Dr Jonathan Kennedy, Reader in Politics and Global Health in the Centre for Public Health and Policy, has won an award in the 'Pandemics' category of the US-UK Fulbright Commission's inaugural Global Challenges Teaching Awards (GCTA), a programme aimed at increasing access to global learning for students on both sides of the Atlantic.
Jonathan will collaborate with Jessie Dubreuil, Associate Director for Learning at the Center for Innovations in Teaching at the University of California, to develop a 'virtual exchange' that will allow their students to learn about the similarities and difference between health inequalities in the US and UK. Using the COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) teaching method, the GCTA aims to promote digital innovation and democratise international exchange by bringing together classes on both sides of the Atlantic to collaborate on student projects that address a global challenge of our time.
This year’s cohort of six scholars from the US and UK, paired by the Fulbright Commission and the American Council on Education (ACE), will focus on pandemics, climate change and racial justice. They will be given a unique opportunity to share and compare knowledge across nations, widen their perspectives and build important transatlantic links to help tackle these challenges collectively.
Dr Kennedy said: "This opportunity will allow my students to get first hand insights into health inequalities in the US, and to develop their intercultural competence. I believe that the exchange will be of great value to the QMUL students involved, and contribute to some important aspects of the Queen Mary Strategy 2030, such as inclusivity and creating global communities. What is also exciting about the project from the QMUL perspective is that it makes the benefits of educational exchange accessible to all students, not just those who have the time and money to go on a year abroad."