Welcome to the Global Initiatives updates for faculty, researchers, and staff. The newsletter presents opportunities for globally engaged research and teaching as well as celebrates the global engagement of our campus community and the partnerships we build and strengthen. If you have global opportunities, highlights, or events to share that are relevant to faculty, researchers and staff, please email global@ucsd.edu by the 25th of each month. 

The Simons Foundation Targeted Grants to Institutes are intended to support established institutes or centers in mathematics and theoretical basic physical sciences with funding that can strengthen contacts with the international scientific community.

Sponsor: Simons Foundation

Contact: For program or administrative questions, please contact mps@simonsfoundation.org.

Application deadline:  September 30, 2026 by 12:00 p.m. EST.

Launched in partnership with Singapore's National Research Foundation (NRF), this prestigious fellowship supports outstanding early-career researchers who seek to apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) to accelerate scientific discovery across science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEM) for up to 4 years. The programme aims to nurture the next generation of interdisciplinary research leaders working at the intersection of AI and scientific research.

Sponsor: Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

Contact: for questions, please contact FA-RSO@ntu.edu.sg

Application deadline: October 30, 2026, 23:59 (Singapore Time, UTC/GMT +8).

These two week funded seminars are meant for U.S. higher education administrators from across an institution to exchange information on best practices and explore potential collaborative partnerships with institutions in the host country. The seminars combine campus visits, briefings from higher education institutions, educational experts and government officials and tours of historical and cultural sites. Participating countries include: France/Senegal, Taiwan, Israel, Japan, France, Germany, India, and South Korea.

Sponsor: Fulbright Commission

Contact: Max Reinke, Fulbright Scholar Liaison for UC San Diego, mreinke@ucsd.edu

Application deadline: Next deadline is November 2, 2026 for Israel and Japan.

Research Corporation for Science Advancement’s Team Science Accelerator is a two-year  pilot program to support three to four interdisciplinary teams of faculty scientists to adopt team science structures with the goal of amplifying impact, accelerating science, and solving big challenges across the physical sciences and their adjacent fields and subdisciplines. Teams, that can be made up of scientists at both U.S. and Canadian institutions will also receive the support systems needed to enhance team performance, including facilitated workshops, mentoring from discipline-based team science experts, and professional team coaching.

Sponsor: Research Corporation for Science Advancement

Contact: Andrew Feig, Program Director, afeig@rescorp.org

Application deadline: LOI due November 9, 2026, 23:59 AZ time

The Fulbright Specialist Program helps highly qualified American academics and professionals share their expertise and strengthen overseas institutions as well as addressing shared challenges to benefit American communities and the world. Representing a wide range of professional and academic disciplines, Fulbright Specialists spend two- to six-weeks on projects designed and requested by foreign host institutions and recommended for selection by U.S. Embassies and Fulbright Commissions around the world. If selected, Fulbright Specialists remain on the Specialist roster for three years.

Sponsor: Fulbright Commission

Contact: Max Reinke, Fulbright Scholar Liaison for UC San Diego, mreinke@ucsd.edu

Application deadline: Rolling deadlines with selection committees meeting multiple times a year.

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is the primary state funding body for research to be carried out with German institutions and collaborators. Multiple funding opportunities and structures are available for collaboration. Deadlines are variable.

Sponsor: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

Contact: Diego Rivas, diego.rivas@dfg.de 

UC San Diego supports the campus community in preparing for and traveling globally. Travelers are encouraged to use UC and UC San Diego resources to make informed decisions. 

Planning and Safety Resources:

Global Initiatives international travel page: Use as an initial stop when preparing for travel. 

Field Operations Planner: Required for all travel involving undergraduate students that is not run through Global Initiatives or Study Abroad and strongly recommended for all other university-related travel with or without students. 

Travel registration: UC San Diego business travelers should register travel through Concur/ConnexUC or UC Away to have the latest travel alerts through the University of California’s partnership with Crisis24. Registration at one site or the other is required for all university-related foreign travel. 

Safety tools: Download the Crisis24 Horizon mobile app for location intelligence, travel advice, and alerts throughout travel. Registered travelers can also utilize the travel assistance program while abroad.

