The Pacific Rim Research Program is a multi-campus program established to encourage Pacific Rim research on the ten campuses of the University of California. It sponsors a competitive grants program that provides funds for University of California faculty and graduate students who do research on Pacific Rim topics in a variety of disciplines.
Its priorities are: (1) comparative investigation across national, cultural, linguistic and/or regional boundaries; (2) focus on interactions, flows, or major issues affecting the Pacific Rim region and specific to it; (3) collaboration of scholars in different countries and, where appropriate, different disciplines. Multi-disliplinary, multi-region research is encouraged. Proposals will be evaluated for scholarly merit, originality, purpose, relationship to existing research, theoretical framework, methodology, participants’ qualifications and roles, adequacy of available resources, budget justification, anticipated products, schedule, and dissemination plan.
RATIONALE
The Pacific Rim Research Program was established to help focus the University of California's intellectual resources toward the study of the Pacific Rim as a distinctive region. For the purposes of this Program, the Pacific Rim includes all states and nations that border the Pacific Ocean. Taking as its premise the proposition that the increasing interaction among the peoples and states of the Pacific Rim generates new issues of common concern, the Program places priority on research that is new, unique and specific to the region and that fosters the development of scholarly collaboration across national boundaries and among disciplines.
GOVERNANCE
The Program is governed by an Executive Committee with a faculty member representing each campus of the University and the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Campus representatives are nominated by the Academic Vice Chancellors of each campus. All members, including the Chair, have been appointed by the Vice Provost for Research. The Program is administered from the Office of the President under the supervision of the Vice Provost for Research.
FUNDING
Almost $800,000 per year is available for Pacific Rim grants. Four categories of grants are awarded: (1) Research grants, averaging $18,000 per year; (2) Workshop and Planning Grants, in amounts up to $15,000; and (3) Faculty Development Grants in amounts up to $10,000; and (4) Mini-grants, available twice a year in amounts up to $3,000.
GRANTS
Eligible UC faculty and staff may apply for Research Grants, Workshop and Planning Grants, Faculty Development Grants, and Mini-grants. Graduate students may apply for Dissertation Research Fellowships, Workshop and Planning Grants, and Mini-grants. One-year grants ranges from $3,000 to $30,000 in 2005.
PROJECTS FUNDED 1986-2005
Over 600 projects have been funded since the inception of the program, involving over 450 University of California faculty, 120 graduate students, and well over 300 scholars from institutions on both sides of the Pacific and in both northern and southern hemispheres. Projects have addressed questions as varied as how to control infectious diseases across vast distances and cultural gulfs, how to re-engineer industry to compete in a multi-national regional economy, and how to comprehend cultural fusion taking place in the arts. Research foci have included aspects of environmental science, education policy, and psychology; issues related to cross cultural communication and second language acquisition; and the impact, across regions, of film, dance, music, oral performance and literature. Projects have addressed both historical and contemporary issues, and have demonstrated how historical events shaped modern perceptions in the region.
PRODUCTS
Awardees have reported over 550 publications and research reports, with many more in progress. Over sixty conferences and research workshops have also involved hundreds of participants from around the world. A bibliography of these papers and products can be viewed by visiting the Program Bibliography and Archive, 1986-2001. The Program has also published The Pacific Rim States Asian Demographic Data Book in conjunction with UC Data Archive and Technical Assistance at Berkeley.
CAMPUS IMPACT
The Program has strengthened existing faculty research on Pacific issues and has attracted faculty who have not previously worked in this region to undertake new lines of research. It has been particularly useful in enabling University of California faculty to establish relationships with faculty in institutions around the Pacific. Because most research grants include allocations for graduate research assistants, the Program has also become a vehicle for training a new generation of researchers who will have a regional perspective from the earliest stages of their careers. And by accepting proposals from all disciplines, the Program has helped to diminish the barriers between "area studies" and disciplinary concerns.