Call for Applications

The Collaborative Research Development Workshops on Asia provide a forum for intellectual dialogue and serve as an incubator for projects highlighting the social, political, economic, and cultural dynamics and intersections that shape the two workshop themes of climate change and migration. Given the regional and global dimensions of these critical issues, the workshops seek to provide a space to exchange ideas and to imagine research projects—focused on either connections across or comparisons between countries and communities—and how research on them can be conducted by teams that bridge scholars within Asia and between Asia and the United States. The workshops further seek to create sustained networks of international scholars conducting research on a common theme by providing the opportunity to give and receive constructive feedback on current work and on ideas for new collaborative projects. After completion of the workshop, participants will be eligible to apply with a team for a collaborative research seed grant. This initiative is made possible with support from the Henry Luce Foundation.

Workshops are open to individual early-career scholars based in the US or Asia from all fields in the social sciences, humanities, and related fields and who are within five years of having completed their doctoral degree. Proposed projects must address one of the following workshop themes: 

Social Dimensions of Climate Change

The 2021 Glasgow Climate Summit left many observers concerned that the international community is moving far too slowly in putting policies in place at the scale needed to address climate change. The just released report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlights the disproportionate risks to the world’s most vulnerable populations and reinforces the urgency of both mitigation and adaptation strategies. Especially for the United States and China, but also for other countries across Asia and the Pacific, the stakes of inaction are clear. This Collaborative Research Development Workshop will focus on the social dimensions of climate change—i.e., humans and social collectives as both affecting and being affected by climate change—with a focus on deepening understanding of regional and transpacific impacts of climate change and efforts to address a problem that does not respect national boundaries. Participants will capture and assess the state of knowledge on, and impediments to, mitigation and adaptation in Asia and North America; address how climate risk amplifies and complicates existing and unfolding patterns of sustainability, inequality, and social justice; and consider how adaptation to vulnerability to climate change is linked to experienced risks and becomes embedded in everyday social practices. They will also imagine potential new collaborative research projects exploring transnational dimensions of the social drivers and impacts of climate change in the region, or comparative dimensions of responses to climate change.

Drivers and Dynamics of Migration

Sustaining nearly two-thirds of the world’s population, Asian countries are both sources and destinations of expanding migration and refugee flows. The diversity of the population movements in and out of Asia brings about complex phenomena, patterns, and outcomes of mobility. The situations of many migrants and refugees in the countries in which they now reside vary and can be precarious. Frequently placed at the margins of their host societies and with minimal rights and social protections, their presence is at times politicized and demonized through stereotyping and appeals to national identity and cultural homogeneity. In the US, even second- and third-generation citizens of Asian descent are not immune to this “othering,” exacerbated by misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic and the state of US-China relations. Participants in this workshop will capture and assess the state of knowledge on migration patterns in and out of Asia, the diverse experiences of migrant communities, and efforts to improve their status in host countries. They will also imagine potential new collaborative research projects exploring transnational flows of people into and out of the region, or comparative experiences of migration and migrants.


Workshops will be held virtually in June over three or four non-consecutive sessions scheduled to accommodate a wide spread of time zones. During the workshop, participants will discuss and receive feedback on their current research and begin the design of collaborative projects connecting or comparing cases within Asia and/or across the Pacific that would advance the knowledge base and potentially engage policy and practice. 

Applicants selected to participate in the workshops will submit a short paper of 3-4,000 words beforehand as a basis for discussion during the workshop. After the event, workshop mentors and SSRC staff will explore the possibility of publishing revised versions of these papers as a special issue of a journal.  In addition, participants will spend time at the workshop, and during days between workshop sessions, to develop ideas for collaboration. After the workshop, participants will be eligible to apply for a seed grant of up to $15,000 to design and pilot a collaborative research project.

The SSRC will provide assistance to secure internet access and appropriate accommodations for participants whose current situations are not conducive to the dedicated engagement the workshop requires. 

Eligibility

  • Early-career scholars in the humanities, social sciences, or related fields
  • Applicants must be within five years of having completed the PhD
  • Based in the US or Asia, regardless of citizenship

While members of a pre-existing collaborative team may apply to the workshop, each member’s application will be assessed on its own merits. We especially welcome applications from past participants of the AAS-SSRC Dissertation Workshop series or the SSRC Global Scholars Initiative.

Application (to be submitted online)

  • Online application form
  • Research abstract of 1,000 words maximum (two pages single-spaced, four pages double-spaced) summarizing current research interests
  • Short responses on how collaborative work could benefit current research interests and why a workshop such as this would be valuable
  • Current CV

All application materials must be submitted in English.

After completion of the workshop, participants will be eligible to apply with a team for a collaborative research seed grant. This initiative is made possible with support from the Henry Luce Foundation.

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