalhubs@cornell.edu. 

Application for Cornell PIs (NetID login required)

Overview

The grants are open to Cornell principal investigators to collaborate with a Global Hubs university research partner. Funded projects are expected to:

• Establish new research partnerships through meetings, workshops, or pilot studies; or
• Strengthen existing collaborations by exploring new directions or enhancing research capacity;
• Produce tangible outcomes, including at least one joint publication and one application for external grant funding (see list of example funding opportunities).

All research topics and disciplines are eligible. Projects must be structured to comply with applicable U.S. and partner country regulations. Up to 3 projects per partner university will be funded.

Request for Proposals and Guidelines for Applicants

Purpose and Priorities

Cornell and its strategic partner universities in the Global Hubs network are offering seed grants to foster research collaborations. Cornell Global Hubs will coordinate the administration of this grant program, including distributing the call for proposals, facilitating the review process, and managing awardee reporting. Partner universities that provide matching funding will participate as full partners in the project review and selection process.  

Applications are welcome from teams of two collaborating researchers: a Principal Investigator (PI) from Cornell, and either a co-PI or a collaborating researcher from a Global Hubs partner institution listed below. Up to 3 projects per partner university will be funded. 

Browse past awards. 

Cornell and its strategic partner universities in the Global Hubs network are offering seed grants to foster research collaborations. Cornell Global Hubs will coordinate the administration of this grant program, including distributing the call for proposals, facilitating the review process, and managing awardee reporting. Partner universities that provide matching funding will participate as full partners in the project review and selection process.  

Partner Institutions

Asterisks indicate that an institution has agreed to provide matching funding (*) or in-kind support (**). Asterisks will be added as commitments are confirmed. 

If a partner university has provided us with additional information for its prospective PI applicants, that information is listed in Appendix B.

These Research Seed Grants provide researchers with initial financial support for collaborative international research explorations with the potential to create new or expanded research partnerships and develop cutting-edge scholarship to create academic and societal impact. Funded projects should lead to tangible outcomes, including the submission of at least one co-authored peer-reviewed publication and at least one application for external grant funding.

Applicants may propose new partnerships to explore and develop research collaborations, including organizing initial meetings and workshops and/or establishing research infrastructure for gathering preliminary data to develop a research idea (e.g., feasibility, pilot, and proof-of-concept studies) that may result in joint publications and enable subsequent applications for external funding. Alternatively, applicants may expand an existing partnership if the research project explores new directions or aims at capacity-building and requires further development to attract future funding. Proposals should be sustainable in the long term with a plan for engagement that includes the details for ongoing external funding and publication outputs.

Eligibility

Applicants: 

• Applications are open to teams that have one Cornell Principal Investigator (PI) and a PI or collaborating researcher from an eligible partner university.
• In this grant cycle, the Cornell PI may be based at Cornell (Ithaca), Cornell Tech, or Cornell AgriTech (but not Weill Cornell Medicine).
• Projects with additional collaborators are welcome but neither required nor prioritized.
• A PI may lead and/or be a team member for more than one proposal during this round. A PI may be awarded a maximum of one grant as lead PI during this round and may be a team member on additional funded proposals.
• Graduate students, post-docs, and research assistants/associates are welcome to be part of research projects but are not eligible to apply as Principal Investigators.
• If you are proposing a project with an additional collaborator in China (including Hong Kong or Macau), read these China Collaboration Grant Guidelines (requires logon with Cornell NetID).

Project focus: No specific research themes are prioritized for these research grants. All projects must be structured to comply with applicable U.S. and partner country regulations, including research security, export controls, and the management of regulated technologies and data, and projects must satisfy Cornell's commitment to the free and open publication of research results.

Prior funding: Projects already funded by a Global Hubs seed grant are not eligible for funding in subsequent years. Grantees who have received Global Hubs seed funding in the past and wish to be considered for subsequent seed funding will be considered if proposing completely new activities and/or substantial enhancements to the initial project, and only if the Cornell PI has completed all requested grant reporting from prior awards.

Key Dates

Budget and Justification

Funding is available to spend between January 1, 2027 and December 31, 2027. Cornell applicants should provide a simple budget for up to $5,000 for the project, plus a second simple budget for the listed amount in the partner university country's currency if the partner university is able to provide matching funds for the collaborator (which may be possible depending on the institution but is not guaranteed).

