Migrations Postdoctoral Fellowships at Cornell University

About

Our world is increasingly in motion. The unprecedented pace, scale, and complexity of movement on our planet—particularly of humans, plants and animals—present a diverse suite of challenges and opportunities that play out across local, regional, national, and international scales. Our infrastructure, urban design, housing stock, disaster relief programs, legal frameworks, business models, and international geo-political systems need to accommodate the dynamic (and increasing) movements of human and non-human species into ways of thinking and relating to each other, and to the world. Only through an interdisciplinary, multi-species, and systems-level perspective can we understand the causes and consequences of migration today. Only through such an understanding can we influence the way that migration is studied, governed, and even experienced.

The Migrations initiative at Cornell University aims to cultivate new collaborations that advance science, scholarship, teaching, outreach, and engagement in ways that generate new insights into critical problems. We wish to provide a stronger evidentiary basis for policy and to place Cornell University at the forefront of migration studies around the world.

Migrations Postdoctoral Fellows may conduct research in any discipline, including the natural, quantitative, and social sciences, humanities, and the creative arts, as well as interdisciplinary research that transcends traditional disciplines. The Fellows will be selected from a global pool of applicants based on their research’s promise for cultivating dialogue, nurturing collaboration across academic disciplines, and integrating, synthesizing, and building upon existing disciplinary contributions to migrations research, broadly conceived. The candidates will also be evaluated based on how their research during the fellowship could benefit from and contribute to efforts by the Migrations Grand Challenge to advance Cornell’s position as a global leader in the study of the movement of people, plants, and animals.

Qualifications

Two fellowships will be conferred to emerging scholars studying the movement of people, plants, and/or animals. Both scholars will be housed within the Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs’ newly formed Migrations Lab and its closely affiliated Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. One of the scholars will also share a joint appointment with Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology, and their research will connect to the Lab of Ornithology’s mission of advancing the understanding and protection of the natural world, while joining with people from all walks of life to make new scientific discoveries, share insights, and galvanize conservation action. While in residence at Cornell, the Fellows will work to generate new knowledge that addresses key themes and concerns such as those identified in the Migrations Taskforce Preliminary Report. These include but are not restricted to socio-environmental dynamics and complexity, recognition of multiple spatiotemporal and hierarchical scales, and attention to the roles of governance, democracy, and authority as they relate to the subject of migrations. Successful applications will likely identify possible connections across disciplines.

Eligibility

Awardees must have earned the doctoral degree within five years of beginning their fellowship. Candidates with more than five years of postdoctoral experience, and those who received their PhD from Cornell are not eligible. Awardees may not simultaneously hold any other paid or unpaid position during the term of the appointment. Prior to the start of their fellowship, candidates will be asked to provide confirmation that their doctoral degree has been conferred.

Fellowship Terms

• Migrations Fellows are appointed for a one year term with the potential for a second year renewal. The second year renewal process will led by the Einaudi Center Director in consultation with the Migrations Initiative faculty research team.
• Fellowship start date is negotiable between July 1 and September 1, 2020.
• Candidates will be notified of selection decisions between mid-February and mid-March 2020.
• Migrations Fellows are provided an annual stipend of $54,480 plus Cornell benefits for the first year of the post-doc, and an inflation adjusted salary for year 2 when reappointed.
• In addition to the annual stipend, Migrations Fellows are provided with an annual professional development fund of $2,000 per fellowship year.
• Fellows will be asked to teach one class per year in a department closely related to their field of study.

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