NBR organizes its research around three broad topics: politics and security, economics and trade, and societies and health. Our current research initiatives within these topics include:

• Politics and Security: Innovative, forward-looking policy research on a range of issues, including Asian security, with a particular focus on China security issues, nuclear proliferation and strategic studies, through NBR’s signature Strategic Asia Program; Muslim Asia; futures studies; and political cultures. NBR’s research on politics and security spans the entire Asia-Pacific region, from Northeast and Southeast Asia through South Asia to Russia and Central Asia.
• Economics and Trade: Policy research on the rising economic importance of Asia to the United States. Specific initiatives focus on issues relating energy, the environment, and natural resources; on policy issues affecting innovation; on developments in trade and investment relations, including free trade agreements and other forms of regional economic cooperation; and on the economic trajectories of China, Japan, India, and Southeast Asia.
• Health: NBR’s work on health issues is the focus of the Center for Health and Aging (CHA), which organizes the flagship Pacific Health Summit, an annual Davos-level meeting that brings together global leaders from science, policy, medicine, and industry to facilitate the transformation of healthcare based on the early detection and treatment of disease through emerging science and technology.

Award recipients will work in one of these group areas. Candidates will indicate which group area(s) they are most interested in at the time of applications.

Bridge Award Description

Positions will vary, depending on whether the Fellow is placed in NBR’s headquarters in Seattle or in the Washington, DC, office. Most of the organization’s research programs are based in Seattle. The Washington, DC, office’s principal focus is on connecting the research to relevant constituencies and on policy impact. There are research components to awards in both locations, each with different areas of emphasis, as explained below.

The Seattle-based Bridge Award recipient will work under the supervision of the appropriate staff member. The duration of the award can run from a minimum of six months to a maximum of 12 months. Recipients can work a minimum of 20 hours a week to a maximum of 40 hours per week. The award usually commences within one month of the fellow’s return from the Boren overseas experience.

Duties of the Fellow will include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Research support: providing research assistance for projects and program scholars
• Outreach to U.S. Government: assisting with design of government outreach strategy, relationship development, and publications distribution
• Program assistance: drafting and proofreading program descriptions, project concept papers, etc.; helping maintain program documentation
• Publications support: reviewing, fact-checking, proofreading, and editing publications
• Event management: providing administrative support to conferences, workshops, presentations, and briefings
• Office Support: providing support to ensure the smooth-running of the office (e.g. answering phones, filing, etc.)
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications for the position include:

• Any Boren Graduate Award recipient with interests similar to NBR’s research programs is eligible to apply
• An NSEP Fellow must have completed the overseas portion of the Boren Award, and begin work at NBR usually within one month after returning from the Boren overseas experience
• Excellent research, writing, analytical, proofreading, editing, and computing skills; experience with databases and web-page development a plus
• Attention to detail and ability to work under pressure
• Knowledge of contemporary international relations and politics of a relevant region are required
• Knowledge of a relevant Asian language
• The ideal candidate will be a motivated self-starter who can work well independently and as part of a team
• Extraordinary integrity, entrepreneurial spirit, and a felicitous capacity to work with everyone