Global Issues Initiative

The Global Issues Initiative (GII) centered in the National Capital Region is one component of the Institute for Society, Culture and Environment (ISCE). The Institute is tasked with strengthening the university’s competitive position in the social sciences, arts, and humanities. ISCE provides organizational and financial support for targeted creative, interactive, multi-and interdisciplinary research endeavors.

The programmatic focus for ISCE is the area of Social and Individual Transformation, one of Virginia Tech’s four discovery scholarship domains. For more information about Virginia Tech’s focus on social and individual transformation, please refer to the Discovery Scholarship Section of the University’s strategic plan.

Broadly, GII addresses international policy questions facing United States at the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels in such areas as trade and economic integration, global security, counter-terrorism, and public health and science. An initial research and public information focal area is the international trade regime including multilateral trade negotiations and the impact of these negotiations on economic prosperity, trade in goods and services, economic development, and the integration of developing countries into the global economy. In this thrust area, the GII’s activities are closely integrated with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

The Global Issues Initiative co-hosts an occasional lecture series with the Government and International Affairs (GIA) program of the School of Public and International Affairs.         

For further information about the Global Issues Initiative, contact:

The other targeted areas of ISCE’s research and scholarship addressing issues of social and individual transformation are:

• Human development and behavioral health (e.g., life span issues, aging issues, children, adolescents, adulthood, family, community, child and adult health behavior)
• Rhetoric, representation, and public humanities (e.g., transformative effects of technology on society; new media and communication technologies; language and symbolic systems; human creativity & technology)
• Social complexity and individual risk (e.g., ethics; risk analysis; disaster management; ecosystem impact)
• Community arts, built environments, and urban formations (e.g., symbolic thinking and practical environments)

For further information about the Institute for Society, Culture and Environment, contact: