Stephen Spates and Thea Knowles have been selected as Global Partnership Scholars through the Alliance for African Partnerships, earning $10,000 grants to support international research and collaboration across Africa.
Spates, assistant professor in the Department of Communication, and Knowles, assistant professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, are part of the program’s second cohort. The cohort-based, mentored program supports early- to mid-career faculty in building and strengthening scholarly partnerships with institutions and collaborators across Africa.
The Global Partnership Scholars program aims to expand international research networks, foster long-term collaborations and advance global perspectives in faculty scholarship. It is aligned with Michigan State University’s broader mission to promote discovery, creativity and global impact through research.
For Spates, the award will support an international research project focused on communication and artificial intelligence. His work examines the gap between dominant, computational understandings of AI and more human-centered perspectives shaped by cultural, educational and professional contexts. The project is part of a larger collaboration with Jonathan Choti in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures.
“As a communication scholar, this project looks at the gaps that exist in AI competencies and how communication strategies can help close those gaps,” Spates said. “This is a big deal for me personally and professionally. It will support my first trip to the continent, something I’ve always been excited about, and it signals meaningful support of my research agenda at the global level.”
Knowles’ project will focus on building partnerships with scholars and clinicians in Africa to better understand and address the needs of people living with Parkinson disease and their support networks. Her work centers on communication difficulties related to Parkinson disease and other neurodegenerative conditions through Michigan State University’s Speech Outcomes in Neurogenic Disease (SONiC) Lab.
“I am so grateful to have the opportunity to collaborate with African clinicians and scholars to better understand the global impact of Parkinson disease on communication and identify important directions for our research,” Knowles said. “I am looking forward to learning from our Africa GPS partners and creating global learning opportunities for our students.”
The Alliance for African Partnerships supports research and initiatives aimed at addressing complex global challenges with a focus on creating meaningful, long-term impact across African communities.
By Claire Dippel