“Civically Engaged Research for Critical Issues in Society”
The American Political Science Association (APSA) and the Japanese Political Science Association (JPSA) are pleased to announce a call for applications for early-career scholars from the US and Japan who are interested in conducting civically engaged research.
With generous financial support from the Japan Foundation, APSA and JPSA are collaborating on a new initiative to advance civically engaged research on critical issues in our societies through a multi-year program of scholarly exchange, professional development, and community engagement. Each year, scholars from American and Japanese universities will be invited to attend a conference Working Group to share and improve research towards publication, develop new scholarly networks, and explore the use of civically engaged research in investigating some of the critical issues facing our societies. The program will include closed sessions for a core group of scholars, interactive meetings with members of local civil society organizations, and public sessions open to community, scholarly, and professional audiences. Organizers will cover participation costs (including airfare, accommodation, and conference registration) for up to 20 qualified applicants. The working language of the program is English.
Annual Working Group Themes
This initiative aims to support research on conditions that make us vulnerable to divisions in our societies, as well as research that explores interventions to overcome these divisions. Rigorous scholarship that is conducted from a community-centered approach and strives to learn from all stakeholders, including civil society groups and institutions outside of academia, can yield innovative findings that address social challenges at both the national and local levels. Attendees at each Working Group will discuss best practices and models of excellence for conducting civically engaged research as applied to the annual program theme. Annual themes are listed on their respective Calls. The program is open to all political science subfields, and we especially encourage applications from scholars who are undertaking research in collaboration with civil society or local government partners.
Eligibility and Application Instructions
We invite applications from early-career political scientists (graduate students, post-docs, and pre-tenure faculty) based at American and Japanese universities. Scholars from other social science disciplines undertaking research related to the workshop theme are also welcome to apply. The program is open to those with a proposal already accepted for APSA or JPSA Annual Meetings, but preference will be given to new papers. Japan-based scholars should be current JPSA members or have pending applications; US-based scholars should be APSA members. Applicants will be asked to share an unpublished article-length research paper (6,000-10,000 words) that is at a stage of development which would benefit from intense discussion and critique. Applications must be in English and include:
- The completed online Application Form
- A detailed, recent Curriculum Vitae/resume.
- A research statement (approximately 2,000 words) describing the work-in-progress you plan to discuss at the workshop. This statement should outline your research question(s), a brief literature review, the methods used and/or your plans for data-collection/fieldwork, the project’s (anticipated) contribution(s) to the field, and how it relates to the workshop theme(s).
2026 JPSA-APSA Working Group details will be available early Spring. For more information, contact asiaworkshops@apsanet.org.
Steering Committee
- Yosuke Sunahara – Kobe University
- Robert Pekkanen – University of Washington
- Kristin Vekasi – University of Montana
- Kenneth McElwain – University of Tokyo
