IU’s faculty are at the forefront of our efforts to promote global engagement. We are committed to supporting your international research, creative pursuits, and teaching through partnerships and exchange programs with institutions overseas; helping you navigate the policies and procedures governing international activities; and offering various grants, including those to help you create or strengthen collaborations, or develop study abroad programs.
OVPIA funding opportunities
OVPIA is ready to help you engage with your international research or creative activities and pursue opportunities for collaboration and professional development with several grants and targeted programs. Our faculty funding programs are designed to ensure that our use of resources advances IU’s strategic priorities in global engagement.
Grants that support faculty activity overseas
Education Abroad Program Development
Develop a new faculty-led education abroad program with a focus on innovative program models, cross-unit and cross-campus collaborations, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Deadlines: Nov 1 & Feb 1
International Collaboration
Visit a current or prospective partner university to strengthen or explore collaboration in teaching, research, or creative activity. There are two tiers of funding: smaller exploratory grants and larger grants to support teams of faculty on collaborative work with colleagues at established partners.
Deadline: Nov 1 & Mar 1
Global Gateway Grant
Engage in a wide range of activities and collaborate with our Global Gateways in Accra, Bangkok, Berlin, Mexico City, and New Delhi.
Deadline: Nov 1 & Mar 1
Primary Partner Faculty Grants
IU Global offers funding to faculty and librarians interested in participating in research projects with one of IU’s primary partner institutions. The duration of the experience is variable depending on the applicant’s goals but applicants should expect to propose a stay that is no less than two weeks but no more than one month.
Deadline: Nov 1 & Mar 1
Grants that support campus internationalization
Global Classroom Fellowship
Partner with a foreign university virtually to teach a parallel course with a student project that spans borders. OVPIA can help connect you to an international partner.
Deadlines:
- October 15 - Spring and summer courses
- April 1 - Fall, spring, and summer courses
Global Client Projects
Add a global component to your client-based project with the support of resources and expertise from IU Global.
Deadlines: Rolling application for calendar year 2026 courses.
FAQs
There is one form for all OVPIA faculty grant applications. Explore the individual grant requirements in advance and complete the form when you are ready.
Due to reductions in travel funding for FY25/26, these two grant categories are currently on pause and we are not accepting applications.
The Faculty Exchange Program was replaced by the Primary Partner Faculty Grant.
The eligibility criteria for these awards differ across the various grant programs. In all cases, applicants must be permanent, full-time academic appointees at any IU campus. Faculty members in Visiting or Emeritus status are not eligible nor are graduate students or academic specialists. Please consult the specific eligibility criteria associated with the grant you are interested in.
Generally, it is not advisable to do so, as the OVPIA grants cannot be combined or held simultaneously. Faculty members should consult with OVPIA staff to determine which opportunity best meets their needs. Our competitive process gives priority to applicants who have not received OVPIA support recently.
OVPIA would determine the appropriateness of this scenario on a case-by-case basis. A main goal of our programs is faculty mobility, so we would give lower priority to applications where there is already substantial support for the faculty member’s work at the foreign location.
Internal matching requirements can be met with a funding commitment from an IU department, school, or campus, including a commitment of available unrestricted balances in a faculty member’s IU research account. It is also fine to use travel funding from one of IU’s area studies centers as a match. However, we will not consider expenditures of personal funds (out-of-pocket) to meet this requirement.
OVPIA funding serves two related but distinct purposes::
- To support individual faculty members engaged in international research, teaching or service
- To advance institutional priorities in particular countries or regions.
Program administration is aligned accordingly. Along with short-term faculty exchanges, three of the grant programs—the Faculty International Mobility Grant, the Education Abroad Program Development Grant, and the International Short-Term Visitor Grant—serve primarily the first purpose. Applications for these categories of funding are reviewed by faculty committees.
The Global Gateway Grant and the International Collaboration Grant serve both purposes, and therefore funding decisions regarding these programs take university priorities into account. Global Gateway Grants, which support activities at IU’s Gateway offices, are reviewed and approved by OVPIA in consultation with the academic director of the relevant Gateway. International Collaboration Grants are reviewed and approved by the OVPIA Partnerships team.
Additional funding opportunities
If you are a faculty member at IU Indianapolis (and IU Fort Wayne or IU Columbus), you can apply for OIA Funding Grants through the Office of International Affairs, designed to promote global learning at home, innovation in study abroad, and research, teaching, and community engagement around the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Find information about IU Indianapolis’s faculty funding initiatives
The Office of the Vice President for Research also offers a number of resources to help faculty fund their work, within and outside of the university.
