FORDHAM UNIVERSITY CORP

Their core work

Fordham University is a private Jesuit research university in New York City with deep expertise in humanities, religious studies, and social history. Within H2020, it serves as a US-based third-party host for Marie Skłodowska-Curie researchers, providing an American academic environment for European-funded fellows studying transnational history, religion, race, and gender. Its strength lies in bridging European and American scholarly perspectives on contentious social and historical issues, particularly around Catholicism, racial justice, and interfaith relations.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Fordham's early H2020 involvement (2016) centered on international higher education and doctoral training through the DIRS cofund program, focused on researcher employability and interdisciplinarity. From 2019 onward, the university shifted decisively toward humanities research — specifically transnational religious history, race studies, and gender in conflict settings, all hosted through MSCA Individual Fellowships. This evolution reflects a move from institutional capacity-building to serving as a specialized transatlantic research destination for European scholars in social sciences and humanities.

Fordham is consolidating its role as a US-based host for European humanities fellows working on religion, race, and social justice — topics where its Jesuit identity and New York location provide unique research context.

How they like to work

Fordham participates exclusively as a third-party partner, never as coordinator or direct consortium member — consistent with its role as a non-EU institution providing a US research base for MSCA fellows. Despite only four projects, it has connected with 46 unique partners across 9 countries, indicating it plugs into large, diverse consortia rather than working in tight bilateral arrangements. This makes it a low-commitment but high-value partner for consortia needing a credible American academic anchor.

Through just 4 projects, Fordham has connected with 46 partners in 9 countries, largely because the DIRS cofund and MSCA networks bring together many institutions. Its network spans European universities with a transatlantic bridge function.

What sets them apart

Fordham offers something rare in H2020 consortia: a prestigious US-based Jesuit university that provides a transatlantic dimension to European research on religion, race, and social history. Its Catholic institutional identity makes it an authentic research environment for projects examining the Church's historical and contemporary role in social issues. For consortium builders, Fordham adds geographic diversity and access to American archives, networks, and scholarly perspectives that European-only teams cannot replicate.

Highlights from their portfolio

• US-E AntiRacism
  Examines an unusually specific intersection — Catholicism and racial justice in transatlantic perspective — directly aligned with Fordham's Jesuit identity and New York civil rights history.
• REL-NET
  Tackles the sensitive topic of Christian-Jewish relations and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through historical religious networks, connecting Mediterranean and American contexts.
• DIRS
  The only MSCA-COFUND in Fordham's portfolio, connecting it to a 46-partner international doctoral school network — far larger reach than the individual fellowships.