Last week saw the launch of Professors Beyond Borders (PBB), a new non-profit organisation aiming to engage international scholars as volunteers in international disaster recovery and sustainable development. The primary goal of the organisation is to enhance the capacity of communities to organise themselves to solve specific problems via the assistance of experts, who will disseminate knowledge of tools, techniques, technologies and resources available for specific development needs and tasks. By creating a network of academic expertise, the organisation's stakeholders state that PBB differs from other international aid efforts because it offers an interdisciplinary approach towards sustainable development. And indeed, with assistance in the rebuilding of Haiti's higher education system slated to be one of the organisation's initial projects, promoters are hoping to better utilise academics for contributing to effective sustainable development. Interestingly, however, the organisation's "beyond borders" approach is only the latest of several such international academic networks announced in recent years, the majority of which have fallen short of earlier expectations. What is the rationale behind the creation of PBB, and what factors have contributed to its development? How does the new non-profit group compare to similar "beyond borders" academic networks proposed by other organisations?