Educating global leaders and generating research and insights for a safer, more prosperous world

Global Seed Funds

CIS announces Global Seed Funds recipients

Dr Rand and Amb Shringla

Dr. Rand and Amb. Shringla join CIS as Wilhelm Fellows

Caption:MIT student Max Siegel (right) examines local vegetation for potential uses.

A collaboration across continents to solve a plastics problem

Sudan is unraveling

Sudan is unraveling

Taylor Fravel article image

Competing visions of international order

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Featured News

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Zabrovski receives Infinite Mile Award

Zabrovski receives Infinite Mile Award

CIS awards 20 PhD research grants

CIS awards 20 PhD research grants

Philip Khoury to step down as vice provost for the arts

Philip Khoury to step down as vice provost for the arts

Six MIT SHASS educators receive 2025 Levitan Teaching Awards

Six MIT SHASS educators receive 2025 Levitan Teaching Awards

Sudan is unraveling

Sudan is unraveling

China is already silencing dissent in Taiwan

China is already silencing dissent in Taiwan

MIT Global Seed Funds announces recipients of its 2024-2025 cycle

MIT Global Seed Funds announces recipients of its 2024-2025 cycle

How Europe can deter Russia

How Europe can deter Russia

Student spotlight: YongYan (Crystal) Liang

Student spotlight: YongYan (Crystal) Liang

Building for Ukraine: A hackathon with a mission

Building for Ukraine: A hackathon with a mission

Regional Programs, World Map

Explore our activities by region

We invite faculty, researchers, and students from MIT and beyond to learn more about CIS’s impact and work — from research funding to student internships — happening in regions and nations worldwide.

See all regions

Events

All upcoming events

The Origins of State Strength and Economic Development: Insights from Historical Political Economy

9:00am - 5:00am

Building 36 - 428

MIT-Imperial Seed Fund 10th Anniversary Celebration: A Decade of Transatlantic Collaboration in Science & Technology

12:00pm - 1:00pm

Opportunities

See all opportunities

Wargaming Working Group

CIS provides working group grants for advancing interdisciplinary collaborations in the field of international studies. These small grants are provided as "seed" funds for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows seeking to address scholarly problems.

Learn how to apply

Global Seed Funds

The MIT Global Seed Funds grant program provides opportunities for MIT faculty to collaborate with pioneering researchers from around the world.

Browse seed funds

Our community

Samuel Leiter

Samuel Leiter

Ari Jacobvits

Ari Jacobovits

Managing Director, MIT-Africa Program

Wenyan Deng

Wen Deng

Maye Elqasem

Maye Elqasem

Program Coordinator, MIT-Arab World Program

Roger Petersen

Faculty and Researchers

Roger Petersen

Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science, Emeritus

Alicia Goldstein Raun

Alicia Goldstein Raun

Associate Director, MISTI

Managing Director, MIT-Spain Program

Student Spotlights

CIS makes it possible for MIT students to experience the world while advancing knowledge, tackling tough challenges, and preparing for lives of impact, service, and leadership in an interconnected global society.

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Fiona's story

Fiona's story

Chemical Engineering '27

Chemical engineering major Fiona Shangguan interned at a startup doing quality control for disinfectant products made of recycled food waste while also finding the perfect ratio to create a bag out of banana peels and less plastic.

Nickie's story

Nickie's story

Mechanical Engineering '24

Nickie Mpofu '24 interned with Semiconductor Technologies Limited (STL), a Kenyan startup focused on semiconductor manufacturing in the summer of 2024.

Nina's story

Nina's story

Engineering '24

Nina Gerszberg interned at the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, where she contributed to an assistive robotics project focused on enabling individuals with disabilities to control a robotic arm using gaze tracking.

Almog's story

Almog's story

Artificial Intelligence and Decision Making '25

Almog Hillel traveled to Warsaw, Poland, in the summer 2024, where had the opportunity to work with the UA-Teens and Ukraine Leadership and Technology Academy (ULTA), teaching and mentoring 20 rigorously-selected Ukrainian high school students.

Andrew Motz's story

Andrew Motz's story

Mechanical Engineering

Andrew Motz, an MEng graduate student, worked in the Great Barrier Reef with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) to focus on reef monitoring and restoration.

Student opportunities

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Building E40-400
1 Amherst Street
Cambridge, MA 02142

cis-info@mit.edu