Postdoctoral Fellows, Harvard Program on U.S.-Japan Relations

During the 2026–2027 academic year, the Program on US-Japan Relations at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs will offer two types of postdoctoral fellowships. For details, please see the ARIeS application sites linked below:

1. Postdoctoral Fellowship: The applicant must have received their PhD in 2021 or later, in anthropology, business, economics, history, international relations, law, political science, psychology, public health, public policy, and sociology, among other fields. Scholars may examine domestic issues that bear on Japan’s external relations or problems that it shares with other countries, and we encourage projects that compare Japan’s experience cross-nationally. This fellowship is made possible by support from the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies.
2. Japan Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship: The applicant must have received their PhD in 2021 or later, in political science, public policy, or international relations. The Japan Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow is expected to teach one course on Japanese politics, political economy, or international relations in either fall or spring semester. The Fellow is also expected to collaborate with a team of scholars and graduate students working on the grant project theme, “Technology, Society, and Geopolitics: Japan in a Globalized Economy.” Ideally, the successful applicant’s research agenda includes questions about how technology has transformed their area of expertise relating to contemporary Japan from comparative and global perspectives. This fellowship is made possible by support from the Japan Foundation.

Application materials for both are due on December 22, 2025. Recommendation letters are due by December 30, 2025. 

For any questions, please contact: usjapan[at]wcfia.harvard.edu.