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Interdisciplinary research forum on East Asian law and economics
Timeline
Project status: Active Cluster
Description
Coordinating Faculty
About the Cluster:
The purpose of this project is to continue to cultivate an inclusive, collaborative, and yet openminded interdisciplinary research network to help support faculty and students at Duke and beyond, who have an interest in or would benefit from research in East Asia law and policy with a strong focus on law and economics and related fields. It will provide a safe, inclusive, open, and thought-provoking forum for sharing, discussing, and critiquing their research ideas, methodologies, data sources, and findings and providing timely feedback.
East Asia Law and policy is inherently multidimensional, with researchers from almost all fields related to East Asia, including many of our APSI core faculty members, addressing challenges and issues relating to it. Understanding theories, principles, research methods, data, and other sources available across disciplines, as well as the overall legal and policy framework in the region, would undoubtedly inform the development of each individual field.
In the academic year 2023-2024, we received a Duke faculty advancement grant that enabled us to test out our idea using a narrower focus, Chinese law and policy. Through the grant we were able to successfully organize several in-person workshops and these events actively engaged our community and helped us understand their interests and needs. We have seen a genuine interest among our Duke faculty and students across disciplines including but not limited to economics, public policy and population studies, sociology, political science, as well as environmental science and policy, data science, and computer science. Our community members are eager to discuss and share their critical thoughts and research findings and learn from each other.
Each of our events attracted around 25 to 60 faculty, students, and public participants around the Research Triangle Area. Several of our events were joined by well-known researchers outside of Duke, and their current research projects and findings generated lively discussions among participants. Furthermore, support from many of our APSI faculty members who either generously presented their findings, served as faculty expert commentators, or helped us
engage with speakers from outside of Duke, is dispensable to our success. Furthermore, we would like to acknowledge APSI’s co-sponsoring several of these events, which significantly helped us attract more participants.
As we conclude our Duke Faculty Advancement grant, we are eager to seek financial support to maintain this momentum and extend our reach. We hope to host similar workshops to engage our community more broadly and deeply. If we secure a grant from APSI, we plan to focus on one or two areas with strong potential in benefiting APSI community and other researchers, including law and economics in East Asia. We pick this area, because we have noticed that law and economics is a particular field of study with a strong requirement for intense collaboration. This is also an area we have a deep pool of expertise and interests among our faculty and students including APSI core faculty and students. We believe this will help ensure that the usage of the grant will mutually benefit our project goal and APSI’s educational and scholarship mission.
Team
Leaders
- Shitong Qiao
- Daniel Xu
- Alex Zhang