As the world faces urgent global crises and the US navigates heated elections, a group of American and British universities are joining forces to tackle critical global challenges. The US-UK Fulbright Commission and the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) are proud to announce the recipients of the 2024–25 Fulbright Global Challenges Teaching Awards (GCTAs). This initiative aims to strengthen international collaboration in higher education while advancing innovative approaches to digital learning by supporting faculty from both countries in co-delivering virtual exchange courses that address some of the most pressing issues of our time.

These awards, launched in response to the growing need for international co-operation, support faculty as they create and teach courses on four urgent global challenges: climate change, inequality, polarization and division, and racial justice. In keeping with the Fulbright Commission's efforts to widen institutional participation the new cohort exemplifies this mission, featuring faculty from: Birmingham City, Strathclyde, Queen’s University Belfast and Lancaster in the UK and the College of Charleston, Ohio University, Brandeis and Fort Valley State in the US. Each award recipient will work with a counterpart from across the Atlantic, using  virtual exchange and collaborative online international learning co-operation(VE/COIL) to foster cross-cultural understanding among students.

Maria Balinska, executive director of the US-UK Fulbright Commission, said, "The Fulbright Global Challenges Teaching Awards are the Commission’s flagship initiative because they’re about democratising global learning and developing new inclusive ways of supporting international education exchange. We are tremendously excited to be enabling connections between classrooms in Northern Ireland and Ohio; the Midlands and South Carolina; Scotland and Massachusetts and the North of England and Georgia. We cannot wait to see what transatlantic collaborations come about as a result.”

"We are incredibly excited to move forward with such an outstanding group of educators from a diverse range of higher education institutions," said Veronica Onorevole, director of innovative global education initiatives at AAC&U. "Their commitment to expanding access to international experiences and their innovative approaches to teaching and learning align perfectly with the goals of the GCTA."

The Global Challenges Teaching Awards bring together faculty and institutions to co-create learning opportunities that transcend national borders and address the problems that we share as a planet.

The selected Award recipients and their projects are:

Polarization and Division

• Mark McLay, Lecturer of History at Lancaster University (UK) will enhance his course “American Carnage: The United States in the Age of Polarisation, 1960-Present” in partnership with Ava Thorpe, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Fort Valley State University (USA) and her “Minorities” course. This Award is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Inequality

• Philip McGowan, Professor of Arts, English and Languages at Queen's University Belfast (UK) will enhance his course “Incorrigibly Plural” in partnership with Julia Paxton, Professor of Economics at Ohio University (USA) and her “Economics of Poverty” course.

Racial Justice

• Dionne Taylor, Associate Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University (UK) will enhance her “Black Studies Project” course in partnership with Kameelah Martin, Associate Professor of African American Studies & English at the College of Charleston (US) and her “Ancestries of Enslavement” course.

Climate Change

• William Quirke, Teaching Fellow at the Strathclyde Institute of Education at the University of Strathclyde (UK) will enhance his “Learning for Sustainability: Theory and Practice” course in partnership with Colleen Hitchcock, Associate Professor of Ecology at Brandeis University (US) and her “Biology of Climate Change” course.

Faculty and their institutional partners will embark on a year long journey of development, exchange, and collaboration, culminating in the implementation of these globally relevant courses in 2025. Through ongoing support, including specialised clinics and networking events, the GCTA recipients will receive the tools necessary to expand their VE/COIL initiatives and promote innovation in international education.

For more information about the Fulbright Global Challenges Teaching Awards and this year’s awardees, visit the US-UK Fulbright Commission’s website.