News

The Democratic Futures Project hosted the Resisting Illegal Government Detentions and Hostage-Taking (RIGHT) Coalition meeting at UVA’s Fairfax campus on September 17th, 2025.  The DFP’s involvement in this project emerged from DFP fellow and Global Studies faculty member Felix Maradiaga’s efforts to promote international advocacy and cooperation to prevent and deter the use of arbitrary detention against democratic advocates working in authoritarian regimes.

PhD candidate Robert Sanchis-Álvarez (Spanish, Italian & Portuguese) describes his discovery of a Spanish colonial-era newspaper from the Philippines at a flea market. With CGII funding, Sanchis was able to start a two-year process of preservation and repatriation.

This 10-minute video captures highlights from the 3rd Gugulethu Community-Researcher Indaba, held on 12 March 2025 in Gugulethu, Cape Town. The Research Indaba was organized by the Cape Town-based Movement for Change and Social Justice (MCSJ), the University of Cape Town, and the University of Virginia. The objective of the Indaba (a local word for ‘news’ or ‘meeting’) is to improve community health and well-being by promoting community-researcher engagement. The focus was on improving men’s health given the high levels of disease and death among South African men from TB, HIV, diabetes, hypertension and cancer, and from violence and injury. This Indaba presented relevant research to the local community to increase awareness, build social and research networks, and consider next steps for local solutions.

The Center for Global Inquiry and Innovation closes out the 2024-2025 academic year during what can only be described as a season of consequence and challenge. In the most important ways, this grant cycle has been enormously successful.

Economist Jessica Montgomery's CGII-funded research focused on the economic impact of property rights in post-apartheid South Africa.

Afghan artivist Omaid Sharifi and UVA student Samman Akbarzada discuss how they use art to advocate for and with the people of Afghanistan, in the U.S. and abroad.

The Center for Global Inquiry + Innovation (CGII) was founded in the fall of 2013 to support global, interdisciplinary, and collaborative research. The center awarded its first grants that winter. Now, over a decade later, UVA Global reflects on CGII’s impact.

Anna Chekhovich of Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation discusses the use of cryptocurrency as a tool to fund global activist movements with Professor Ian Appel of the Darden School of Business. Chekhovich came to the University of Virginia as a visiting guest through UVA's Democratic Futures Project.

Elizabeth Wittner (CAELC), Bonnie Gordon (Music), Fern Hauck (Family Medicine) have received an award for Collaborative Excellence in Public Service for work with local refugee communities.

Professor Sylvia Tidey (Anthropology, Global Studies) discusses her research on aging transgender women in Indonesia, funded by a CGII center grant. She found that transgender women often fall into a care void as they age, lacking family support and state services. She compared care models in Jakarta, Java, and Bali, focusing on the evolving needs and possibilities for older LGBTQIIA individuals in Indonesia.