Support for International Collaboration in Research: The Role of the Overseas Offices of Basic Science Funders

The internationalization of science has prompted major science funding agencies to seek to further international cooperation in basic research through the use of outposts based outside of the agency's home country. While these offices are all international in scope, the strategies and utilization of these offices vary. This paper begins by outlining the motivations and theoretical framework for international offices, drawing specifically from a proximity theory of relationships. Subsequently the paper presents a typology of activities that fall under the rubric of international engagement in science. We will then critically examine the international offices of four leading basic research funding agencies and attempt to characterize and describe the distinct models that these agencies employ. Building from the models of organization, the paper closes with a discussion of the impacts of these overseas offices as well as other policy implications from the use of different engagement strategies in fostering international collaboration.