Grants

Tufts University

Project Title

As a final grant for the U.S.-Russia Relations Initiative

Date

Mar. 06, 2025

Duration

24 months

Description

High quality education and research on Russian foreign policy are essential for U.S. policymakers to effectively address Russia’s strategic challenges to U.S. interests. Since its establishment with Corporation support in 2016, the U.S.-Russia Relations Initiative at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy has provided premier graduate-level training on Russia and its global role. With final support, Fletcher will continue preparing the next generation of American experts through comprehensive study of Russian foreign policymaking and U.S.-Russia relations. Fletcher will expand course development, host visiting Russian scholars in exile for research and teaching, and facilitate academic track-two dialogues with Russian counterparts.

Project Title

For a project to research and expand youth civic engagement in rural communities

Date

Mar. 06, 2025

Duration

24 months

Description

According to research by Tuft University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), sixty percent of rural-dwelling youth do not have access to civic opportunities. Known as “civic deserts,” these areas of the country lack physical access to various institutions where people tend to gather, build networks, and solve challenges. This in turn has led to rural residents ages eighteen to thirty-four feeling disengaged from their communities and less civically engaged. Established in 2001, CIRCLE has become the nation’s premier research institution in the field of youth civic engagement and development. With renewed Corporation support, CIRCLE will continue to research promising practices to increase civic engagement among youth in rural communities and partner with local civic institutions to develop pilot projects that network rural organizations across the country to further this goal.

Project Title

As a final grant to research and policy development on security in the Middle East

Date

Sep. 12, 2024

Duration

24 months

Description

The World Peace Foundation (WPF) at Tufts University works with a network of international scholars to increase understanding and informed dialogue about conflict dynamics and peacebuilding. This work expanded its scope and impact through a policy development initiative called “Pathways to Renewed and Inclusive Security in the Middle East” (PRISME). Launched in 2022,PRISME fosters interactions between international academics and practitioners working torefine the concept of security in the Middle East and NorthAfrica. WPF and PRISMEpublish research and provide data to journalists and policy researchersin multiple languages. Renewed funding will support data collection and analysis, publications and briefings, and professional development for a new generation of policy researchers.

Project Title

For a one-time project on the securitization of migration as part of a Request for Proposals on Understanding the Forces Shaping the Global Order

Date

Sep. 12, 2024

Duration

36 months

Description

Migration and the security measures that result from it have created new inter- and intrastate political levers. Through this grant, the Fletcher School at Tufts, in collaboration with the University of Glasgow, will analyze migrant weaponization by transit states and illicit political economies, convene workshops to create alternative scenarios for managing these challenges, and disseminate the findings through papers and briefings to relevant policymakers both in the United States and abroad.

Project Title

For the U.S.-Russia Relations Initiative

Date

Mar. 09, 2023

Duration

24 months

Description

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting war have created a new level of adversarial relations between the United States and Russia, while disrupting formal diplomatic communications and significantly curtailing academic and professional interactions. Yet scholarship and engagements remain paramount for managing conflicts, preventing miscalculations, and educating a new cadre of experts. The U.S.-Russia Relations Initiatives seeks to promote greater understanding of U.S. and Russian foreign relations and to foster expertise among upcoming specialists. With renewed support, the Initiative will continue a set of activities, including in-person and virtual academic conferences, jointly taught courses, faculty engagements, visiting appointments, and public events.

Project Title

For a project to research and expand youth civic engagement in rural communities

Date

Dec. 08, 2022

Duration

26 months

Description

According to research by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), sixty percent of rural-dwelling youth do not have access to civic opportunities. Known as “civic deserts,” these areas of the country lack physical access to various institutions where people tend to gather, build networks, and solve challenges. Such institutions include churches, arts and culture institutions, preschools where parents become involved in children’s education, among other civic organizations. Established in 2001, CIRCLE has become the nation’s premiere research institution in the field of youth civic engagement and development. With Corporation support, CIRCLE will research promising practices to increase civic engagement among youth in rural communities and will partner with local institutions for a series of pilot projects that network rural organizations to further this goal.

Project Title

For a project on revitalizing debate on the global arms trade

Date

Jun. 09, 2022

Duration

28 months

Description

Understanding the connections between foreign policy, national security, and defense industries is vital to understanding global conflict escalation. The World Peace Foundation at Tufts University will build on previous Corporation-funded research to analyze arms transfers involving the Arab region, in particular to areas of conflict, as well as oversight mechanisms. The project aims to impact policy by increasing transparency and informed dialogue about the arms trade, showing its relationship to other security issues, and nurturing a new generation of researchers and policy analysts. Corporation funds will support collaborative research, workshops, and publications.

Project Title

For expanding and enriching the study of Russia

Date

Sep. 10, 2020

Duration

30 months

Description

The importance of U.S.-Russia relations suggests the need for a comprehensive understanding of Russian domestic and foreign policies within the United States. Likewise, there is a need for better understanding of the United States in Russia. Universities and academic institutions with relevant programs play an important role in building up expert capacity. The U.S.-Russia Relations Initiative program at Tuft University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy aims to deepen the U.S. expertise on Russia while also exposing the Russian academics to American thinking. With continued support, it will conduct research, student and faculty exchanges, and bilateral meetings. The work will result in publications on a range of topics relevant to U.S.-Russia relations and international peace and security.

