• Northwestern applying faculty must be full-time, benefits-eligible, tenure-line or clinical/instructional and can apply individually, in partnership with another faculty or staff member or as a representative of a specific Northwestern program, department or group. Priority will be given to first-time applicants and applicants who have not received Buffett funds in the past.
•  These grants are open to any geographic region outside of the contiguous United States.
• Northwestern Qatar faculty members are eligible for these grants to establish partnerships with faculty members at Northwestern’s campuses in Evanston or Chicago. Northwestern Qatar faculty who wish to apply with a global partner outside of Northwestern must also include a collaborator at Northwestern Evanston or Chicago.

• Awarded grants must be used within one year. Recipients must submit a report upon completed use of the award funds.
• Award funds will be transferred to the recipient’s Northwestern home department. Award recipients are fully responsible for managing the funds with their department administrator.  
• Recipients are expected to acknowledge the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern University in all publications, publicity materials and conferences that result from their receipt of this funding. They are also expected to provide Buffett with a copy of any book or article that culminates from our support, even if also supported by other funding, and to notify Buffett of any news articles or media appearances. 
• Applicants whose projects involve human research participants are fully responsible for completing all the pertinent requirements of the International Review Board (IRB) Office.
• Applicants are fully responsible for adhering to Office of Research recommendations on Export Controls & International Compliance. 
• Applicants who plan to use the Global Collaboration Grant to bring an international visitor to Northwestern's Evanston or Chicago campuses for two to three weeks or more also need to complete the Buffett Visiting Scholar Program application.

These awards may not be used to:

• Purchase research equipment 
• Cover Northwestern faculty salaries
• Cover Northwestern faculty living expenses, except when doing global research abroad. Living expenses incurred while traveling abroad for a global collaboration (such as accommodation, food, local transportation etc.) are acceptable.

Applications are due October 15 and April 15 annually. Applicants must complete the application form. (You may review a pdf of the full application before applying.) A committee organized by Buffett will decide on awards and notify winners. Applicants can expect to hear back four weeks after the deadline. Applicants waiting on a Global Collaboration Grant to help with the expenses of hosting a visiting scholar may hear about both processes separately or at the same time. For any questions, please contact Andreea Micu, Buffett’s Senior Program Coordinator for Global Collaboration, before applying.

Review criteria include:

• Project description: Applicants are expected to provide a project description including a rationale for the collaboration, clear intended outcomes and any previous engagements with the proposed global collaborator.
• Global impact: Preference is given to projects that are likely to advance impactful international or global research.
• Well-thought-out plan: Applicants should include a clear description of the activities they will develop with Buffett funding, detailed proposed budget and timeline. (Consult this sample budget for bringing a visiting scholar to Northwestern.)
• Ethical practice: Proposed projects, programs or other activities must also align with Northwestern’s Principles of Ethical Practice. 

Sara Huston (Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine) received a grant in 2024 to collaborate with Andreas Kleiser at the International Commission on Missing Persons in The Hague. She will conduct a field ethnography to understand ongoing barriers to implementing DNA database use for reuniting missing Ukrainian children with their families. 

Jennifer Lackey (Philosophy, Weinberg College) received a grant in 2023 to collaborate with Professor Veli Mitova from the University of Johannesburg and Professor Cameron Boult from Brandon University to host a conference that will focus on how First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada have suffered epistemic disempowerment as a direct result of the Canadian Government’s efforts at assimilation. This conference will take place at Quamajuq in Winnipeg, Manitoba, home of the largest collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world, and a site of epistemic reparations. 

Lydia Barnett (History, Weinberg College) received a grant in 2023 to facilitate research on wetlands management, climate change, and local ecological knowledge in the premodern past. With our support, Lydia was able to facilitate collaboration with Paolo Forlin from the University of Bologna toward surveying wetlands communities across the 18th-century Atlantic World, from Mexico City to New England to Ireland to Italy.

Erin Delaney (Pritzker School of Law) received a grant in 2023 to advance the Constitutional Heroines Project, a project explores the role of female judicial leadership in comparative constitutional governance. With our support, Erin was able to facilitate the in-person gathering of over sixty scholars from around the world to collaborate on this book and to cement relationships that have been sustained previously through virtual gatherings. The aim of this Project is to document this development and investigate its relationship to ideas about institutional leadership and notions of female and feminist leadership.  

Daniel Abrams (Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, McCormick) received a grant in 2022 to collaborate with Professor Anchana Thancharoen, at Kasetsart University in Thailand and Robin Meier at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France, on a project that investigates the origin of firefly synchrony by bringing together wildlife conservation, art and mathematics. 

Jordan Gans-Morse (Political Science, Weinberg College) received a grant in 2022 in support of his project on “Collecting Real-Time Data During Wartime” in collaboration with Tymofii Brik from the Kyiv School of Economics in Ukraine. With our support, Jordan conducted five different surveys on local Ukrainian perspectives on issues relating to the Russian-Ukraine war. The surveys serve to bring in resources to Ukrainians, allow the research team to gather information for those seeking to provide aid to Ukrainians, and facilitate the collecting of data for policy-relevant academic projects on topics such as the influence of Russian state propaganda and more.

Masi Asare (Theatre, School of Communication) received a grant in the spring of 2021 to host Vishal Bhardwaj, a major figure in Bollywood and the arts and culture sector in India more broadly. A film director, screenwriter and producer, his creative expertise also extends to work as a music composer and vocalist creating evocative scores for films and for the theatre. This virtual visit enabled Bhardwaj to connect with students and faculty in the departments of theatre, radio/television/film, and Asian languages and cultures. The visit included a musical theatre master class, individual virtual classroom visits, and a film screening and public Q&A.

Thomas Geraghty (Pritzker School of Law) hosted Justice Mumbi Ngugi, a judge who serves in the Anticorruption and Economic Crimes Division of the High Court of Kenya. Ngugi is a long-term advocate for the human rights of women and children, housing rights of the urban poor, and rights of persons with albinism in Kenya. Ngugi’s visit included a webinar on February 21, 2021, which was open to all members of the Northwestern community and to the broader public.