Focus Areas

India and Indian Ocean

There is an “Aloha” element in all Pacific Forum’s work. The India program at the Forum is no exception. At the Forum, we bring the much-needed Aloha spirit to explore the dynamic US-India bilateral partnership, India’s foreign policy, and its engagement in the broader Indo-Pacific region.

The region has no slow days. It is constantly wrestling with complex debates at the intersection of identity, philosophy, and politics. From as foundational as its name (India or Bharat) to religion, caste, and the ensuing anthropological complexities, the debates make it a field day for a student of anthropology and a chimera for a tourist to the study of the region. Cursory reviews of headlines or the 3-minute read in global media do not do justice to the state nor civilization wrestling with many narratives surrounding its history, origins, and trajectory – a civilizational state, a post-colonial society, technological powerhouse, or the new factory floor of the world. Adding to this abstract is India’s foreign policy that is unlike any other. Its strategic affairs cannot fit into any one theoretical framework such as liberal internationalism or realism.

This warrants a more inside-out approach to studying the nation, civilization, and the broader region.

The Forum, staying true to its tradition, adopts a collaborative approach to studying and understanding the region as opposed to prescriptive asymmetry. To that end, we engage in high-level dialogues, policy research and analysis, and next-gen activities.

At the Pacific Forum, we strive to cover India for all it has to offer. Not just the metropolises that convene the movers and shakers of India and increasingly the rest of the world – New Delhi or Mumbai – but as far and wide as the islands of Lakshadweep to the plateaus of Arunachal Pradesh.

This warrants a more inside-out approach to studying the nation, civilization, and the broader region.

Photo credit: Photograph by Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters / Redux

Opportunities and Fellowship

Open Call for India Tech Policy (ITP) Fellowship

The India Tech Policy (ITP) Fellowship seeks applicants for a 12-month non-resident policy fellowship focused on semiconductor technologies. Over 12 months, fellows will engage with research and analysis of the existing policy and legal frameworks impacting the semiconductor industry—their drawbacks and deficiencies—and offer policy recommendations (see application requirements for more details).

The fellowship is a project of the Pacific Forum, a Honolulu-based foreign policy research institute focused on the Indo-Pacific. The Forum has a rich history of organizing fellowships for professionals in the foreign policy sphere. With the increasing interactions between foreign policy, technology, law and national security, this fellowship will address the emerging challenges at the nexus of these topics.

Fellows will work with global mentors and access ongoing opportunities for professional growth in advanced technologies. Fellows will perform in-depth, independent research on an aspect of semiconductors and receive mentorship from our policy experts.

Focus Area

The Indian policy and legal systems’ readiness to sustain research and development, protect sensitive technologies, and ensure semiconductor supply chain security and intellectual property rights protection.

Eligibility and Qualifications

Pacific Forum encourages policy professionals including technologists, lawyers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, journalists and educators with an academic background in law or policy and a minimum 7 years’ experience pertaining to export controls, licensing, information technology, intellectual property rights, or high technology manufacturing (preferably in the semiconductor industry) to apply.

Deliverables

Fellows will be expected to produce a research report impacting the scholarly and public debate on the topic. Pacific Forum will favor applicants who demonstrate interest in:

Public-facing writing including op-eds and blog posts
Publicizing information on semiconductors via interviews with popular media
Convene meetings or discussions to capture diverse perspectives of all stakeholders
Writing white papers
Creating online resources for public consumption

Fellows are expected to commit between 10 to 15 hours a week toward fulfilling the fellowship deliverables.

Candidates with a background and interest in the study of critical and emerging technology, balancing technology promotion and security, accelerating technology adoption, supply chain security, trust and traceability as well as the development and implementation of legal frameworks will be viewed favorably.

Logistics

Location and Time Commitment

Fellows are expected to work remotely for 11 months in India followed by a 1-month sponsored stay in the United States.

This is not a full-time opportunity and selected candidates may continue their ongoing professional activities without disruption.

Stipend

Fellows will be paid a stipend in the range of INR 12 lakhs to 15 lakhs per annum for the 12-month commitment. Fellows are responsible for tax reporting on their stipends