The MISTI Global Seed Funds (MISTI GSF) grant program promotes and supports early-stage collaborations between MIT researchers and their counterparts around the globe. Many of the joint projects lead to publications, additional grant awards, and the development of valuable long-term relationships between international researchers and MIT faculty and students.
In the 2013-14 MISTI GSF grant cycle, a total of 67 faculty international research projects received $1.5 million in funding. These projects were selected from among 166 proposals submitted by faculty and research scientists from 24 departments across the Institute. (View past Seed Fund winners here.)
MISTI GSF was established to bring MIT research and education abroad. The program consists of a general pool of funds for projects in any country, and several country-specific funds. In the latest grant cycle, MISTI supported collaborations in 34 unique countries through 17 individual seed funds, including the newest funds: MIT-Chile's Universidad Diego Portales Seed Fund, and Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María Seed Fund; and the MIT-Mexico Zapopan Seed Fund. (Click here to browse available funds.)
Since 2008, the program has awarded $7.4 million to 363 projects. Winning teams use grant funds to cover international travel, meeting and workshop costs. All awardees include undergraduate, graduate or postdoc students.
MISTI (which stands for MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives) is MIT’s flagship international education program. Each year, the program places more than 675 MIT students in professional internship, research, and teaching positions, with its network of leading companies, universities, research institutes, and non-governmental organizations around the world. MISTI currently operates in 18 countries: Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, and Switzerland. The program is a part of the Center for International Studies.
The next MISTI Global Seed Funds call for proposals will be announced in May with a proposal deadline in early fall. More details are available on the MISTI website.
The MIT-Brazil Seed Fund data is not featured in this article. The fund’s grantees, facts, and figures will be announced later this semester on MIT News.
