From June 10-12, Yale welcomed leaders from nine leading universities as it hosted an annual gathering of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), a consortium of research-intensive universities. Beyond addressing administrative details of the alliance and updating progress on IARU initiatives, guests engaged with leading experts at Yale on innovations in key fields.

Attendees included the Australian National University; ETH Zürich; National University of Singapore; University of California, Berkeley; University of Cambridge; University of Cape Town; University of Copenhagen; University of Oxford; and the University of Tokyo. In addition to this meeting, Yale hosts at least one working group meeting or workshop annually.

“The big benefit of IARU is the small network that allows the presidents, senior officers, and working group participants to get to know each other, have in-depth conversations over time and really understand how each do their jobs,” said Don Filer, Yale’s associate vice president for global strategy.

The three-day event commenced with the senior officers’ meeting, followed by the presidents’ meeting hosted by Yale President Peter Salovey on the second day, and culminated with a joint session of senior officers and presidents for the third day. 

Throughout the sessions, the presidents and senior officers met with innovators in various fields at Yale. Nicholas Turk-Browne, director of Yale’s Wu Tsai Institute and professor of psychology, showcased the institute’s collaborative and interdisciplinary approach in a talk titled “Frontiers of Interdisciplinary Research.” Dr. Megan Ranney, dean of the Yale School of Public Health, discussed the evolution of the public health school while also highlighting pressing problems in the field during her talk, “Global Health Challenges.” 

On the final day, faculty led discussions on emerging shared challenges. Julie Zimmerman, Yale’s vice provost for Planetary Solutions, spoke on the initiative’s goals in addressing the climate crisis and potential partnerships for synergistic strategies. Luciano Floridi, founding director of Yale’s Digital Ethics Center and professor in the practice in the Cognitive Science program, explored the ethics of AI development and the opportunity for universities to act as models for AI implementation. 

Larry Kanter, chief curator at the Yale University Art Gallery, led a tour of the museum on the third day. Attendees also had the opportunity to tour the newly re-opened Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Next year, IARU will celebrate its 20th-anniversary.