President's Award for Global Learning

The President’s Award for Global Learning is the inaugural program of the International Board of Advisors and is administered through the collaborative efforts of the President’s Office, the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, and Texas Global.

2024-2025 Project Profiles

Malmo Skyline with canal and Turning Torso skyscraper building in Malmo, Sweden.

Cultivating Resilience: A Comparative Study of Urban Agriculture, Technology, and Resilience in Central Texas and Öresund Scandinavia 

This program focuses on the role of public policy, urban design, agriculture and technology in creating resilient and sustainable cities. Students will examine how Austin, Texas; Malmö, Sweden; and Copenhagen, Denmark are enhancing their resilience plans to build a sustainable future. Students will use human-centered design to research, propose and prototype a variety of potential projects centered on urban agriculture, technology and resilience.

View of the Tokyo skyline with the Skytree tower at sunset in Japan.

Haiku Horizons: Bridging Cultures through Creative Technology and Immersive Experience

This program will engage students in a partnership with Keio University, leveraging the traditional Japanese poetic form of haiku to design immersive educational experiences that highlight the impacts of climate change. Students will address the global challenge of climate change through the prism of the wabi-sabi philosophy, exploring the interconnectedness of nature, technology and human creativity. The goal is to create a bridge between cultures using global partnerships and interdisciplinary approaches to media arts that will promote lasting engagement on climate change.

A teacher in a village in India explains to his students while holding an exercise book.

Impact of Service-Learning Projects on Rural Communities in India

This program will develop best practices for service-learning projects by assessing the needs of partner communities and evaluating the long-term effects of interventions. Students will partner with Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action NGO in Tamil Nadu, India, to develop protocols for engaging with rural communities and assessing the impact of three previous projects completed by the Texas Global service-learning initiative, Projects with Underserved Communities (PUC). This program builds a unique collaboration between the President’s Award for Global Learning and PUC, an innovative project-based, service-learning collaboration formed between Texas Global, the Cockrell School of Engineering and the Steve Hicks School of Social Work.

2023-2024 Project Profiles

Peace wall in Belfast with colorful art on a tree lined street

Leading with Peace: Lessons from Northern Ireland

This program will engage students in history, social work, economics and other disciplines to better understand local, regional and national reconciliation processes, using the historical conflict of “the Troubles” in North Ireland as an example. Partnering with nonprofit Corrymeela, whose mission is to build trust and understanding among individuals, communities, power structures and statutory bodies in Northern Ireland and beyond, faculty will guide students to understand the pervasiveness, impact and barriers created by conflict and violence and the usefulness of peacemaking and restorative justice practices as future leaders.

Monach butterflies in bright blue sky

Lives in Motion: Human and Animal Migration in Times of Environmental Change

Disruption of animal migratory patterns, decline of itinerant farm workers and a growing number of displaced peoples worldwide pose a major challenge for the well-being of human societies and natural ecosystems. This program will explore migration from this wider perspective, focusing on Quindío, a region in the Colombian Coffee Axis, and the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico. Benefiting from faculty and partners’ work in Latin American studies, language pedagogy, visual arts and environmental studies, students will transform this learning experience abroad and effect greater global awareness through storytelling.

Shibuya crossing in Tokyo, Japan at night with building lit up and blurry image of pedestrians crossing

The Sustainable and Resilient Smart City in Japan

This program is embarking on research focused on sustainable and disaster-resilient Smart City development in Japan, specifically the “Toyota Woven City” and Smart City Aizuwakamatsu. With an objective to gain insights into the innovative solutions implemented within these smart cities in Japan, the study will encompass three primary research areas: smart mobility, smart homes and robotics applications. By gaining insight into successful approaches employed in Japan, the team aims to explore and contribute to the future development of smart cities and communities in Austin and beyond.

Hand holding cup of water under faucet outside

Water Scarcity in Kenya: Decentralized Desalination Using Renewable Energy

This program will tackle the global challenge of water scarcity by harnessing solar power to desalinate water in rural and peri-urban communities in Kenya. Students will partner with Austin-based nonprofit Give Power and South Eastern Kenya University to implement decentralized desalination systems, while also examining the socioeconomic impacts of solar water farms.

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