The Academy serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas and promoting interactions via International Symposia. While travel is limited this fall during the pandemic, we remain connected to our global partners through virtual events.

In addition to the program for McDonnell Scholars, a second strategy to enhance the network of partner institutions focuses on collaborative research and education. In the absence of organized collaboration, these activities risk being a fragmented set of pieces rather than parts to a larger puzzle. The McDonnell Academy has convened eight international symposia – concrete steps to further fostering of institutional collaborations on pressing global issues. This is a vision of the McDonnell Academy network as a platform for fostering collaboration among faculty and students from around the world, often with corporate and government sponsors involved as well.

2023 McDonnell Academy Symposium

The next Symposium is scheduled for October 5-7, 2023, and will be in person at Washington University in St. Louis. The global research symposium will highlight ongoing projects and outcomes in the areas of environmental research, social innovation, global health challenges, and digital transformation, featuring recipients of the McDonnell Academy Global Incubator Seed Grants from the past three years.