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UCLA’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment invites applications for fellowships in environmental law and policy, with specific focus on the societal implications, governance, and legal and policy issues posed by geoengineering interventions for climate change. The fellowships are full-time, two-year academic positions, starting July 1, 2024.

The Emmett Institute is a national and world leader in environmental law, with faculty renowned for public service, teaching excellence, and scholarship in state, federal, and international law. The Emmett Institute educates future leaders and develops solutions to urgent climate and environmental challenges. Through groundbreaking research and public interest initiatives, the Institute helps shape climate change and environmental law and policy in California, the United States, and jurisdictions around the world.

Fellows will conduct research and analysis relevant to the legal, policy, and broad societal challenges posed by geoengineering technologies, including both interventions to modify the Earth’s radiation balance (solar geoengineering or solar radiation modification, SRM) and large-scale removal of atmospheric greenhouse gases. Examples of specific areas of interest include:

• Analytical methods to assess potential benefits and risks of geoengineering, e.g., operationalizing risk-risk approaches or integrating geoengineering into climate assessment models;

• Developing policy-relevant scenarios of geoengineering in the context of climate change and response, to inform research, assessment, and governance development;

• Design and implementation of proposed moratoria on large-scale SRM interventions;

• Potential interactions of geoengineering and its governance with emissions cuts, adaptation, and other elements of climate response, at international and national/sub-national levels;

• Insights for geoengineering governance available from current or past international institutions;

• The geopolitics of geoengineering, including analysis of potential threat mechanisms such as unilateral use and potential responses to these;

• Identification of feasible early steps to build governance capacity, including governance associated with cooperative international research, assessment, and monitoring activities;

Fellows’ duties will consist principally of individual and collaborative research and writing, with some expected contribution to Emmett Institute projects such as conferences, workshops, and publications. The specific configuration of responsibilities will be developed in consultation with Professor Edward Parson.

Candidates should possess a Ph.D., J.D., or other advanced degree relevant to environmental law and policy, earned within the past several years or expected in the spring of 2024; a strong academic record; excellent analytical and writing skills; demonstrated interest and experience relevant to geoengineering governance and climate change response; and a willingness and ability to engage new areas of inquiry as needed to succeed in interdisciplinary work. Candidates with scientific, technical, or economic skills related to public policy analysis are especially encouraged to apply. The salary is anticipated to be approximately $87,000 per year plus a competitive benefits package. UCLA School of Law has a special interest in enriching its intellectual environment through further diversifying the range of perspectives represented within the faculty.

This position is a full-time, year-round, non-tenure track academic appointment with an expected start date of July 1, 2024. This appointment is subject to the rules and regulations of the Regents of the University of California, which are mostly embodied in The UCLA CALL and the University of California Academic Personnel Manual. (See https://apo.ucla.edu/policies-forms/the-call/an-introduction-to-the-ucla-call; and https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/academic-personnel-policy/index.html).

Applicants should apply online at https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF09297. To apply, please submit a pdf copy of a letter discussing your qualifications and interests including, if applicable, a brief discussion of a specific project you would hope to work on during the fellowship. In addition, please submit pdf copies of a resume, a transcript of studies in graduate school or law school, a writing sample of no more than ten pages, and contact information for three references. Finalists will later be expected to supply at least two letters of recommendation during the final vetting process.

Visit our website at https://www.law.ucla.edu/emmett for more information about the Emmett Institute and its programs.

As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy, see: UC Nondiscrimination & Affirmative Action Policy.