Cornell will provide these grants of up to $5,000 to the Cornell PIs as general project support. Please provide details on how funds may be spent. See Appendix A for Cornell allowable expenses. The funding request should be appropriate, realistic, and reasonable for the work proposed. Your proposal should demonstrate the need for this seed grant and how the requested funds will initiate new or expanded collaborations, enable proposed activities, and help build towards future external funding. Once awards are made, Cornell PIs may shift project spending to other allowable expenses without requesting permission from Global Hubs to do so. Cornell awardees must follow Cornell's financial guidelines. Partner institutions providing matching funds may have their own financial guidelines and processes.

If matching funds are available, each university will fund its own researcher for the research collaboration, and research expenses will not be co-mingled. The award of any funds from a partner institution will be subject to its own internal procedures and regulations.

Given the current landscape of international research collaborations, if a joint external funding opportunity cannot be identified to further support the planned research, it is acceptable for the Cornell PI and international collaborator to plan separate external grant applications. In such cases, applicants should clearly articulate how these parallel funding streams will support a shared research agenda and ensure sustained collaboration.

Expected Outcomes

It is expected that selected seed grant projects will result in the following outcomes:

• Innovative research to advance knowledge in the field, using well-established approaches
• At least one referred publication in a nationally/internationally recognized scholarly journal
• At least one national/international competitive external grant submission (funding opportunity examples)
• Optional: Mentoring of PhD students/postdoctoral researchers/junior scholars from Cornell and/or the partner university, one or more joint workshops at either institution, and/or conference presentations

Submission Requirements

Applications must be jointly developed. The application must be submitted by the Cornell PI. Only complete, on-time applications submitted through our online application portal will be considered.

All proposals must include the following sections:

• Project title (255 characters max)
• Project abstract (900 characters max)
• Project keywords (200 characters max)
• Project narrative (max 6000 characters total) outlining your project objectives, methodology, timeline, and intended impact. Note: Do not insert images, figures, or tables, which create errors in our grant submission process. 

A copy of our 2027 Global Hubs research seed grant application form questions is available online (as a downloadable Word Document) for teams to use to jointly develop applications. We recommend jointly preparing application responses in advance using this document. The Cornell PI must then paste answers into our online application form when ready to submit (in one session, as the online application form can't be saved/submitted until completed).

Review and Selection Process

Proposals will be holistically reviewed by faculty reviewers from any field. Proposals should be understandable to researchers outside your field. At Cornell, funding decisions are not prioritized based on researcher rank. Applications will be reviewed by faculty at Cornell (and for institutions providing matching funds by their faculty as well).

Reviewers will assess proposals based on:

• Quality and originality of the proposed research  
• Potential for long-term collaboration
• Feasibility of proposed activities and timeline    
• Potential scholarly and societal impact  
• Likelihood of generating future external funding 

Program leadership reserves final authority over the selection of projects, considering strategic priorities, the availability of funds, and the distribution of funded topics across disciplines. For institutions providing matching funds, Cornell and the partner university will jointly discuss proposals and determine funding recommendations, and final funding decisions will be made collaboratively, subject to the policies and available funding of the participating institutions.

Notification of Application Outcomes

Successful PI teams will receive an email outlining the award, with program administrators at both universities copied. The Cornell PI should confirm with their collaborator that both people wish to accept the award, and then the Cornell PI should accept the award and listed conditions on behalf of the team. Subsequently, a copy of the email with Cornell’s conditions for the Cornell funding that the Cornell PI has agreed to will be emailed to the Cornell PI. Partner institutions providing matching funding will do so separately using their own processes. Feedback on individual applications will not be provided.

Requests for Changes to Awarded Projects

• Extensions: Cornell grants not spent by December 31, 2027, will be reclaimed by Global Cornell so that unspent balances can be re-allocated. Under exceptional circumstances, extensions may be approved. Partner universities each determine their award conditions. Applicants seeking an extension must submit a project update including a revised budget and timeline of activities for approval to globalhubs@cornell.edu and the partner university coordinator for consideration.
• Change of Principal Investigator: Applicants should contact the program managers at both universities to check if allowed.

Financial and Reporting Obligations 

Awardees must adhere to all policies of the respective universities about finances, travel, research integrity, and otherwise. 

The funding should only be used for the approved project in accordance with the proposed plan. The transfer of funding is not tied to ethics/other approvals required by Cornell or the partner university being obtained. It is the responsibility of the PIs to ensure that no work requiring approval is commenced until such approvals are in place.

Recipients must submit a mid-term progress update by June 15, 2027 and a final report by March 31, 2028 (both through Cornell’s online system).

PIs of awarded projects may also be contacted by their university to share other research updates and inform others about the research.

