NEEDED: Post Doctoral Associates - Meridian 180

Post Doctoral Associates

Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture

Law School

Cornell University

Meridian 180, a new community of prominent intellectuals and policy makers in Asia, the United States and around the world interested in new ways of thinking about law and markets broadly conceived, seeks to hire two Post Doctoral Associates at its center of operations at Cornell University, in Ithaca New York beginning no later than September 1, 2012. The aim of Meridian 180 is to generate the new paradigms and solutions for the next generation of transpacific relations. The Associates will play an integral part in this mission through translation, research, and outreach to wider public and policy communities.

Meridian 180 is a project of the Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture at the Cornell Law School. It is a non-profit, non-political project funded through private donations and with support from Cornell Law School. It is comprised of Senior Fellows and of Members in law, the academy, private practice and policy circles who meet regularly via an on-line platform supporting multilingual conversations, as well as periodically in face to face conferences. Ideas that emerge from these conversations are then incubated and developed, with the help of the Associate, into forms in which they can make a difference in each individual society—ranging from policy papers to academic books, blog entries, and individual conversations with policy makers.

The Postdoctoral Associates will be responsible for the day to day maintenance and translation of on-line dialogues. They will also work with Senior Fellows to produce the white papers, books, op-eds and other forms of output that may emerge from the on-line conversations. Other responsibilities will include working with the Director and Assistant Director on strategic planning, project development, and conducting their own research.

Duties and responsibilities (with approximate % of work time):

·         Day to day maintenance and translation of on-line dialogues on meridian-180.org (30%): Using the meridian-180.org translator interface, the Associates will be providing on-line translations from and to English of participants’ interventions on the website. So that conversations are translated as they unfold, this will be a daily task.

·         Work with Senior Fellows to produce publications emerging from on-line conversations (25%): Once an on-line conversation is closed, the Associates will work with the Senior Fellows to write/edit/research/produce the final versions of conversations that will be made publicly available, either on meridian-180.org or in other venues (in electronic format or in print – policy papers, books, op-eds, etc.).

·         Work with the Director and Assistant Director on strategic planning (10%): The Associates will help developing new research directions and new outreach initiatives for both meridian-180.org and the Clarke Program. The Associates will help identify emerging scholars whose work should be promoted and/or included on meridian-180.org and more generally via the Clarke Program.

·         Project development (15%): The Associates will work on larger Clarke Program projects, related or not to meridian180.org. In particular, they will help with the organization of the conferences which, each year, will convene Senior Fellows to further and promote the ideas developed in on-line conversations.

·         Individual research (20%, i.e. 8h/week) The Postdoctoral Associates are also expected to pursue their own individual academic research and writing leading toward publications and conference presentations.

Qualifications and requirements

·         -law degree (JD or LLB) or PhD in the humanities or social sciences in hand by July 1, 2012.

·         -fluency in English and in Chinese or Japanese

·         -experience as translator/interpreter is strongly preferred

·         -other preferred skills/qualities: entrepreneurial initiative; independence, ability to work in teams, maturity, writing skills, research/scholarly experience, organization, focus, interest in the future of the East Asia-US relationship

Application procedure:

Interested applicants should submit a resume, cover letter and writing sample by April 30, 2012 to Donna Hastings at dkh25@cornell.edu.

Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York, is an inclusive, dynamic, and innovative Ivy League university and New York's land-grant institution. Its staff, faculty, and students impart an uncommon sense of larger purpose and contribute creative ideas and best practices to further the university's mission of teaching, research, and outreach.

Cornell University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action educator and employer.