Harvard Events

Harvard Law School’s Program in Islamic Law is seeking a Data Science Fellow to work on various apps in the SHARIAsource Lab, a Harvard initiative designed to deploy data science tools on historical Islamic sources. The Fellow will be based at Harvard Law School, with opportunities to collaborate with various departments and partners—including the Harvard Libraries and the Library of Congress, SEAS and the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, and the Department of History and a community of scholars and students working on similar problems in DH.

Successful forays into this data science-driven approach to the study of legal history will require building a corpus of texts from open-source online repositories; creating tools to extract, code, and map data and metadata with GIS and other means; and building algorithms that help relate key people, places, and books to one another through researcher-created data sets and linked open data. The Fellow will work on multiple components of this project. The ideal candidate will have completed a program in computer science or a related field (with a BA, MA, or PhD), have at least 3 years of experience in DH or development, have a background in RTL languages and/or interest in Islamic studies, and would benefit from spending time working in a university setting on problems at the intersection of technology and academic research.

This is a one-year term appointment. The expected start date is summer 2023, with possibilities for extension based on performance and funding. The Fellow will work closely with the PI, Professor Intisar Rabb (Professor of Law & History; Director of the Program in Islamic Law and SHARIAsource Lab at Harvard).

Basic Qualifications:

· A degree in CS at the BA/BS, MA or PhD level or higher (OR a graduate degree – MA or PhD in Islamic studies) AND experience of at least 3 years in software development is required before the start date.

· Excellent programming and problem-solving skills, as well as a solid background in structured and unstructured database design, text analysis, and machine learning.

· The Fellow must be self-directed and able to innovatively apply relevant research methods to this use case.

Highly Preferred Qualifications:

· Knowledge of Arabic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish, or another relevant ME language

· Full-stack development experience: esp. knowledge of Ruby, React, Python, front-end and back-end development and design, structured and unstructured databases

TO APPLY: Applicants should submit: 1) a CV/resume, 2) an unofficial transcript of terminal degree, 3) a cover letter describing their experience with data science, 4) a 1-2 page document describing 3 representative projects, sites, or apps together with links to any online portfolio, sites, and/or data repositories on Github or elsewhere), and 5) names and contact information of 2 references. All applications should be submitted online. Application review will begin on March 31, 2023, and applications will continue to be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled. 

Contact Information: Program in Islamic Law ([email protected]).

Equal Opportunity Employer: We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions or any other characteristic protected by law.

In collaboration with the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, the Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School is pleased to invite applications for the 2023-2024 PIL–LC Research Fellowship (due: February 15, 2023). This newly offered fellowship is designed to provide an intellectual home to promising young scholars in Islamic legal studies, to advance their research, and to contribute to the intellectual life of the Program, the greater Harvard community, and the Library of Congress community. The unique opportunity afforded by this joint fellowship award allows the selected fellow to pursue independent research on Islamic law and history that utilizes the extensive collections of the Harvard Libraries and the Library of Congress. The PIL–LC Research Fellowship award is a full-time residential fellowship at Harvard Law School (for nine months, during the academic year) and at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress (for three months, the following summer).

Successful applicants will have completed an advanced degree (JD, PhD, SJD, or the equivalent) before the start of the fellowship, and plan to pursue a scholarly research agenda in Islamic law that engages legal history, law and society, or comparative law approaches. Fellows will receive a stipend for the duration of the fellowship.

To apply for this fellowship, please submit the following materials via the research fellowship online application form by February 15, 2023:

1. a curriculum vitae

2. a research proposal consisting of

• a single-paragraph abstract of your proposed research
• a research statement, not to exceed 1500 words (3 single-spaced pages), and
• a bibliography of works you have consulted that describes the proposed work during the fellowship period.

The proposal should outline research in your area of expertise or interest related to contemporary or historical issues of Islamic law that can be accomplished during the fellowship term; projects are to utilize the Harvard and Library of Congress collections to advance a novel contribution to scholarship through research in Islamic law, with a legal history, comparative law, or law and society approach.

3. an explanation of why Harvard/PIL and the Library of Congress are the required venue for your research (e.g., identification of specific Harvard/PIL resources and Library of Congress collections that are necessary to pursue the research project)

4. a writing sample of no more than 25 pages in length, in English (which can be a recent publication or unpublished work; works-in-progress are especially welcome)

5. 3 reference letters from recommenders who are to upload letters directly at the referee link.

A panel of scholars at both Harvard and the Library of Congress will review your application materials. The panel will consider your application in relation to numerous other proposals. Evaluation criteria will include:

• The significance of the contribution that the project will make to knowledge in the field
• The quality or the promise of quality of the work
• The quality of the conception, definition, organization and description of the project
• The likelihood that the applicant will complete the project
• The appropriateness of the research for Harvard/PIL resources and the Library of Congress collections

Please ensure that your references have ample time to consider and comment on your proposal. Letters of reference are more highly regarded if they address the specific proposed activity and how well the candidate is suited to undertake it, as opposed to letters that verify character, limit comments to previous work, or make only general observations on the topic.

Following a process of committee review, applicants will be notified of decisions in March 2023.

 

Note:  the deadline has been extended to February 15, 2023.

In collaboration with the John W. Kluge Center at the The Library of Congress, the Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School is pleased to invite applications for an inaugural 2022-2023 PIL–LC Research Fellowship (due: January 31, 2022). This newly offered fellowship is designed to provide an intellectual home to promising young scholars in Islamic legal studies, to advance their research, and to contribute to the intellectual life of the Program, the greater Harvard community, and the Library of Congress community. The unique opportunity afforded by this joint fellowship award allows the selected fellow to pursue independent research on Islamic law and history that utilizes the extensive collections of the Harvard Libraries and the Library of Congress.

Apply today!