For academic year 2025-26 the Fairbank Center is offering two post-doctoral fellowships to support participants in an interdisciplinary research group that will focus on the timely theme of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Society in Global China. The research group will be led by Professor Ya-Wen Lei and Professor Moira Weigel (see bios below).
The 2025-26 An Wang research group aims to examine AI development, adoption, and impact as multidimensional, transnational processes shaped by historical precedents, China's domestic evolution, and contemporary global dynamics. Please see the Fairbank Center website for a more detailed description of the research theme and objectives.
Potential research may pursue the following thematic areas of inquiry:
AI Development and Global Diffusion: Exploring the dynamics of AI innovation, focusing on China's domestic development, the role of private and public actors and their relationships, and how China's specific techno-developmental context shapes the global AI landscape.
Adoption and Adaptation of AI in and Beyond China: Focusing on how AI tools are being adopted across industries in and beyond China. The comparison of Chinese AI models in different language and national contexts adds depth, touching on sociotechnical imaginaries, cross-border impacts, and adaptation challenges.
Historical Perspectives on AI Development: Offering a historical lens on the development of large language and text-to-image models, and contextualizing contemporary shifts within long-standing patterns of translation, translingual exchange, and linguistic governance.
Impact of AI on Work, Professions, and Organizations: Focusing on the specific, on-the-ground impacts of AI adoption in various professional fields, analyzing how automation and AI tools reshape labor practices and organizational structures in China and potentially other contexts where Chinese-developed AI is deployed.
Addressing these themes and questions requires bringing together scholars with diverse methodological approaches and disciplinary perspectives. We welcome applications from postdoctoral candidates from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, media studies, history of science, political science, and Science and Technology Studies, who have research expertise and interests aligned with the above themes.
The research group will engage with institutional resources at Harvard and in the local area, and will be led by two Principal Investigators:
Dr. Ya-Wen Lei, Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. Dr. Lei's research focuses on the relationship between technology, society, and the economy. She has published in leading sociological and interdisciplinary journals and is the author of The Contentious Public Sphere: Law, Media, and Authoritarian Rule in China (Princeton University Press, 2018) and The Gilded Cage : Technology, Development, and State Capitalism in China (Princeton University Press, 2023). The Gilded Cage has won the Robert K. Merton Book Award from the Science, Knowledge, and Technology Section of the American Sociological Association ( ASA ), the Max Weber Book Award (Honorable Mention) from the ASA's Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section, the Best Book Award from the ASA's Communication, Information Technology, and Media Section, and the Asia/Transnational Book Award from ASA's Asia and Asian America Section. Additionally, it received a Bronze Medal in International Business/Globalization from the Axiom Business Book Awards. She is currently working on the transplantation of semiconductor manufacturing from Taiwan to the US and the application of AI in the workplace in China.
Dr. Moira Weigel, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard. Dr. Weigel's research focuses on media and communication technologies since the nineteenth century, drawing on sources in English, French, German, and Spanish, as well as Chinese. She is currently working on a monograph on transnational marketplace platforms such as Amazon and Alibaba. She is pursuing related questions on how LLMs and text-to-image models are or are not changing competition and cooperation along global supply chains, and how we can historicize these developments in relation to older forms of translation and transculturation as an AI and Society Fellow at Microsoft Research (2024-5).
Expectations:
The one-year fellowship period is from August 1, 2025, to July 31, 2026. An Wang postdoctoral fellows are expected to reside in the Greater Boston area for the duration of the fellowship.
As part of the interdisciplinary research group, the primary responsibility of the An Wang postdoctoral fellows will be to conduct their proposed research project under the mentorship of Professor Lei and Professor Weigel. Using the balance of their available time, they will have the opportunity to collaborate on research and to participate in a range of activities to be decided upon by the group.
Over the course of the 2025-2026 academic year, the An Wang Postdoctoral Fellows will have opportunities to share their research with a growing community of Harvard researchers working on contemporary China. Fellows will be expected to participate in the vibrant academic community at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.
Total annual stipend for An Wang Postdoctoral Fellows: $67,600 over 12 months. This Postdoctoral Fellow position is eligible for Harvard University's subsidized comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and other benefits. In addition, $3,000 in research funding for scholarly activities will be available to each fellow.
The fellowships will be subject to all rules and regulations of Harvard University.
Basic Qualifications: A strong working knowledge of Chinese and English is required.
A doctoral degree in a relevant field is required. Candidates must be able to provide confirmation of successful completion of their terminal doctoral degree, in the form of a diploma or a certificate of completion from the degree-granting institution's Registrar, by July 1, 2025, at the latest.
Applicants may not be more than five years beyond the receipt of their doctoral degree at the start of the fellowship.
Harvard University doctoral degree recipients are not eligible for this fellowship.
Additional Qualifications: We welcome applications for the 2025-26 An Wang Postdoctoral Fellowships from junior scholars of contemporary China with research interests relevant to one or more of these themes:
AI Development and Global Diffusion
Adoption and Adaptation of AI in and Beyond China
Historical Perspectives on AI Development
Impact of AI on Work, Professions, and Organizations
These topics span several disciplines including anthropology, sociology, media studies, history of science, political science, and Science and Technology Studies, and we welcome applications from a diverse pool of scholars with different methodological approaches.
Candidates must provide confirmation of successful completion of their terminal doctoral degree, in the form of a diploma or a certificate of completion from the degree-granting institution, or a letter from the institution's Registrar, as soon as available and no later than July 1, 2025.
Candidates must notify the Fairbank Center of any changes to the information provided in their application that may impact eligibility. Failure to communicate such changes may result in disqualification.
Special Instructions: To apply, complete and submit the online application by January 10, 2025.
All application materials must be in English. Applicants are required to submit: • CV • Cover letter (1-2 pages) that briefly states your interest in the program, your academic background, and a summary of your proposed research project.
• Research proposal (no more than 5 pages, double-spaced) • Writing sample (academic paper or dissertation chapter) • Names of two or three recommenders, with current email addresses.
At least two academic recommendation letters are required, to be submitted directly to the application portal.
Contact Information: Harriet Wong Program Coordinator Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies Harvard University
Contact Email:
harrietwong@fas.harvard.edu
Equal Opportunity Employer: The fellowships will be subject to all rules and regulations of Harvard University.
Harvard is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, age, protected veteran status, disability, genetic information, military service, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, or other protected status.
Minimum Number of References Required: 2
Maximum Number of References Allowed: 3
Keywords: Postdoctoral fellowship in Chinese studies. China studies. East Asian studies. China fellowships. China research. China studies postdoc. Contemporary China. Chinese society. China political economy. China science and technology studies. AI development in China. Social change in China. Sociology of China. China social sciences.
Supplemental Questions: Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).
* Please indicate the month and year in which you received, or expect to receive, your PhD or equivalent terminal degree. (Open Ended Question)
* In what discipline did you complete your Ph.D.? (Open Ended Question)
* Please briefly identify your primary area of research (field and/or geographic specialization). (Open Ended Question)
* Please list those languages other than English in which you have fluency, specifying reading, spoken, or both (Open Ended Question)
* Please list your research interests (200 character limit) (Open Ended Question)
* Please briefly describe the specific research project(s) you wish to complete during the fellowship (500 words or fewer). (Open Ended Question)
If there are specific Harvard faculty members with whom you intend to work during the fellowship please provide their name/s and indicate whether you have been in contact. (Open Ended Question)
