Department Information

The IU Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute supports research, creative activity, and public scholarship across the arts and humanities. The Institute advances interdisciplinary collaboration among faculty, students, community partners, and external organizations. Its programs support faculty research, student-engaged scholarship, public humanities initiatives, and cross-sector partnerships. The Institute plays a central role in connecting arts and humanities research to campus priorities, civic life, and broader public concerns. This position will be housed in the Institute as part of the NSF-funded INSECt project, with a focus on insect-human relations across the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and applied environmental research.

Preferred Qualifications

Department-Specific Responsibilities

Job Summary

The IU Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute invites applications for an IAHI Scholar-in-Residence in Insect-Human Relations. This 12-month position will support the INSECt initiative (https://science.indianapolis.iu.edu/biology/research/insect/index.html) and will focus on the development of integrative literature reviews analyzing insect-human relations across the disciplines.

The scholar will work at 100% effort for 12 calendar months beginning in fall 2026, before November 1. Working with Jason M. Kelly, the scholar will synthesize literature across fields ranging from insect bioeconomy research to the environmental humanities. The purpose of this work is to trace the transdisciplinary, convergent, and interdisciplinary potentials of existing scholarship and to develop research outputs that can support broader INSECt goals.

The successful candidate will play a central role in shaping a major interdisciplinary research agenda intended for publication in high-impact venues, including scientific journals with broad interdisciplinary readerships. The position requires an individual who is comfortable working across disciplinary boundaries and capable of engaging complex scientific, historical, ecological, environmental, and social scientific literature at a high level.

This is not a disciplinary specialist position narrowly rooted in a single field. Rather, the project seeks a scholar capable of synthesis: someone who can identify connections across bodies of literature, evaluate competing methodologies and frameworks, and contribute to the construction of a coherent interdisciplinary analysis of insects, human systems, environmental change, and the Anthropocene.

The scholar will also participate in regular meetings with the INSECt team and will help organize online and hybrid workshops throughout the year.

Required Qualifications

Jason Kelly: jaskelly@iu.edu