Project Title

For participation of African academics in the Talloires Network Leaders Conference

Date

Sep. 12, 2019

Duration

27 months

Description

The aims of higher education in most sub-Saharan African countries are linked with national development and poverty reduction. African universities have made significant strides in community engagement through extension programs, locally-relevant research, and outreach to communities. The Talloires Network (TN) is a global coalition of 385 university presidents, vice-chancellors, and rectors in seventy-seven countries whose mission is to strengthen the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education. TN seeks to engage expertise of African university leaders through participation in its biennial Talloires Network Leadership Conference (TNLC 2020), and developing a global classification system for university community engagement. Corporation support will contribute to participation of twenty-five African university leaders in research, workshops, and TNLC 2020.

Project Title

For a project on defense industries and armed conflict

Date

Dec. 05, 2019

Duration

30 months

Description

Accurate data and data-driven analysis of the structure and dynamics of war economies, including connections between foreign policy, national security, and defense industries, are limited and yet vital to understanding global conflict escalation. Such dynamics are further complicated by regulatory variations across countries and the diverse character of conflict scenarios themselves. In collaboration with the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), the World Peace Foundation (WPF) based at Tufts University will conduct case studies to better understand these relationships and their connection to conflict escalation. Corporation funds will support collaborative research, data collection, workshops, and publications. The work will lead to new data sets of relevance to evidence-based policymaking.

Project Title

For expanding and enriching the study of Russia

Date

Sep. 13, 2018

Duration

24 months

Description

The importance of U.S.-Russia relations suggests the need for a comprehensive understanding of Russian domestic and foreign policies within the United States. Likewise, there is a need for better understanding of the United States in Russia. Universities and academic institutions with relevant programs play an important role in building up expert capacity. The Russian Foreign Relations Program at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University is among the Corporation-supported institutions that aim to deepen the U.S. expertise on Russia while also exposing the Russian academics to American thinking. With continued support, the program will promote research projects, facilitate student and faculty exchanges, conduct bilateral meetings, and produce publications on a range of topics relevant to U.S.-Russia relations and international peace and security at large.

Project Title

For the Russian Foreign Relations Program at The Fletcher School

Date

Sep. 08, 2016

Duration

24 months

Description

A project at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Fletcher) of Tufts University seeks to improve relations between the United States and Russia and develop a generation of leaders who can manage and improve understanding of the issues that impact the countries. Fletcher will establish the Russian Foreign Relations program (RFR Program) to increase ties with Russian universities, especially with Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) to expand scholarship and Track II diplomacy. Through the RFR Program, Fletcher will educate professionals around the world and prepare them for positions of leadership and influence in the national and international arenas. It will increase perceptions of international problems and concerns through teaching, research, and publications, and serve local, national, and international communities in their search to develop relationships of mutual benefit.

Project Title

For African higher education leaders' participation in the 2017 Talloires Network Leaders Conference

Date

Mar. 03, 2016

Duration

20 months

Description

The Talloires Network (TN) is a growing coalition of 350 universities in seventy-five countries whose purpose is to strengthen the civic roles and responsibilities of higher education institutions. Talloires Network Leadership Conference (TNLC) 2014 held in Cape Town placed a special emphasis on highlighting innovative African programs and strategies and showcased and reinforced the dynamic leadership of African institutions. In the period leading up to TNLC 2017, TN proposes to identify exemplary civic engagement programs of African universities including fifty-five African university TN members; support documentation and public communication about these activities; organize TNLC 2017 sessions that will disseminate African civic engagement experience and build support for those activities; support preparation of conference presentations by African higher education leaders and their partners; and cover the costs of fifty African university leaders so that they can attend and make presentations at TNLC 2017.

Project Title

As a final grant for bridging the gap between the academy and policy world through an interdisciplinary project on the migration crisis and state fragility

Date

Sep. 08, 2016

Duration

39 months

Description

As a follow-on to a grant made under the Corporation’s “Rigor and Relevance” initiative aimed at the twenty-two U.S.-based members of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Fletcher) seeks renewed support to (a) further projects on state legitimacy and governance that represent a continuation of work completed under the project’s initial phase; (b) expand that work into the related substantive area of migration, where state legitimacy is eroded in both transit and receiving countries; and (c) creation of a mechanism at Fletcher for continued learning about and commitment to policy-relevant research and dissemination. Expansion of the substantive focus of the project will broaden the number of faculty members engaged in diverse project efforts to bridge the academic-policy gap.

Project Title

As a final grant for the work of the Institute for Global Leadership to train a future generation of international security leaders

Date

Sep. 17, 2015

Duration

22 months

Project Title

For the Talloires Network Leaders Conference

Date

Sep. 11, 2014

Duration

7 months

Project Title

For bridging the gap between the academy and policy world through an interdisciplinary project on legitimacy in state-building

Date

Sep. 11, 2014

Duration

24 months

Project Title

As a one-time grant for the work of the Institute for Global Leadership to train future generations international security leaders

Date

Sep. 12, 2013

Duration

24 months

Project Title

For an international conference of university presidents on the role of higher education in encouraging civic participation

Date

Mar. 10, 2011

Duration

15 months

Project Title

Toward the Tallories Network's civic global engagement efforts

Date

Dec. 03, 2009

Duration

12 months

Project Title

Toward a conference on the future of policy planning in international relations

Date

Jun. 12, 2008

Duration

16 months

Project Title

As a final grant toward the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement's project on promoting civic education at the high school level

Date

Sep. 29, 2005

Duration

59 months

Project Title

Toward an international conference of university presidents on the role of higher education in encouraging civic participation

Date

Dec. 02, 2004

Duration

12 months

Project Title

Toward a conference on the reassessing of the Bush administration's Preemptive Doctrine

Date

Sep. 30, 2004

Duration

4 months