Global Futures Fund

Final proposals will be adjudicated by the Steering Committee based on the following criteria:

1. Impact on one or more Global Futures as per Waterloo at 100 and the articulation of the five Global Futures: Societal, Health, Sustainable, Technological, and Economic. Initiatives proposed or submitted for support for existing or expanded activity should address how one or more Futures are being advanced and how impact will be demonstrated and measured.
2. Leverage existing and emerging strengths. Proposals should describe how UWaterloo’s academic, research, and founding differentiator strengths are being leveraged.
3. Activities across disciplines and units. As per Waterloo at 100 and the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Building a Resilient University of Waterloo, proposals should describe existing or planned efforts to work effectively and efficiently across faculties and/or academic units to create interdisciplinary initiatives in education and/or research/scholarship. These should highlight where and how initiatives are a result of collaborations across academic and academic support units (ASUs) at UWaterloo. Specific references to the PAC recommendations are suggested, where applicable.
4. Engagement of external partners. Proposals should outline how external stakeholders will be engaged. This critical effort in outreach, relationship building, and partnership development indicates both the desire to be connected to real world challenges and forecasts how present and future resource needs will be addressed for sustaining and expanding activity. To the extent possible, references can be made to how funding needs will be diversified through such external engagement.

Each cycle of initiatives supported by the Global Futures Fund will represent a portfolio of diverse activities in:

1. Research/scholarship and education. A key goal of the Global Futures is to focus on the university’s collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches across academic programs and research/scholarship. Within academic programming, innovation is highly encouraged. References can be made to partial/full cost-recovery and surplus revenue generation models. References on leveraging administrative supports in academic programming are encouraged. Where service-oriented activities are proposed (i.e., those that do not explicitly map to the teaching and/or research mission of the University) a clear connection to core mission activity will be needed.
2. Pre-seed, emerging, and existing. Funding decisions will also consider the composition of successful initiatives. In particular, a goal for this cycle is a balance of funded initiatives from those in ideation to implementation stages.
3. University constituents/partners. Internally, the University consists of a broad and wide-ranging community of faculty, staff, students and alumni, and externally, includes the full spectrum of partners from the local community to global university peers, non-government and civil society partners, and to government and industry stakeholders. The Committee will favor an overall cycle of funded initiatives that engage a range of constituents/partners internally and externally. 
4. Impact through local to global pathways. Waterloo at 100 outlines three guiding principles critical for the GFN. One of those principles, “lead globally, act locally,” means that we contribute to local needs as we work on global issues. Waterloo at 100 also focuses our attention to our local communities through collaborative relationships and activities. Change starts at home. The Committee will seek an overall cycle of funded initiatives that exhibit this local-to-global principle in action.
5. Faculty and ASU contributions. One of the key enablers to ensuring sustainability is to seek and/or secure internal contributions. Strong applications will reflect this lever, drawing on supports aligned to goals from within one’s Faculty and/or ASU. Supports can come through financial and in-kind resources and can be identified or committed through the proposal in the second part of the submission process. 

The Fund is meant to encourage and inspire transformative ideas that help advance the Global Futures. Below are types of initiatives that will make up the Global Futures Networks. Note, how in each type offered below, there is reference to initiatives that integrate components of research, education, and/or service. An information session describing in more detail the various aspects of the fund will be held on April 10, 2025.

1. Type A: Research-based. Interdisciplinary research centres, institutes, initiatives, and networks advance problem-based inquiry, scholarship, collaboration, co-production, co-creation and knowledge translation to impact society – locally and/or globally, and through the five interconnected Global Futures. Funding can support existing research-based activity or help expand such activity to include more robust interdisciplinarity and cross-campus connections to education and/or service.
2. Type B: Educational. Funding can support the ideation and development of new interdisciplinary programs to develop talent capable of advancing the Global Futures – including opportunities that lie at their intersections. Interdisciplinarity across academic programs at the University will benefit from greater intentionality and more formal frameworks. Initiatives might build upon or establish new pathways to undergraduate and graduate research opportunities for our students. Such initiatives might also forge connections with various functions and offerings from the University’s academic support units, for example for innovating approaches and pedagogy for more effective delivery, or for advancing thematic areas integral to community campus and culture.
3. Type C: Service-oriented. Initiatives can work across academic support units in pursuit of goals aligned to advancing our Global Futures. These initiatives might, for example, tackle problems applicable to one or more Future(s), that can be tested and implemented on our campus and/or with regional constituents. These initiatives must identify and form partnerships with research and/or educational programs.