Special Research Project: Myanmar

The Upper New

The Upper New, Inc. is an educational nonprofit organization focused on incidental learning through engaging multimedia experiences in service of systems wisdom and ecological literacy. The mission of The Upper New is to seek out and foster place-based creative work in the watersheds of the world as an avenue for humans’ continued individual and collective growth toward ecological literacy and increased practice of environmental stewardship.

The first project of The Upper New is The Upper New Review: an environmental literary arts hybrid digital multimedia publication focused on place-based expression of creativity in all its forms, wherever they occur on Earth. The Upper New Review is fostering place-based creative works around the globe. The Upper New Review is a place-based socio-cultural archive for bioregionalism, ecological literacy, and sense of place, serving as a curated clearinghouse for expression, exploration, research, learning, design, and stewardship for the populations and communities of all watersheds of the world, exploring the Upper New River basin as our home and example. We hope our curation and publication serves as an entry portal to a much deeper understanding of our relationships with the natural world and its ecological complexities.

We see The Upper New Review as one window in the local-global ecological schoolhouse The Upper New is building over time.

Project Summary

One of our current projects is a critical special issue on Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) involving the curation of written and audiovisual works from the people of Myanmar. In collaboration with Parami University, this ongoing project is in its early stages of development as we close out 2024. As a Special Research Project volunteer working on our Myanmar project, you will have the choice to complete any number of research assignments exploring the ecology, culture, history, and politics of Myanmar for the purpose of contextualization of the critical special issue within the place of Myanmar, taking an “expanded time horizons” systems wisdom approach to this research.

Your work will include archival research at the Library of Congress and any number of special collections at university libraries and public archives across the globe, accessed online or in person (as relevant). You will embark on transdisciplinary exploratory pathways to gather primary source evidence supporting contextual perspectives of Myanmar within, across, and beyond the topic areas listed above, for the purpose of publication in future feature stories in The Upper New Review, potentially in print and interactive formats. You will be responsible for categorical organization of findings, potentially curated as research reports, whitepapers, or multimodal presentations. You will be encouraged to defy the disciplines.

You will have the opportunity to work with Upper New leadership to explore and demonstrate pathways of growth across functional, cultural, and critical ecological literacy while investigating systems thinking mind shifts, principles of system wisdom practice, and the deep shifts of the fourth industrial revolution.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Upper New leadership to design and understand the scope, timeline, and outputs for one or more special research assignments.
• Conduct all necessary research (including interviews, if necessary) to gather relevant material for assigned research tasks.
• Work autonomously and with other members of the Upper New team to complete all research tasks in a timely manner.
• No fact goes unchecked. We do not guess, we confirm every piece of information.
• Track and manage all citations, as relevant to each research project. (We use footnotes in our Wordpress articles and PDF documents).
• Work with Upper New leadership to meet deadlines for drafting, revision, and completion (and use in publications) of each assigned research task.
• If necessary, work with other researchers to compare notes and discuss, critique, expand, and improve each other’s research project trajectories.
• Maintain an exploratory transdisciplinary mindset.
• Practice systems thinking and systems wisdom.
• Engage as a lifelong learner.

Experience

• Excellent independent exploratory research skills
• Familiarity with research and citation management (APA format preferred)
• Experience planning and executing multimodal transdisciplinary research projects preferred, but not required
• Proficiency with Google Workspace (G-Suite)
• Excellent proactive written and verbal communication
• Proactive problem solving ability
• Excellent time management
• Able to work independently and in relevant team structures
• Comfortable with remote/hybrid workflows and environments

Education

• Currently enrolled in a relevant undergraduate degree program.
• Currently enrolled (in good standing) in a relevant MA/MFA/PhD program.

We also welcome volunteer applications from experienced professionals in any relevant field, with demonstrated experience and/or relevant academic credentials.

Apply Now!

To apply for this opportunity, please visit: https://form.jotform.com/242875104480052