Five exceptional scholars from around the world will come to Princeton University this fall to begin a year of research, writing and collaboration as the 11th cohort of Fung Global Fellows.
For the 2023-24 academic year, the scholars will once again work on “sustainable futures” and explore the sustainability of current systems and practices in light of historic, contemporary and future challenges, with an eye on innovative and feasible changes that promise greater sustainability.
From left: Muyiwa Adigun, Ady Chinchay Tuesta, Angela Ke Li, Laila Omar, Yelena Yermakova
Elke Weber, the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and professor of psychology and public affairs, directs the program. “I so look forward to directing, mentoring and learning from my second cohort of fellows, the third one under the theme of ‘Sustainable Futures,’” she said. “These five fellows bring their disciplinary perspective and their geographic breadth to address timely topics, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, disaster management in the face of climate change, migration and religious identities, transnational litigation of human rights violations, and governing the gig economy in the Global South.”
The program is funded by a portion of a $10 million gift from Princeton 1970 alumnus William Fung of Hong Kong, that is designed to substantially increase the University’s engagement with scholars around the world and inspire ideas that transcend borders. The program is administered by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS).
The two visiting research scholars for the 2023-24 academic year are:
- Muyiwa Adigun, senior lecturer, Faculty of Law at University of Ibadan; and
- Angela Ke Li, assistant professor, Department of Communications and New Media at National University of Singapore.
The three postdoctoral research associates are:
- Ady Chinchay Tuesta, Ph.D. in sociology, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru;
- Laila Omar, Ph.D. in sociology, University of Toronto; and
- Yelena Yermakova, Ph.D. in philosophy, University of Oslo.
More about the newly appointed Fung Global Fellows:
Muyiwa Adigun is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He earned his Ph.D. in law from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he examined the principle of complementarity under the Rome Statute relative to Nigeria. As a legal researcher who specializes on the relationship between international law and domestic legal order, he will examine during his fellowship year how transnational human rights litigation can be deployed to address land grabs in Africa.
Ady Chinchay Tuesta received her Ph.D. in sociology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), where she was a fellow of the Advanced Studies on Inequalities and Sustainable Development initiative by the Freie Universität Berlin and the PUCP. She also holds a master’s degree in international public policy analysis from the University of Bath in England, and a master’s in comparative law, economics and finance from the International University College of Turin in Italy. Chinchay Tuesta also holds a law degree from National University of San Marcos (Peru) and has years of experience in the public and private sectors, especially in environmental law and extractive industries. During her fellowship year, Chinchay Tuesta will examine the integration of disaster risk management and climate change policies in the Americas.
Angela Ke Li is an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore. She is a scholar of information and communication technologies, and is especially interested in digital economies and how technology and society shape each other. She earned her Ph.D. from the Institute of Communication Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where her dissertation was supported by a fellowship from the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation. As a Fung Global Fellow, she will work on her dissertation-turned-manuscript, tentatively titled "Digital Disruption: Ride-hailing and the Failures of Innovation," which focuses on China's ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing.
Laila Omar is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Toronto. Her primary research interests lie in the fields of international migration and qualitative methods, with a special focus on the integration process of refugees and immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa in Canada. As a Fung Global Fellow, she will extend her doctoral research by examining the role of religious identity in the integration process and future projections of recent newcomer youths to North America from that region.
Yelena Yermakova is a political philosopher interested in the governance of international spaces and global commons such as the Polar regions, the deep seabed, the atmosphere, outer space and cyberspace. Specifically, her research focuses on which institutions should govern these spaces and what makes these institutions legitimate. She earned her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Oslo; her thesis, "Governing Antarctica: Assessing the Legitimacy and Justice of the Antarctic Treaty System," concerns decision-making and authority in the Antarctic regime. While at Princeton, Yermakova will be examining the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
