Description

The Training Initiative for Asian Law & Society Scholars (TRIALS) Workshop 2 has come to a close 17 December 2021 with a “Reflections” session attended by both faculty and participants. They shared their thoughts and takeaways from the workshop, which took place virtually from 9 – 17 December 2021. The TRIALS program, supported by a major grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, is directed by Associate Professor Lynette Chua (NUS Law) in collaboration with SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus David Engel (State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law). It aims to train the next generation of Asian law and society scholars with mentoring and training in research methodologies, scholarly writing,
preparation of manuscripts for publication, and career planning.

For Workshop 2, TRIALS organizers selected 9 advanced graduate students and junior faculty members
from more than 100 applicants from numerous Asian countries as well as the United States, the UK,
Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere in the world. TRIALS faculty represent some of the world’s
leading law and society scholars. Workshop 2 faculty, in addition to Professor Chua and Engel, included
Professor Rachel Stern (UC Berkeley), Associate Professor Sida Liu (University of Toronto) and Associate
Professor Pratiksha Baxi (Jawaharlal Nehru University).

Over a period of 9 days, participants participated in one-on-one manuscript discussion sessions with
TRIALS faculty and presented their manuscripts to workshop participants, faculty and observers,
gathering valuable feedback and exploring new ideas in relation to their areas of research.

Workshop faculty also prepared pre-recorded lectures on Asian law and society topics with selected
readings and held “live” sessions with participants to discuss and exchange ideas on the lectures. The
TRIALS workshop also held exclusive “live” sessions on “Launching and Sustaining a Professional Career”
and “Writing and Publishing” where workshop faculty shared precious insights from their own personal
experiences. Participants were able to learn from each other’s sharing as well.

The TRIALS workshop series is by invitation only. The next two workshops are slated to take place in
August 2022 and January 2023, respectively, and the call for applications will be circulated in mid-January
2022.

For more information on TRIALS, please visit: https://law.nus.edu.sg/cals/training/trials/

For the list of TRIALS 2 workshop faculty and participants:
https://law.nus.edu.sg/cals/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/12/TRIALS-Workshop-2-Dec-2021.pdf