Birmingham-Illinois Partnership: Discovery, Engagement & Education

The University of Birmingham's Transnational Academic Partnership with University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been flourishing for a decade. Since its establishment in 2014, the Birmingham-Illinois Partnership for Discovery, Engagement & Education (known as “BRIDGE”) has become one of the University's most successful and robust strategic partnerships. BRIDGE was established to foster mutual collaboration and investment between the University of Birmingham and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The vision was to deliver breakthrough research and address shared global challenges including global health, sustainability, and education access and equity. The last 10 years have seen us deliver on the promise of that vision, fostering some 115 collaborative projects across dozens of academic disciplines, producing 110 joint publications, and investing over $1.1 million into the joint seed fund. As of 2025 this number has risen to 141 collaborative projects, all focused at tackling major global challenges.