Announcing Recipients of Global Engagement Grants

Graphic with dark teal background and the text "Global Engagement Grants" to the left. To the right are simple line drawings of a computer, globe, face mask, and lightbulb.

In 2021, due to the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility (CGHSR) announced an innovative Global Engagement Grants program to support work that blends research, education, and capacity building. 

Especially in a time when global travel is not possible, supporting collaborations across our local and global community is crucial to continuing global health work to meet community needs, combat newly emerging crises, and address long-standing systemic inequities. 

"Traditional research and capacity building efforts in global health have been curtailed with COVID-19. This can add to the sense of further isolation,” said Shailey Prasad, MD, MPH, executive director for CGHSR. “As a center, we feel that ongoing engagement is key in global health and we wanted to encourage our faculty to look at newer forms of engagement in global health. While these are not exclusively in global health research, the goal is to continue to build bridges with our colleagues in other countries."

Through the new Global Engagement Grants program, CGHSR aims to support collaborations between local and international teams. One such example is the work of Nida Sajid, PhD, in the College of Liberal Arts, who will explore the impact of waste management facilities on community health and biodiversity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Goa, India. Her team is examining the reciprocity and intersectionality in public health by creating an innovative model of collaborative research, capacity building, and active learning. This project will foster long-term mutual partnerships with academic institutions and local communities in India by incorporating longitudinal research and a bidirectional learning model. 

Fostering Work in Global Women's Health

Global Engagement Grants also provide an opportunity to collaborate around specific CGHSR focus areas and with other UMN centers and colleges that share our priorities.

“This year, we offered several Global Engagement Grants to support health equity projects in women's health,” said Rahel Nardos, MD, MCR, director of global women’s health at CGHSR. “In many low resource settings around the world, deep gender inequities, such as the lack of control over reproductive rights or economic disempowerment disproportionately affect the health outcomes for women and girls.”

We hope you’ll consider preparing a proposal for our next funding cycle, with the call for proposals to be announced in fall 2022. CGHSR also offers funding through our Global Health Seed Grants program, which will begin accepting applications this spring.

"I am truly thankful for this funding that will bring to reality my hope for extending simulation and debriefing training to global partners who have not yet had this opportunity." said Cynthia Bradley PhD, RN, 2022 Global Engagement Grant recipient.

Learn more about our Global Engagement Grant Program


Open Call Global Engagement Grant Recipients

Portrait of Nida Sajid
Nida Sajid, PhD

Social and Ecological Impact of Waste Management

PI: Nida Sajid, PhD, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, College of Liberal Arts
Co-PI: Rishikesh Narayan, PhD, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Goa
Project Team: Sudhir Krishna, PhD, MBBS, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Goa, Sabiha Hashami, PhD, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Goa, Sarah Binte Ali, PhD, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Goa

Portrait of Beth Virnig
Beth Virnig, PhD, MPH

Maximizing collaborative roles for allopathic, traditional and faith healers for treating women with breast cancer

PI: Beth Virnig, PhD, MPH, UMN School of Public Health
Project Team: Shalini Kulasingam, PhD, UMN School of Public Health; Adwoa Bemah Boamah Mensah, Ph.D., MPhil, FGCNM, FWACON, RN, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; John Amuasi, MBChB. MS. MPH. PhD., Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Portrait of Mr. Dara Koozekanani
Dara Koozekanani, MD, PhD

Capacity building - Vitreoretinal surgery in Uganda

PI: Dara Koozekanani, MD, PhD, UMN Medical School
Co-PI: Erik van Kuijk, MD, PhD, UMN Medical School


Global Women’s Health Engagement Grant Recipients

Portrait of Cynthia Bradley
Cynthia Sherraden Bradley, PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE

Determining Efficacy of a Maternal and Neonatal Simulation and Debriefing Intervention to Improve Clinical Competence of Diverse Students at the University of Nairobi

PI: Cynthia Sherraden Bradley, PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE, UMN School of Nursing.
Project Team: Miriam C. A. Wagoro, RN, PhD, University of Nairobi; Blasio Omuga, MBCHB, MMED, University of Nairobi; Joyce Jebet, RCHN, BScN, MSc, PhD, University of Nairobi; Lilian Omondi, BScN, MScN, PhD, University of Nairobi

Portrait of Rebecca Petersen
Rebecca Petersen, MD

Use of simulation for global medical education in obstetrics and cesarean delivery in a resource-limited rural setting: a partnership between University of Global Health Equity School of Medicine, Rwanda and University of Minnesota

PI: Rebecca Petersen, MD, UMN Medical School 
Project Team: Rahel Ghebre, MD, MPH, UMN Medical School; Abebe Bekele, MD, University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda