UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Monash-Penn State partnership began in the early 1990s and has since evolved to an institutional level. The collaboration now includes strategic work on common areas of research to better leverage the capabilities of both universities.
“Penn State and Monash have committed to a strategic partnership focusing on teaching, research and service, using the complementary capabilities of the two institutions,” said Martin Trethewey, director of the Global Engagement Network through Global Programs at Penn State. “We couldn’t be more excited about this partnership because it’s based on our shared values and the alignment of the universities.”
Recently, the universities held a Collaboration Development Workshop. The workshop, held in April at Monash in Melbourne, was meant to focus the energy of the faculties of the two institutions in order to launch the collaboration. By the end of the workshop, participating teams completed a "Collaboration Development Summary" in preparation for the release of a seed fund. Faculty are encouraged to apply.
Penn State and Monash University seek proposals for the 2018 Collaboration Development Fund which foster collaborative, sustainable, self-supporting research and education programs. The fund was created to provide seed monies to faculty groups to develop plans for long-term programs integrating students and faculty from both universities. Proposals are expected to focus upon program development to enable future collaborative efforts, including work on preliminary research and/or resident or distance education ideas to demonstrate proof-of-concept, and not to perform the in-depth effort with these funds.
This program is open to faculty members affiliated with Monash and Penn State in all disciplines. Successful proposals will be those which will (a) demonstrate an immediate potential to be sustainable through external funding sources and (b) will involve a clear collaborative effort between faculty members on both Monash and Penn State sides.
The seed money applications are competitive, peer-reviewed, and judged based upon the potential to create a self-supporting, sustainable collaboration of high academic merit. The outcome of the seed money program is expected to be a proposal to an external funding organization. Applications close June 15.
For more information visit the Monash-Penn State Partnership webpage or contact Anne Stover, Program Assistant for the Global Engagement Network, amc1@psu.edu.