The Fund
PUF was established in May 2007 under the auspices of the FACE Foundation, NYC. Thanks to the generosity of private donors and contributions from the French government, PUF launched its first call for projects in September 2007 with the objective of supporting innovative and sustainable partnerships between French and US institutions of research and higher education. With close to 70 applications representing more than 130 French and American universities and research institutes, the results of the first call for project confirmed both the readiness of institutions across the Atlantic to build a new generation of partnerships, and the fitting of PUF as an innovative means for that purpose.
Between then and now, applications have risen 30% with requests from 180 American and French universities and research institutes represented most recently. This response underscores both the need and readiness of institutions on both sides of the Atlantic to build the next generation of novel collaborations to produce the necessary knowledge and talents to keep France and the US at the forefront of invention.
PUF has awarded 55 three-year grants over four funding cycles (2008-11) in the broadly defined categories of Business & Law, Culture & the Humanities, Earth Sciences, Energy & Materials Science and the Life Sciences. The modalities of transatlantic collaboration can range from joint research and publications to the development of shared curricula and the establishment of joint and dual degrees. They can naturally include various forms of mobility for students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty and researchers.
The Grant Selection Committee, under the co-presidency of Dr. Allan E. Goodman, President and CEO of the Institute of International Education (IIE) and Dr. Christophe Laux, Professor of Engineering, Ecole Centrale Paris (ECP), selected 12 laureates in April 2011, subsequently approved by the steering committee of PUF and the board of FACE. Those partnerships will collectively receive over $800.000 for their first year of existence in academic year 2011-2012.
The unique characteristic of PUF is to offer a single funding tool to support multifaceted projects whereas many funding agencies or foundations offer specialized instruments that make it more difficult to play out the complementarities between the different components of a partnership (Joint research, mobility of professors, students, post docs, shared curricula).
Subject to an annual review, PUF can co-finance a developing partnership for up to 3 consecutive years, at a level of up to $80,000 per year per project. This substantial level of funding needs to be matched by the partners as PUF only funds up to 30% of the cost of a program, the rest being raised in kind or in cash by the partner universities themselves in order to ensure the sustainability of the partnerships in the long run. Since the cohort 2010, Culture & Humanities projects have been eligible to receive a higher level of support. Thanks to a leadership gift from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, PUF will fund up to 60% of the total cost of selected partnerships in the Culture & Humanities field to a limit of $160,000 annually.
PUF is managed by a team located in New York, at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, under the supervision of the PUF Steering Committee. The team, that works closely with the staff of the FACE Foundation in New York, is led by an executive director also serving as Cultural Attaché for higher Education.