Tuesday, December 17, 2013

A Fellowship in Regulatory Governance at Duke

[We have the following announcement for George C. Lamb, Jr. Visiting Fellows in Regulatory Governance at Duke University.]

Rethinking Regulation at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke, in collaboration with Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and the Fuqua School of Business, invites outstanding scholars of regulatory governance to apply for 1-2 residential George C. Lamb, Jr. Fellowships for the 2014-15 academic year.  The Rethinking Regulation program is built on a multi-disciplinary community comprised of faculty members and graduate/professional students from many academic departments and professional schools at Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University.  The group’s members study and assess “regulation in action” —  the evolving politics, operations, and culture of regulatory institutions, their interactions with regulated businesses and other interest groups, normative frameworks for the evaluation of regulatory policy, and the outcomes of regulatory decision-making.  Participants share a strong commitment to collaborative research, innovative teaching, and dialogue with policy-makers and other participants in the policy process.

In addition to pursuing their own research, Lamb Fellows will be expected to participate in Rethinking Regulation seminars and workshops, and to help shape a significant collaborative research project along with other members of the Rethinking Regulation community.  As part of that collaboration, Fellows will undertake some teaching responsibilities in Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and/or Fuqua School of Business– most likely co-teaching an advanced research seminar focused on the subject matter of the collaborative research project, though other arrangements are possible.  Fellows can come from any relevant academic discipline, including political science, public policy/administration, history, economics, sociology, cognitive psychology, anthropology, business management, law, environmental studies, risk analysis, and engineering.

Thematic Preferences for 2014-15


We especially welcome proposals from scholars with expertise or a strong emerging interest in one of the following two areas:
  • Competition policy – including antitrust/merger regulation, intellectual property regimes, and attempts to restructure markets to improve competitive conditions
  • Adaptive regulation – strategies of regulatory governance that can appropriately cope with changing conditions and rapid processes of technological or organizational innovation, in contexts such as financial regulation, the oversight of advanced techniques of extracting fossil fuels (fracking, deep-sea drilling), nanotechnology,  etc.

Fellowship Terms

We prefer proposals for the full academic year, but will consider applications for a single semester fellowship.  All applicants should: possess a doctorate, J.D., or equivalent professional degree; be at least two years beyond their graduate training; and be based outside the Research Triangle area of North Carolina.  All scholarly ranks are eligible.  Residence in Durham is expected during the tenure of the fellowship.  Lamb Fellows will receive office space at the Kenan Institute for Ethics, full Duke Library privileges, and a modest research account.  Primary financial support, in the form of a fellowship grant, will vary according to individual circumstances.  We anticipate offering grants equal to one-half of yearly (or semester) salaries, up to an annually set maximum amount, which may be less than half-salary for professors on the higher end of the compensation spectrum.

Application Process

Applicants should submit all of the following to Jennifer Cook (jennifer.cook@duke.edu) by January 10th:
  • A letter of application that describes the candidate’s research areas and experience, ongoing projects, interest in collaborative research and teaching, and rationale for desiring a sustained period of engagement with Rethinking Regulation
  • A 2-3 page research proposal that details the individual work to be pursued during the term of the fellowship
  • A curriculum vitae
  • Two to four references – these should be individuals who can speak to the candidate’s research expertise, experience in multi-disciplinary contexts, and capacity for/interest in collaborative academic work
Selection Criteria

The Selection Committee, made up of scholars active in the Rethinking Regulation program, will assess applications on the basis of:
  • The quality of their research and other achievements
  • The promise of their current research, especially in bridging disciplinary divides and informing ongoing regulatory policy debates
  • Their capacity for/interest in collaborative research, teaching, and writing
  • The fit between their expertise and the research priorities identified by Rethinking Regulation.