Project Mentor: Khanjan Mehta, Creative Inquiry
2027 Impact Fellows:
Project Description:
What if international partnerships were about more than study abroad trips, isolated research projects, ceremonial agreements, and checking boxes? What if universities, businesses, nonprofits, governments, and communities joined forces to build lasting capabilities, solve real problems, and deliver measurable societal impact?
The Global Impact Collaboratory (GIC) aims to build a network of international hubs where research, innovation, entrepreneurship, and experiential learning converge to drive societal impact. Our pilot hub, developed with Almaty Management University (AlmaU) in Kazakhstan, will serve as Lehigh's gateway to Central Asia. Building on Creative Inquiry's Global Social Impact Fellowship (GSIF), HDSE Leadership Intensives, TESSI faculty development programs, and other initiatives, GIC will develop shared infrastructure—including makerspaces and innovation hubs—to support sustained collaboration. Catalyzed by Creative Inquiry but open to the broader Lehigh community, GIC will pioneer reciprocal partnerships that build institutional capacity, mobilize resources, and turn ideas into impact. The Kazakhstan pilot will also serve as a blueprint for future GIC hubs in India, Brazil, Colombia, and beyond, creating a replicable yet locally adaptable model for global engagement.
As a Global Social Impact Fellow, you'll help build this collaboratory from the ground up. Working with AlmaU and regional partners, you'll forge partnerships, shape programs, design makerspaces, mobilize resources, and develop a replicable operating model. A key research focus will be AI readiness: How prepared are universities, businesses, nonprofits, and communities to harness AI responsibly and effectively? Through fieldwork, interviews, and surveys, fellows will develop and pilot a practical AI-readiness assessment, identify critical gaps, and translate findings into actionable capacity-building initiatives.
This is part institution-building, part applied research, part international entrepreneurship, and part cross-cultural adventure. We're looking for curious, resourceful students from every discipline who enjoy connecting dots, navigating ambiguity, and turning bold ideas into reality. Come help reimagine global collaboration —and build a model that can spark impact around the world!