Indiana University to fund 300 million research on global problems

Indiana University is launching a $300 million research grant initiative to focus on understanding and addressing global problems. Grand challenges such as international water supply, energy availability, infectious diseases, and climate change will provide the focus for interdisciplinary research teams comprised of nonprofits, industry and government. Having been marginally involved in considering the Grand Challenges for research focus in Qatar, a critical element of "interdisciplinary" research is that the teams need to include humanities, arts, behavioral and social sciences if the grand challenges are to be addressed in comprehensive ways. Qatar had both water and food security issues but addressing their vulnerability had as much to do with human behavior as it had to do with the science of water supply and food production.