Publications

Any publications (e.g., abstracts, articles) or dissemination (e.g., public presentations) arising from activities supported by this grant should acknowledge funding received, and copies or notification should be submitted to program coordinators at both universities. The standard acknowledgment is "Cornell-[partner institution] Global Hubs Research Seed Grants.”

Appendix A - Additional notes for Cornell PIs

Since these seed grants are in part designed to help position teams to apply for external funding, here is some additional information to support your external funding searching. 

• Since these seed grants are in part designed to help position teams to apply for external funding, here is some additional information to support your external funding searching. 
• Cornell Research Services provides information on Finding Your Next Funding Opportunity, a Researcher Welcome Guide, Tutorials and Use Cases, and a webinar on using the grant finding database to which Cornell has a subscription: GrantForward Webinar. 
• Tenure-track Cornell faculty can book a consultation to discuss funding opportunities, research partnerships, and proposal development strategies by emailing research development@cornell.edu. This service is currently only open to Cornell tenure-track faculty.
• We’ve compiled a list of example funding opportunities that may support international research collaboration.

Awardees must adhere to all Cornell guidelines including for research integrity, purchasing, travel, student employment, research security, export controls, and otherwise. At Cornell, the PI’s department administrators handle the finances and any contracts.

Eligible Grant Activities/Costs at Cornell 

Administrative Contact

For further information, please contact:

Dr. Nina Trautmann Chaopricha 
Manager, Cornell Global Hubs Initiative 
Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs (OVPIA) 
Email: globalhubs@cornell.edu 
Phone: +1 607-253-1927 

Appendix B - Information specific to partner institutions

Information is provided here about any PI eligibility guidelines or additional information shared by partner institutions for their prospective researcher applicants.

Ashoka University 

• Ashoka University may be able to provide in-kind support (such as accommodations, meals, and meeting space) to Cornell seed grant recipient team members visiting Ashoka. Prospective applicants may contact Ashoka to confirm what arrangements are feasible for their proposed project.]
• Contact: Anupama Ambika Anilkumar anupama.a@ashoka.edu.in 

Chulalongkorn University

• Chula faculty and staff are required to submit a request for approval to travel abroad to the authorized person who can consider, consent, and sign the approval form.  
• Follow the Travel Policy: Chulalongkorn Announcement of Financial Management on Criteria and Payment Rates 2020, Unit 7, Part 2. 
• Contact: grip.oia@chula.ac.th 

Copenhagen Business School  

• no additional information for applicants at this time
• Contact: Scott Edward Lewis scle.stu@cbs.dk 

Imperial College London  

• Imperial PIs must spend Imperial funds by July 31, 2027. 
• Contact: Julia Kulik j.kulik@imperial.ac.uk 

Indian Institute of Science  

• no additional information for applicants at this time
• Contact: Amita Sneh amitasneh@iisc.ac.in 

Indian Institute of Technology Madras  

• no additional information for applicants at this time
• Contact: ioe.accounts@ge.iitm.ac.in 

King's College London  

National Taiwan University  

National University of Singapore  

Queen Mary University London  

Technical University of Denmark  

• Contact: Ellen Als: elals@dtu.dk
• no additional information for applicants at this time

Universidad San Francisco de Quito  

University College London  

University of Copenhagen  

• UCPH contact: ISPA@adm.ku.dk

University of Edinburgh  

• All Edinburgh travelers must comply with the Business Travel policy and Expenses Policy. 
• Contact: Scott Mcquarrie Scott.Mcquarrie@ed.ac.uk 

University of Ghana

• no additional information for applicants at this time
• Contact: Ms. Ruffina Akwaboah Boateng (ChPA), Assistant Registrar, International Programmes Office, University of Ghana, arip@ug.edu.gh | raboateng@ug.edu.gh 

University of Sydney

• Applicants from affiliated Research Centres and Institutes at the University of Sydney must be University Title Holders. 
• Chief Investigators at the University of Sydney must be employed on a full-time, part-time (appointed at least 0.5 FTE), fixed term or continuing basis. If on a fixed term contract, the end date must be beyond the funding period. 
• All Sydney travelers must comply with the Travel Policy 2018 and follow all relevant processes and policies, including travel insurance as outlined on the Travel intranet page. The University of Sydney researchers should refer to Smartraveller for the latest visa and travel advice.
• Contact: Kathleen Berezay, Senior Global Research Partnerships Officer, The University of Sydney, Office of Global & Research Engagement, kathleen.berezay@sydney.edu.au.

University of Zambia 

• All UNZA travelers must comply with institutional procedures and travel approvals. 
• Contact: grantsofficer-drd@unza.ac.zm