Postdoctoral Fellow (EXPIRED)

For 2021-22, the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society at Stanford seeks to appoint up to four postdoctoral fellows. Selected fellows will be designated as General Ethics Fellows, Interdisciplinary Ethics Fellows, or Embedded EthiCS Fellows. While the three types of fellows have some distinct training opportunities and responsibilities, they all form a common community and participate together in the Center’s intellectual life. All applicants will be considered for each type of fellowship that is relevant to their research interests and do not need to tailor their application for one of the three fellowship opportunities.

Applicants for all of the positions below must have normative training and hold a Ph.D. in Philosophy or Political Science. Scholars with a Ph.D. in Law will also be considered so long as their work focuses on ethical dimensions of public policy or law.

General Ethics Fellowship

Our longstanding postdoctoral program is open to candidates with substantial normative research in any area within philosophy or political science. For 2021-22, we are especially interested in candidates with research interests in inequality, global justice, democratic theory, and environmental ethics. But we welcome all applicants with strong normative interests. General Ethics Fellows participate in the intellectual life of the Center (attend weekly workshops; events; professional training opportunities), teach one class per year, interact with undergraduates in the Ethics in Society Program, and contribute to an interdisciplinary ethics community across the campus.

Interdisciplinary Ethics Fellowship

This program is rooted in the Center’s commitment to bringing ethical reflection to bear on pressing social problems. Addressing many of these problems in normative work involves knowledge of the social sciences, law, engineering, and the life sciences. To that end, fellows in this program are matched with an interdisciplinary research center on campus through which they can engage with empirically-oriented scholars. We are especially interested in candidates with research interests in artificial intelligence for our partnership with the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI). We are also interested in candidates with research interests in biomedical ethics or bioengineering for partnerships with other centers. Fellows will participate in the regular intellectual life of the Center for Ethics in Society and of the partner center (e.g., attend weekly workshops; events; professional training opportunities), interact with undergraduates in the Ethics in Society Program, teach one class per year, and contribute to an interdisciplinary ethics community across the campus. Fellows and partner centers will be selected based on the natural match between their work. Applicants do not need to tailor their application for a particular partner center.

Embedded EthiCS Fellowship

Stanford Embedded EthiCS, entering its second year, is a collaborative program that embeds the teaching of ethics into Stanford’s core undergraduate computer science curriculum. Working in collaboration with CS faculty and graduate students, the fellows will have responsibility for (a) working with CS faculty and students to develop course materials, (b) teaching the modules across three to six courses, (c) providing pedagogical training for Course Assistants in CS, and (d) participating in the intellectual life of the Center for Ethics and HAI. We seek applicants with a Ph.D. in philosophy, political science, or law who have substantive normative training, and who are enthusiastic to work with computer scientists to develop ethics modules. Ideal candidates need not have a computer science background but should have significant teaching experience, some mathematical training, and experience with cross- disciplinary research or teaching.

Appointment Requirements and Application Details

For all three types of fellowships, the appointment term is Sept. 1, 2021 to Aug. 31, 2022. The initial term may be renewed for an additional year. Applicants must have completed all requirements for their Ph.D. by June 30, 2021. Candidates must also be no more than three years from the awarding of their degree (i.e., September 2018).  

Stanford University is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to increasing the diversity of its scholarly community. We welcome applications from women and members of minority groups, as well as others who would bring additional dimensions to the university's research and teaching missions. Salary is competitive.  

Applicants should submit a cover letter, CV, a writing sample (no more than 25 pages double-spaced), three letters of recommendation, a one-page research statement (single spaced), and list of classes they have taught and/or are prepared to teach. Additional materials will not be considered. All applicants will be considered for all three types of fellowships, and finalists will be consulted about whether they may be designated as an Interdisciplinary Ethics, General Ethics, or Embedded EthiCS fellow.  

Applications will be collected via Interfolio. Please refer to the Center's website for information about how to submit your materials:  https://ethicsinsociety.stanford.edu/postdoctoral/application-process

Applications will not be accepted by email. If you have questions, please email [email protected].

Application due date: December 2, 2020.