Latin America and the Caribbean

A Queen's Strategic Priority Region

The region of Latin America and the Caribbean includes all countries from Mexico to the southern tip of South America.

Csilla Volford Photo

Get in Touch with the Regional Lead

Csilla Volford is the regional lead for Latin America and the Caribbean. She is a resource for the Queen's community seeking international collaborations. This includes partnership development, agreements and contracts, connecting to regional networks and funding sources, and coordinating incoming diplomatic delegations or university wide visits.

Contact Csilla at csilla.volford@queensu.ca

Csilla Volford's Profile

Partnership Highlights

Regional Networks for Global Engagement

CALDO connects students with Canada’s leading research-intensive universities, supporting universities' recruitment and partnership development in Central and South America.

Queen's involvement:

Recent Engagements:

  • In 2023 a group of Queen's employees travelled with CALDO around South America on a partnership building trip.

Link: CALDO Website

Founded in 1993 the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education is a leading association for the internationalization of higher education in the Americas.

OUI-IOHE contributes to the strengthening of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) by building spaces for educational cooperation in coordination with its members and other strategic partners.

Ways to get involved:

Link: OUI-IOHE Website

Regional Funding Opportunities

Queen’s is a member of the ACU, the oldest international network of universities (400+ members across 40 commonwealth countries).

Opportunities for Staff and Faculty

  • ACU Fellowships facilitate learning, collaboration, and new partnerships – offering academics and professional staff up to 5000 GBP towards research visits up to six months at ACU member universities.
  • ACU Grants enable universities to develop research, train staff, and build connections.
  • Many of these opportunities look favourably on collaborative proposals with other ACU universities, including those in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Opportunities for Students

  • ACU Summer School Grants: hosted in a different country each year, the ACU provides funding for students from every corner of the Commonwealth to discuss multidisciplinary issues of global importance.
  • ACU has a number of Scholarships and Fellowships for students.

When do these opportunities open?

CFLI provides funding for small-scale, high-impact projects in developing countries, which align with Global Affairs Canada’s thematic priority areas for engagement.

Opportunity Summary

  • The program is directed at projects conceived and designed predominantly by local partners.
  • Projects are selected and approved by the relevant Canadian embassy or high commission.
  • The average CFLI contribution is $40,000 Canadian Dollars ($100,000 CAD maximum).
  • Annual calls are launched for countries in the Latin America and the Carribean region.

When do these opportunities open?

  • Annual submission times vary by country.

Link:

CALDO connects students with Canada’s leading research-intensive universities, supporting universities' recruitment and partnership development in Central and South America.

Highlighted Opportunities

  • Through CALDO, Queen’s has signed agreements with CONAPE (Costa Rica), and SENACYT (Panama), and agreements are in negotiations with FIDERH (Mexico), and Colfuturo (Colombia).

Link:

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is an intergovernmental organisation that is a political and economic union of 15 member states throughout the Americas and Atlantic Ocean. The Government of Canada provides several funding opportunities as part of a Canada-CARICOM Strategic Partnership.

Highlighted Opportunities

When do these opportunities open?

  • Start of the year, usually due around March.

Link:

Opportunity Summary

  • One-week immersive summer programs with a homestay for students.

Link:

Initiated by the Government of Canada, Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP) provides funding for short term exchange programs aimed at supporting the development of the next generation of leaders in the Americas while strengthening the linkages between post-secondary institutions in Canada and the Americas.

Highlighted Opportunities

  • ELAP Student Program: eligible undergraduate students are able to receive $8200 CAD to study in Canada for four months or one semester.
  • ELAP Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building (ELAP FMPB): full time Queen's faculty are eligible for up to $7,000 CAD for short term research and/or teaching activities in the Caribbean and Latin America. The exchange must aim to create new institutional collaborations and/or to strengthen existing agreements between Canadian and non-Canadian post-secondary institutions.

When are these opportunities open?

  • ELAP Student Program (Early Year): Queen's typically submits online applications on behalf of incoming students by late March.
  • ELAP Faculty Program (End of the Year): Queen's need to submit online proposals on behalf of faculty by late March.

Link:

Opportunity Summary

When are these opportunities open?

  • Dependent on scholarship call.

Link:

Mitacs is a nonprofit Canadian research organization that, in partnerships with academia, industry and government, operates research and training programs in fields related to industrial and social innovation.

