Over the past three years, UC Santa Cruz has cultivated a partnership with Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) that has grown from hopeful conversations into a vibrant, multifaceted collaboration spanning multiple disciplines. With shared commitments to academic excellence, innovative teaching, and impactful research, both institutions have invested time and resources into faculty exchanges, joint grant proposals, and student mobility initiatives that strengthen and advance opportunities for both universities.
Laying the Foundation
The groundwork for this partnership was set through exploratory visits and virtual exchanges in 2023. Early conversations identified mutual strengths in the humanities, sciences, and creative arts. Faculty began connecting across disciplines, ranging from public history and literature to chemistry and computational media, while both universities explored opportunities for Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) courses and graduate research exchange.
Expanding Academic Connections
April of 2024 brought the first exploratory in-person visit to QUB through the inaugural Faculty Seminar Away aimed at fostering international and interdisciplinary connections and dialogue among faculty and providing opportunities for UCSC faculty to develop new or strengthen existing relationships with colleagues abroad.
In November 2024, UC Santa Cruz welcomed a delegation from QUB to facilitate ongoing faculty-driven dialogue on research and the expansion of academic collaboration between the two institutions.
Research teams quickly began pursuing competitive funding together. Professors Susan Carpenter (UCSC) and Rebecca Coll (QUB), joined by a colleague at Maynooth University, submitted a tripartite NIH grant, while Professors Alvaro Cardenas (UCSC) and Kieran McLaughlin (QUB) collaborated on a U.S.-Ireland R&D Partnership proposal. Chemistry faculty explored the creation of a 4+1 program that would allow UCSC undergraduates to complete a master’s degree at Queen’s, and conversations expanded into life sciences, public history, and the humanities. In the arts, collaborations flourished as UCSC’s Renee Fox and QUB’s Ali FitzGibbon developed joint projects in literature and performance, while theater and music faculty discussed future residencies and shared productions.
Strengthening the Partnership
In March of 2025, three faculty members from Queen’s University Belfast visited UC Santa Cruz to explore opportunities in the arts and humanities.
Shortly after, UCSC faculty members Patty Gallagher, Ben Leeds Carson, and Renee Fox traveled to Belfast to present the acclaimed performance of An Iliad. Their visit drew excellent feedback and inspired conversations about creating a joint Creative Arts Hub, connecting faculty and students across drama, music, literature, and digital arts. Both universities also explored the idea of sharing public lectures virtually, ensuring broader access for students and community members on both sides of the Atlantic.
Graduate student research has also become an integral part of the partnership. A UCSC Ph.D. student working with Professor Sri Kurniawan spent ten weeks in Belfast conducting an autism study, offering a model for future graduate placements. The partnership has been recognized as “strategic” within QUB’s resource allocation framework, and with the launch of QUB’s new “Grand Challenges” initiative in fields such as AI and sustainability, both universities are positioned to pursue significant joint funding opportunities.
In the humanities, collaboration continues to deepen. In September 2025, seven UCSC scholars, including Dean of Humanities Jasmine Alinder, will take part in QUB’s Center for Public History conference, strengthening ties in digital scholarship, community-engaged research, and comparative historical studies. At the same time, conversations are underway to expand collaborations in marine sciences, integrating COIL courses into UCSC’s Creative Technologies BA, and leveraging each university’s distinctive strengths in agriculture and environmental research.
Looking Ahead
With each new engagement, UCSC and QUB have moved from exploring possibilities to implementing programs that tangibly benefit students, faculty, and both institutions’ global networks. The next phase will likely see targeted funding applications, expanded student mobility, and the launch of innovative teaching collaborations.
From creative arts to cutting-edge science, this partnership continues to prove that sustained faculty engagement and institutional support can transform shared vision into lasting impact.
Broadening and deepening institutional partnerships with universities abroad is key to the UC Santa Cruz Strategic Plan for Internationalization.