<p>Brown University and Banco Santander will inaugurate an annual series of Brown International Advanced Research Institutes, bringing together a rising generation of scholars from emerging markets and the global South, beginning in June 2009. (See also <a href="/pressreleases/2008/11/santander">Spanish-language release</a> from Banco Santander.)</p>

PROVIDENCE, R.I., U.S.A. [Brown University] — Brown University will inaugurate an annual series of International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI), co-sponsored by Banco Santander, through its Santander Universities Global Division, to convene promising young scholars from emerging markets and the global South.

BIARI is part of a comprehensive cooperation agreement between Brown University and Banco Santander, one of the world’s top 10 banks and the largest bank in Spain. In addition to BIARI, the agreement includes:

  • grants for Brown students to spend one term studying at universities around the world;
  • an internship program that will give selected Brown students the opportunity to work at Santander-affiliated banks around the world;
  • a Spanish language instruction program for Brown students and members of the Brown community using e-learning environments in conjunction with the Cervantes Institute, a worldwide nonprofit organization dedicated to Spanish and Hispanic American language and culture, created by the Spanish government in 1991.

BIARI is the flagship program of this agreement. Beginning in June 2009, Brown will open its doors annually to promising young academics from around the world to share their work with one another and meet with leading figures in their field in an intensive workshop-like setting. Organized by academic field and addressing cutting-edge issues, BIARI will offer a rising generation of the world’s academic leaders a distinctive international experience in Providence. Ileana Porras, visiting professor at the Watson Institute for International Studies, has been appointed director of BIARI in the Office of International Affairs for 2008-09.

“We expect the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes to make a significant contribution to global research through transnational academic collaboration, building networks and providing needed professional development opportunities for young scholars embarking on lives in research and teaching,” said David Kennedy, vice president for international affairs and interim director of the Watson Institute for International Studies. “The Institutes will be a significant program in a University-wide effort to internationalize by utilizing our convening power to foster high-level international intellectual and policy conversations.”

Each June, the Institutes will be convened by leading faculty from Brown and elsewhere who will invite participation from key global experts as visiting faculty. The Institutes, each lasting from one to four weeks, will provide the opportunity for sharing new research, learning from established leaders in the field, and exploring the field’s canonical questions and materials from the perspectives of various national and local traditions. The program will offer participants the opportunity to focus on topics that are a priority for truly internationalist scholarship, in fields in which Brown has exceptional strength. Examples include technology and entrepreneurship; development economics; international affairs; population studies; study of the ancient world; nanotechnology; bioengineering; and planetary geology. BIARI aims to assist scholars from the areas less well represented in global debates in making themselves heard. The Institutes will also provide the basis for future research and teaching collaborations.

Santander Universities Global Division supported a pilot program for BIARI during the summer 2008. Four Institutes took place with great success at Brown. The Office of International Affairs has issued a call for proposals to University departments, institutes, and programs interested in convening and organizing an Institute for summer 2009.

Banco Santander’s collaboration is part of its ongoing effort to support, through its Santander Universities Global Division, academic projects developed by more than 700 university and research institutions around the world. Since 1996, when it was created, Santander Universities has been the keystone of Banco Santander’s social policies.

The affiliation will become official on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008, when Brown Provost David Kertzer and Emilio Botin, chairman of Banco Santander and parent of two Brown graduates, take part in a signing ceremony at Brown’s John Hay Library.

Further information on BIARI is available online at www.brown.edu/Administration/International_Affairs/.