Highlighted Opportunities

  • For Queen’s Students - Globalink Research Award (GRA): Open to full time senior undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows from Canada. Candidates are provided $6,000 to undertake 12-24 week projects with a home supervisor and a host supervisor in the other country. Eligible countries in Latin America and the Caribbean include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. – Learn More
  • For Queen’s Faculty Members - Globalink Research Internship (GRI): Open to undergraduate students in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico for 12-week internships associated with research projects hosted by Canadian academic institution faculty members. Students receive funding to cover roundtrip airfare, housing, food, and insurance. Queen’s faculty members submit their project details to Mitacs. International students then submit applications and select research projects. – Learn More

When are these opportunities open?

  • Mitacs GRA: GRA Applications are submitted by supervisor at the start of the year for either an April or June start date.
  • Mitacs GRI: GRI Projects typically take place between May and July. Faculty Members typically submit upcoming research projects in February, international students select research projects in October. 

Link:

Founded in 1993 the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education is a leading association for the internationalization of higher education in the Americas.

Opportunity Summary

  • The MEIN Award is an initiative promoted by the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE) which aims to promote knowledge, dissemination and exchange of trends and innovative educational practices implemented in HEIs within the continent.
  • Four editions of the competition have been held since 2016, mobilizing more than 116 IOHE member higher education institutions, representing 16 countries within the continent.
  • The 2024 Call is on “The use of artificial intelligence in higher education: Strategies, successes and challenges”:
  • The first place project will receive a round-trip ticket to attend the next edition of the Conference of the Americas on International Education (CAEI-2025), to be held in San Jose, Costa Rica from October 15, 16 and 17, 2025.

When are these opportunities open?

  • The competition will take place in two stages: The presentation of abstracts (Stage 1), during which a short list of research projects and case studies will be selected, with the authors invited to submit a complete detailed proposal and to present before an international jury (Stage 2).
  • Open currently, abstracts due by May 24, 2024

Link:

Founded in 1993 the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education is a leading association for the internationalization of higher education in the Americas.

Opportunity Summary

  • eMovies – Virtual Mobility Space in Higher Education: offers participating higher education institutions an alternative to traditional mobility models to promote international academic exchanges in higher education, by giving students the opportunity to take courses in virtual or distance mode offered by other IOHE Member Institutions.

When are these opportunities open?

  • The application period depends on the deadlines of each destination institution.

Link:

The Organization of American States (OAS) offers academic scholarships for study or research at the Master’s or PhD level that lead to a degree at a university or educational institution in an OAS Member State (other than Canada).

Opportunity Summary

  • Each year, the Organization of American States will award at least one $10,000 USD scholarship to Canadians for study or research.

When are these opportunities open?

  • Start of year, the online form must be submitted by March, with results coming in June. 

Link:

The Pathy Foundation Fellowship is an intensive 12-month experiential learning opportunity for graduating students to lead a self-directed community-focused project in a community they have a meaningful connection with, anywhere in the world.

Opportunity Summary

  • Individuals must propose an innovative idea to strengthen or develop a community; or have a connection with a positive and sustainable community development initiative in any field already underway within a community that they would like to build upon in an innovative way.
  • Successful candidates will receive up to $40,000 CAD to assist with living allowances, travel expenses, and initiative funding.
  • Open to full time undergraduate or masters students in the final year of their program.

When do these opportunities open?

  • Annually - open in September, due in January.

Link:

The Peru-Canada Chamber of Commerce's mission is to assist Peruvian companies in Canada as well as Canadian companies in Peru to expand their business.

Opportunity Summary

  • Collaborations currently in development, keep an eye on this space for opportunities.

Link:

The Principal's Teaching and Learning Awards celebrate teaching excellence and the diverse ways in which educators and educational supports enhance the student learning experience at Queen’s.

Opportunity Summary

  • The Principal’s Globally Engaged Education Innovation Award honours the outstanding efforts of an individual or a team of students, staff and/or faculty (in any combination) who innovatively internationalize a course or program of teaching and learning, by embedding global content, perspectives and dimensions into the course or program, whether on campus or as part of a field program.
  • Any member of the Queen's community can initiate a nomination, self-nominations are also allowed.

Award recipients will:

  • be presented with the award at the annual Teaching Awards Reception;
  • receive a $2000 award to be used at their discretion and;
  • be featured in international Queen’s communications stories.

When do these opportunities open?

  • Open in September, Close in January

Link:

The UFMG Summer School on Brazilian Studies (SSBS) is a comprehensive course that offers students from all over the world an understanding of key aspects of Brazil from distinct perspectives.

  • SSBS 2024 is scheduled to take place from July 15, 2024 to July 26, 2024.
  • The Summer School takes place at UFMG’s main campus in Belo Horizonte – the capital city of Brazil’s federal state of Minas Gerais – every July.

Link:

Queen's Research Discovery Network

Explore a map of the research community at Queen's University with this database put together by the Vice-Principal Research Portfolio

Research Discovery Network
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2023 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings