University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House – Borders and Boundaries Postdoctoral Fellowship

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.