Deepening Equity in Grantmaking for Comparative and International Education Research: Philanthropic Grant Funding Overview and Grant Writing Workshop

Group Submission Type: Workshop

Description of Session

This workshop is targeted toward scholars seeking grant funding for their educational research projects. The workshop will be presented by staff members from the Spencer Foundation, the Oak Foundation, and the Jacob Foundation – three foundations that fund educational research – as well as by scholars who have reviewed for and/or received grants from these foundations in recent years. As foundations committed to advancing equity in knowledge production, we note that geographic asymmetries continue to shape the field of education research in ways that generally privilege perspectives from the US and/or the global North. Such a state of affairs undermines our collective capacity to fulfill the dream of educational equity around the world. Against this background, we perceive this workshop as an opportunity to deepen grantmakers’ engagement with comparative and international perspectives toward transformative education across geographic scales.

This two hour and 45 minute workshop will feature three main activities: 1. A panel discussion by foundation staff members and grantees; 2. Small and large group discussions about tackling US-centrism in review processes; 3. Peer feedback on research ideas, research design, and research agendas.

In Part I of the workshop, we will bring funders of education research into conversation with researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and other attendees at the 2025 Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) annual conference. The panel will 1) provide insight into the application and review process from both the grant-seeking and grant-making side and 2) engage in a robust dialogue about how to better support critical scholarship in the global South. Program staff from the Spencer, Oak and Jacobs Foundations will present their approach to research funding and will consider the implications for international scholarship. Grant recipients and reviewers will draw on their experiences navigating the grant process and provide insights on how we can collectively foster critical research in international contexts. Workshop participants will have the chance to ask questions at the end of the panel.

In Part II of the workshop, participants will be organized into small groups of 6-8 to discuss their experiences of US-centrism in academic review processes, whether for journal submissions or in the grantmaking process. What are the responsibilities of scholars, editors, and funders in addressing this issue? Each small group will be facilitated by a foundation staff member or grantee. The entire group will reconvene for 20 minutes of discussion and sharing.

The final part of the workshop will be dedicated to peer workshopping of participants’ research ideas. In pairs or in groups of three, workshop participants will discuss each other’s research questions (or research designs), commenting on how the proposed study contributes to scholarship, practice, and/or policy in comparative and international education. Foundation grantees will facilitate this part of the workshop.

The workshop is open to all education research scholars, from graduate students to senior scholars, diverse methodological and topical interests, and from all geographic contexts. The workshop will be conducted in English.

Our goal is for this session to advance educational equity across the globe by a) enabling dialogue between funders and researchers outside of the global North, b) deepening transparency about grantmaking, especially as it relates to international scholarship. In doing so, it is our hope to foster cutting-edge future research on equity and education in global contexts.

Sub Unit

• Book launches and Workshops / Workshop

Chair

• Tafadzwa Tivaringe, The Spencer Foundation

Workshop Organizer

• Jenny F Zhang, The Spencer Foundation

Presenter

• Bethiel Girma Holton, Oak Foundation

Discussant

• Samuel Kembou, Jacobs Foundation