The Institutes

Penn Global Documentary Institute
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The Penn Global Documentary Institute (PGDI) collaborates with global partners to document human migration and diasporic communities. Ongoing projects use film, photography, virtual reality, and other media to examine the impact of politics, religion, and climate change on displaced and other at-risk communities. Our network of faculty, students, and fellows embrace the latest innovations in filmmaking and scholarship to tell impactful stories. In addition to global collaborations, PGDI foregrounds the role of student contributions to research and multimodal scholarship. As a result, PGDI’s award-winning films, books, and other works have been featured in international festivals and exhibits and have been distributed by the United Nations and major video streaming platforms. Learn more about this institute at the PGDI website.

The application will open in January 2024 and will be available in the PASSPORT system.

 Galápagos Education and Research Alliance 

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The Galápagos Education and Research Alliance (GERA) is a partnership between Galapagueños and students and faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, Villanova University, and Virginia Tech. They address crucial issues facing the Galápagos, including science, education, and conservation initiatives, by partnering with the people of the Galápagos, especially the community of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristóbal Island. Learn more about this institute on the GERA website.

  • The Penn Global Research Institute opportunity with GERA will take place over a full calendar year, from January – December 2024.

  • Each PGRI participant will receive funding to cover all required costs associated with Summer 2024 travel abroad to Ecuador, plus a stipend.

  • All full-time, degree-seeking Penn undergraduate students from all schools and majors, as well as all full-time graduate students who will still be students until the end of the 2024 calendar in the Fall 2024 semester are eligible to apply.

The application for the Galápagos Education and Research Alliance for 2024 is now open. Please apply on the PASSPORT site. The application closes November 27, 2023.

For more information about the Penn Global Research Institutes, please email intern-abroad@upenn.edu.