Partnerships

In addition to its strong and extensive network of partner institutions around the world, the University of Geneva has been developing strategic partnerships for the past ten years to concentrate its efforts in international collaboration. Thus, it has bilateral strategic partnership agreements with the following eight institutions:

Yonsei University, South Korea

University of Exeter, United Kingdom

University of Zurich, Switzerland

Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

University of Sydney, Australia (inactive)

Princeton University, USA (inactive)

Renmin University of China, China (inactive)

Keio University, Japan (inactive)

The University of Geneva is also a founding member of two strategic partnership networks: the G3 de la Francophonie (with the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the University of Montreal) and the Alliance campus rhodanien (with the University of Lausanne, the University Grenoble Alpes, the University of Lyon and the University Savoie Mont Blanc).

In addition to their strategic importance and the numerous collaborations with these institutions within faculties and academic mobility, including that of students, these partnerships are characterized by the financial support granted by the rectorates allowing the launch of joint projects between researchers. These seed funding grants make it possible to carry out projects leading to the reinforcement of academic links, the concentration of strengths and resources and the continuity of research with subsequent third-party funding.

Calls for proposals for these joint seed funds generally take place once a year, with each institution committing to cover its share of the team's expenses. Managed by the International Relations and Partnerships Office, more than 35 calls for proposals have taken place between 2013 and 2020, the first being with the University of Sydney.

In the spring of 2020, more than 160 projects were funded in a wide variety of disciplines and themes, carried by 130 academic staff members from all UNIGE faculties.

Here are a few examples of activities carried out in these frameworks:

• Scientific colloquia and workshops ;
• Working meetings with a view to setting up training and joint research;
• Creation of innovative teaching materials;
• Strategically important guest lectureships within the framework of existing programs;
• Collaborative research stays for researchers and PhD students;
• Joint exploratory research work for external funding applications;
• Collaborative work for collective publications;
• Summer schools.
  
  

For more information on the calls for proposals as well as the selected projects, please consult the platform: https://unige-cofunds.ch .