Health, Risk and Documentation

Prioritize safety and well-being and make informed decisions about travel risks, which vary by individual circumstances.

Confirm vaccinations with UC San Diego Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine or Student Health Services and consult CDC guidance. 

Enroll in the U.S. State Department Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).

If you are concerned that delay or disruption of travel may interrupt a research project, award or grant, please reach out to your department, school leadership or OCGA for consultation or assistance. 

For more information, visit the University of California System Travel Risk and Insurance Webpage and Global Initiatives International Travel Guidance Webpage. 

International Scholars 

If you are an international scholar on a non-immigrant visa, ISEO’s travel pages provide important information about traveling internationally. Ensure travel documents are up-to-date. Documents can include a verification of employment printed from UCPath. 

On 24 August 2026, OFAC indefinitely suspended several general licenses that previously authorized many activities, services, and exchanges with individuals in Iran, or those who are “ordinarily a resident in Iran.” For more information on this change, please visit UC San Diego’s Export Control page on Overview of Selected U.S. Sanctions on Iran. And contact export@ucsd.edu for assistance with questions and support.

UC San Diego has drafted responses to some of the most frequently asked questions related to federal updates as a way to keep the Triton community informed in an evolving landscape. For our community on the Health Sciences campus, there is also a new federal updates website accessed through a Health Sciences log-in.

UC San Diego’s International Services & Engagement Office (ISEO)  is actively working to keep our population informed on the latest federal updates. We encourage you to visit their website for the most up-to-date information and updates: iupdates.ucsd.edu.

On September 11, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. Chancellor Khosla presided over a ceremony and laying of a wreath at the memorial tree on Warren Mall, located at the foot of the Snake Path. The carillon on top of Geisel Library rang to initiate a moment of silence, followed by a special music carillon peal composed by Scott Paulson from the UC San Diego Library. Alongside members of the Veterans Staff Association, the UC San Diego Police Department, and other first responders, our campus united together as a UC San Diego community to honor the memory of those we lost.

UC San Diego's Stein Institute for Research on Aging will serve as the Central Laboratory and Biorepository for the latest XPRIZE competition, Healthspan Competition, in which teams from around the world compete for $101M in research funding to explore innovate inventions that extend the human healthspan. The competition, which began in 2023 with over 600 applicants, will identify ten finalist teams who will be supported by the highest quality, standardized data that UC San Diego is uniquely qualified to supply. Winners of the competition will be announced in 2030.

Judson Boomhower, an environmental economist in the School of Social Sciences, researches wildfire risk, disaster insurance and the costs of a changing climate. In this article, he responds to questions about that that research. These include addressing the contributing factors to the European wildfires that are similar to those that also contribute to the catastrophic wildfires in California and Australia: climate change, accumulation of fuel, and development in the path of natural hazards. How unprepared Europe is to deal with wildfires in both physical and social infrastructure and what questions need to be addressed so that societies can adapt quickly enough to keep communities safe.

Come on over for a cup of coffee and a morning pastry! Global Coffee Hour is meant to bring together both international and domestic students, scholars and families to celebrate our global community at UC San Diego. Join us for fun activities and build connections that expand across the world.

When: Monday, September 21, 23 and 25 2026, 10–11:30 a.m.

Where: Triton Administrative Services Building, East Tower, Multipurpose Room 1230

Contact: Questions?  Email iprograms@ucsd.edu with an indication of which program or event you have questions about.

Throughout the Fall Quarter, ISEO has multiple opportunities to engage with ISEO and with the campus community. These include events like the Global Coffee Hour but also workshops that can help unravel the intricacies of U.S. visas.

When: multiple dates

Where: both in person and virtual

Contact: Questions?  Email iprograms@ucsd.edu with an indication of which program or event you have questions about

Global Initiatives welcomes delegations of senior leadership and key faculty from partner institutions, government entities and industry. Many of these visits center around the exploration of potential collaborative partnerships, exchange programs, and co-sponsored research projects. 

The Global partnership database contains the latest information on active UC San Diego’s formalized international partnerships.