Greetings! Welcome to 2026 and this, my fifth blog post about the Discovery Space in the Global Futures Lab.
I’d like to start by thanking you for all that you have done in 2025. It was a wickedly problematic year, and we have managed and muddled and persisted our way through it. Overall, ASU research activities – as measured by the Higher Education Research and Development data that NSF collects – crested over $1B in FY24, and the activities of Global Futures Scientists and Scholars were a great part of that broad-based success. Thank you!
That being said, the current fiscal year is shaping up to be a challenging one. The Global Futures Office of Research Development and Strategy (GFORDS) has implemented a variety of strategies both in anticipation of and in response to these challenges. We are working on six interrelated strategies to support the Discovery Space in the current environment and the needs and ambitions of researchers within it:
- We are “opening the aperture” to a broader array of funders and funding opportunities. GFORDS staff are happy to discuss how to approach new and different funders, and new and different funding opportunities, with you.
- We are working with GIOSI directors and CGF school directors to identify and support high performers in making even more significant contributions, as well as to encourage and support faculty who could be participating more in sponsored programs.
- We have established formal training for faculty with the potential to contribute at higher levels in the IMPACT Studio, designed to boost the work of high-potential scientists and scholars.
- We are working to identify and develop activities that support the success of both immediate work and longer-term developments, particularly including the reorganization of the focal areas and provision of modest Principled Innovation and Strategic Doing support.
- We are assuring that project budgets are competitive and express institutional priorities without damaging projects by guiding PIs toward best practices for articulating public value and providing cost-effective and value-forward budgeting in the current environment.
- We are celebrating successes – large and small – in discovery and impact by implementing a reporting system for new achievements and opportunities, by working with scientists and scholars on impact- and achievement-oriented messaging, and by developing “impact stories” for faculty.
We want to emphasize that it is our job as service-oriented leadership and staff in the Discovery Space to bear some transaction costs of these efforts. Please let us know:
- If there is anything else you’d like to see on the list above.
- Which focal area(s) you would like to affiliate with (if you have not yet done so).
- What new achievements or opportunities you have or are a part of.
We hope you will meet this new year with an open mind and an optimistic disposition toward the work of public value that you are capable of doing! We’re here to help you.