The Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University, Japan, invites applications for a two-year CSEAS Post-Doctoral Fellowship under its program “Japan-ASEAN Platform for Transdisciplinary Studies.”

Southeast Asia, through its regional institution of ASEAN, has emerged as a hub for Asian community-building and development. The highly diverse societies in this region, however, have undergone rapid social, economic, political and environmental changes. These pressing issues must be understood, and the root causes scrutinized for solutions beyond the confinement of national territory, academic disciplinarity, and barriers separating academic and non-academic stakeholders.

Under the six-year program funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan, we set up a solution-oriented platform for transdisplinary studies. For further promoting practical dialogue, we seek scholars, specialists and practitioners working on the following issues;

• 1)　environmental degradation
• 2)　natural resource governance
• 3)　economic growth and distribution
• 4)　democratization
• 5)　aging, health, and welfare
• 6)　urbanization and depopulation
• 7)　emerging infectious diseases
• 8)　natural disasters

Working within the paradigm of “sustainable humanosphere” (for further discussion of the concept, visit https://sea-sh.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/), this transdisciplinary program seeks to promote sustainable development in Southeast Asia by analyzing the complex interactions between ecological and socio-political environments; by developing strategies and techniques for managing social, political, economic, cultural and environmental challenges; and by creating a new platform among scholars from across disciplines (including the natural sciences) and practitioners with non-academic institutions, government, non-government, and international organizations.

With a purpose of building a platform for such transdisciplinary collaboration, this program welcomes the applications from post-doctoral researchers as well as non-academic stakeholders engaged in research, policymaking and governance. By building a platform for effectively combining basic research, policy planning and social safety mechanisms.

Several (approximately one or two) post-doctoral fellowship will be offered:
The postdoctoral fellowship will be for approximately two years, with a starting date of January 5, 2017. The fellowship is intended to provide an up-and-coming researcher with the time, space, and financial as well as institutional support necessary to produce outstanding scholarship that will promote the study of sustainable humanosphere in Southeast Asia.

We seek applicants with excellent academic backgrounds and research training who are willing and able to cross disciplines, who are strongly motivated to publish significant scholarship that fulfills the aims and purposes of the Center’s research program, and who can help expand and strengthen research networks in East Asia (Northeast and Southeast Asia).

Qualifications
We are equal opportunities employer. Applications are open to scholars of all nationalities. We encourage applications from researchers with Ph.D.s or proof of a solid research and publication track record in area studies, sociocultural anthropology, sociology, economics, politics, political economy, political ecology, forestry, biology, medicine, ecology, hydrology, climate science, fisheries science, environmental science, disaster science, natural resources, governance or related disciplines. Applicant must be under the age of 45 as of January 5, 2017. Applicant must not be the recipient of a JSPS Post Doctoral Fellowship or similar programs at the time of employment.

Applicant must submit the following documents:

• 1)　Curriculum Vitae (must include information on language skills, both oral and written; list of presentations at international academic conferences and seminars; fieldwork experiences; and list of grants and awards)
• 2)　Complete list of publications (please indicate which ones are refereed)
• 3)　Two recommendation letters
• 4)　Samples of major publications (two samples with abstracts)
• 5)　Summary of scholarly activities and achievements (1200 words or less)
• 6)　Statement of your research, writing, and publication goals for this fellowship, and your contribution to out program (1200 words)

Shortlisted candidates may be interviewed over Skype, and will therefore be requested to open a Skype account or provide the CSEAS with information regarding existing Skype addresses.

Documents can be submitted online: http://www-archive.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/www/2016/en/call-for-applications-2016-cseas-post-doctoral-fellowship/