Postdoc Fellows & Visiting Scholars

The start of the new millennium is marked by the emergence of a remarkable global conscience to tackle persistent poverty.  While the field of international development has long concerned itself with poverty, the new moment is unusual in several ways.  Development is no longer viewed simply as a practice centered within the institutions of bilateral and multilateral foreign assistance.  Engagement with poverty is now widespread, taken up by NGOs, social entrepreneurs, business, citizen campaigns, universities, social movements, development engineers, and governments of both the global North and the global South.

This democratization of who engages in poverty action has meant that the problem of poverty is increasingly seen as one best tackled through multiple approaches rather than a single dominant paradigm. Given the geographically distinct and uneven trajectories of development and inequality, there is the urgent need for a better understanding of divergent models of poverty action and for how lessons learned from one region can be applied to another.  As development studies was a scholarly reflection on the post-war Bretton Woods world order, so global poverty and inequality scholarship must interpret new paradigms of development and poverty action.

Such trends present an opportunity and challenge for academic institutions.  How can the next generation of global citizens be trained to participate in the development debates and to tackle poverty and inequality?  What sorts of knowledge must be produced in order to enable such work?  How can the frameworks of development studies be updated and reworked to reflect these new global realities?  What is the role of universities in such a project, especially as their classrooms fill with a generation of students eager to address the issue of poverty?  How can young men and women based in the global North develop solidarity with organizations and communities in the global South?

These questions have been taken up by an innovative and popular minor, Global Poverty and Practice (GPP), at the University of California, Berkeley.  Established in 2007 by the Blum Center for Developing Economies, GPP quickly became the largest undergraduate minor on the Cal campus.  Today it has over 300 students from over 30 different majors ranging from economics to engineering, molecular & cell biology to media studies.  Students in the minor complete rigorous coursework and conceptualize and implement a “practice experience” focused on poverty alleviation.  Through critical reflection, they come to better understand the forces at work in the constitution and persistence of poverty and how they may play a role in supporting social change.

The GPP Minor thrives within a constellation of Blum Center initiatives that seek to shape and sharpen the debates of poverty and inequality. In 2012, the #GlobalPOV Project began combining critical social theory, improvised art and digital media to explore innovative ways of thinking about poverty, inequality and undertaking poverty action. Most recently, we have begun work on a book series with UC Press – Poverty, Interrupted – that will accessibly present key organizing concepts and analytical frameworks for building up global poverty as a critical field of inquiry as well as short-form texts that explore: specific poverty interventions, accounts of how various discipline engage the poverty analytic, or broader analysis of current economic and political transformations and their implications for poverty and inequality.

In 2012, the Blum Center for Developing Economies was recognized by USAID as one of 7 inaugural “development labs” in its newly launched initiative, Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN). Meant to leverage academic research and university-based science and technology efforts in crafting innovative and durable responses to global poverty challenges, the HESN project places the work of the Blum Center, including the Global Poverty & Practice Minor, in a worldwide effort aimed at alleviating poverty.

The Global Poverty and Practice Postdoctoral Fellows  (“GPP Fellows”) program is being launched within the context of this expanding scope of Global Poverty & Practice initiatives and through USAID’s HESN partnership with the Blum Center for Developing Economies.

The Global Poverty and Practice Postdoctoral Fellows program has three main goals:

1. To nurture postdoctoral research that has direct relevance for the understanding of poverty and inequality and for poverty action and development practice.

2. To inspire and train the next generation of academic scholars to create forms of undergraduate teaching that position research universities as central to global poverty studies and development practice.

3. To create a cohort of university researchers and educators who are committed to working with the international development community to find solutions to global challenges.   Uniquely informed by and integrated into the HESN, it is assumed that alumni of the Fellowship will go on to teach undergraduates and conduct poverty-action work at universities around the world, creating an interdisciplinary network that will strengthen the HESN globally.

The Global Poverty and Practice Postdoctoral Fellows program aims to support research and teaching in a wide range of interdisciplinary fields and on a variety of subject areas relevant to poverty, inequality, and poverty action, including: urban / rural poverty and inequality, food and environmental justice, information technology for society, development economics, workers’ organizing and other social movements, community and public health, immigration and poverty, development engineering, educational justice, Third Sector studies, city planning, disaster relief, microfinance, fair trade, and other economic justice initiatives.

Sponsorship: The Global Poverty and Practice Postdoctoral Fellows are housed within the Blum Center for Developing Economies and governed by the Education Committee of the Center that oversees the Global Poverty and Practice Minor.

Responsibilities: The Global Poverty and Practice Postdoctoral Fellows program requires Fellows to advance a research project in global poverty studies and to articulate a plan for the publication and dissemination of such research.  Each Fellow will also be asked to teach three courses during the two-year appointment. One course directly relates to the Fellow’s research, and the other courses contribute to the core curriculum of the Global Poverty and Practice Minor. Fellows are expected to participate regularly in HESN meetings and conversations, work collegially with HESN network partners, and regularly report to the Blum Center on their activities.  Each Fellow will be assigned a faculty mentor. These mentors will link Fellows to departments on campus affording them additional support for their research project.

Eligibility: Applicants must have a doctorate by the start of the appointment but have received this doctorate no earlier than May 2010.

Date and Duration:  Each award is for a 24-month period. The appointment begins Sept 1, 2013. The start date maybe negotiable.

Application Deadline:  July 15, 2013 – by 11:59 pm (Pacific Standard Time)

Salary: The annual award provides a salary of $55,000. The award also includes health insurance, vision and dental benefits, and up to $3,000 for research-related and program travel expenses. These funds can be used for relocation and moving expenses, as well as for computer, travel, conference, journal, book, software, equipment, and other research costs.

External Funding:  Global Poverty and Practice Postdoctoral Fellows are encouraged to develop and submit research proposals for external funding in cooperation with their faculty mentor, other UC Berkeley faculty, or scholars within the HESN. When doing so, Fellows must follow all University of California, Berkeley rules applicable to postdoctoral scholars.

Visas: University of California, Berkeley assists Fellows in obtaining visas for non-US citizens. Read more information on UCB’s visa eligibility policies online at the Berkley International Office’s website.

Benefits: Global Poverty and Practice Postdoctoral Fellows are considered a UC Berkeley “Postdoctoral Scholar – Employee” and are therefore eligible for health and medical benefits as well as other benefits provided by the university for full-time employees. The rules, regulations and policies of UCB as well as applicable state and federal law that govern employment at University of California, Berkeley are also listed on the above web site.

Housing: The Blum Center for Developing Economies does not provide housing allocation for Fellows.  Fellows may contact the Cal Housing Office for informal guidance on acquiring housing in the areas near the university.

Program Activities: The Global Poverty and Practice Postdoctoral Fellows program hosts a series of activities that explore interdisciplinary issues in poverty studies and introduce the Fellows to a diverse array of University of California, Berkeley faculty and researchers. Early in the Fall Semester, Fellows are asked to present their research in a symposium organized by the Blum Center. The symposium provides a valuable opportunity for Fellows to engage the University of California, Berkeley research community as well as the larger public in innovative research in poverty studies. Throughout the year, Fellows are expected to engage in Blum Center sponsored events and programs. We expect the HESN, as a global network of universities, nonprofits, and development agencies, to also be an important audience for the scholarship and projects of the Fellows.