Borders and Boundaries Postdoctoral Fellowships
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The Borders and Boundaries Project is looking to fill postdoctoral fellow positions for 2025-26. Applications are now open.
The Borders and Boundaries Project is concerned with boundaries between organized human communities, broadly understood. International borders, border regions and border crossings have multiple significance as designations of state authority, security buffers, expressions of social meaning and opportunities for economic integration.
Border regions and activities speak to national and local encounters with neighbors and the rest of the world. This project is concerned with how humans demarcate the space between “us” and “them.” It contextualizes border architecture, infrastructure and institutions as expressions of various social, political and economic anxieties associated with globalization. This research team will concern itself with a broad range of questions relating to “bordering” in world politics. The project team is run by Professor Beth Simmons, Andrea Mitchell University Professor in Law, Political Science, and Business Ethics.
Research Postdoctoral Fellowship
The postdoctoral fellow will split their time between their own research and Borders & Boundaries project research. Postdoctoral fellows will be expected to work 25% of their time on project research. Applicants with an interest in territorial politics; migration and movement across borders; development in and across border regions; border-related law, cooperation, and institutions; transnational crime, human trafficking and law enforcement across borders; and related issues are welcome to apply. Theoretical thinking is highly valued. Skills in empirical spatial analysis, GIS technologies, mapping technologies, experimental analyses, computerized textual and imaging analyses, and similar technologies are a plus, as are computer programming skills and experience using large computer databases and statistical software.
There are no mandatory teaching responsibilities. Postdoctoral fellows will be expected to give a presentation during the academic year in the Perry World House Seminar Series, engage with Perry World House’s Undergraduate Student Fellows, and attend regularly scheduled seminars. Perry World House will also introduce each postdoctoral fellow to related faculty and leaders of centers and institutes at the University of Pennsylvania.
Applications are welcome from scholars who have received their Ph.D. or equivalent degrees since June 2021, or who expect to complete their degree by June 2024. Applications will be reviewed starting January 5, 2024. To receive full consideration, applications and letters of recommendation should be received by that date.
To apply, please go to https://apply.interfolio.com/137505. Applicants will be asked to complete a short form as well as upload a cover letter, CV/resume, one-page research statement, writing sample, unofficial Ph.D. transcript (only required for current graduate students), and contact information for a letter writer, who will be asked to submit a confidential letter of recommendation through Interfolio.
Upon provision of and contingent upon proof of conferral of the Ph.D. degree, all postdoctoral fellow positions pay a stipend of $65,000 plus relevant fees and health insurance. The position also provides $2,000 in research support.
The University of Pennsylvania is strongly committed to Penn’s Action Plan for Faculty Diversity and Excellence and to establishing a more diverse community at Penn (for more information see: http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/volumes/v58/n02/diversityplan.html).
The University of Pennsylvania values diversity and seeks talented students, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds. The University of Pennsylvania does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected class status in the administration of its admissions, financial aid, educational or athletic programs, or other University-administered programs or in its employment practices. Questions or complaints regarding this policy should be directed to the Executive Director of the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Programs, Sansom Place East, 3600 Chestnut Street, Suite 228, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6106; or (215) 898-6993 (Voice) or (215) 898-7803 (TDD).
If you have questions, please email worldhouse@pwh.upenn.edu.
