Perry World House Perry World House Receives $500,000 Grant to Connect Academic and Policy Communities

Grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York will help Penn Continue to “Bridge the Gap”

Perry World House, the University of Pennsylvania’s international affairs hub, has been awarded a new grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. The $500,000 grant will support Perry World House’s efforts to connect Penn’s research and expertise with the global policy community as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This Carnegie grant affirms Perry World House’s mission to make a tangible impact on the world’s most urgent shared challenges,” said Penn Interim Provost Beth A. Winkelstein. “As we continue to emerge from the pandemic, the grant will enable Penn scholars to work together with global leaders and policymakers to help shape the future of our changing world.”

Since 2017, two major grants from Carnegie Corporation of New York have helped Perry World House to inform policy debates and shape academic research agendas on the world’s biggest challenges. The most recent grant, awarded in fall 2019, supported policy and academic convenings on how COVID-19 affected global mobility; the dynamics shaping the future of transatlantic security; and how the United Nations can tackle the twin challenges of a pandemic and great power competition, among others. The grant also underpinned Perry World House funding for Penn faculty, helping them to transform their teaching and make it more relevant to global policy.

“We are delighted to renew our partnership with Carnegie Corporation of New York this fall,” said Perry World House Director and Richard Perry Professor Michael C. Horowitz. “In the past four years, their support, expertise, and faith in our work have been essential in building and strengthening bridges between Penn and the policy community, and this grant will support yet more new workshops, new teaching, and new ideas.”

In addition to hosting new workshops and supporting additional course development, Perry World House will use the grant to emphasize evolving issue areas—which may include trust in emerging technologies and global security, questions surrounding climate governance, and examining how systemic racism impacts U.S. foreign policy—where there is the greatest need for the academic and policy worlds to connect. Drawing on lessons learned from the first two grants, especially the experience of remote operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, Perry World House will also experiment with new formats for workshops; continue to expand participation in its programs from the Global South; and engage directly with government officials in the United States and beyond.

Perry World House brings students and faculty from across Penn’s schools and disciplines together with practitioners and policymakers from around the world to advance interdisciplinary, policy-relevant research on the world’s most urgent global affairs challenges. More information on Perry World House’s research and programming is available at https://global.upenn.edu/perryworldhouse.