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Better Together: National Science Foundation Program Helps Establish, Maintain International Research Partnerships

The Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) program – run by the National Science Foundation (NSF) – funds collaborations between U.S. and foreign researchers where the international partnership is essential to the research effort.

An Abt Global’s comparison of PIRE participants to a comparison group found evidence that PIRE largely is meeting its goals. These include:
  • Promoting opportunities for U.S. scientists and engineers to engage in international collaborations that enhance research excellence;
  • Providing international research and educational experiences for U.S. students and faculty that will prepare the U.S. science and engineering workforce for global engagement;
  • Strengthening the capacity of U.S. researchers and institutions to build and sustain international partnerships; and
  • Supporting partnerships that promote excellence in science, engineering and education.
The evaluation included 59 PIRE awards made in 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2012 and a comparison group of other NSF awards matched individually to 55 of the 59 PIRE awards. 

“PIRE participants were more likely than the comparison group members to continue to collaborate with individuals based primarily outside the U.S., even after the award period had ended,” said Carter Epstein, the project director and an associate at Abt.

Importantly, the international partnerships in PIRE did not come at the cost of reduced research productivity or impact: there were no statistically significant differences in the quantity or quality of research produced by the PIRE and the comparison group.

Postdoctoral participants in PIRE had, on average, a larger number of post-onset annual publications and these publications had a larger impact. PIRE graduate students also had a higher average number of annual post-award publications than their comparison group peers.

Read more about Abt’s PIRE evaluation:
Project description
Evaluation of the National Science Foundation’s Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) Program

Final report
Evaluation of the National Science Foundation’s Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) Program Volume 1: Final Report
Evaluation of the National Science Foundation’s Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) Program Volume 2: Supplementary Materials to the Final Report

Evaluation Surveys
PIRE_Principal Investigator Survey
PIRE_Postdoctoral Participant Survey
PIRE_Graduate Student Survey
PIRE_Undergraduate Student Survey
PIRE_Foreign Investigator Survey
PIRE_Institutional Administrator Survey
Regions
North America
 
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