Law and society research, which involves the use of social science theories and methods to study law and legal institutions, is rapidly expanding in Asia, yet the demand by young scholars for in-depth training and mentoring vastly exceeds the capacity of academic institutions in Asia, the United States, and other world regions to provide it.

The Training Initiative for Asian Law and Society Scholars (TRIALS), supported by a major grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, aimed to train the next generation of law and society scholars, who will devote their careers to research on law, society, and public policy in Asian societies. TRIALS featured six workshops over a three-year period, each lasting four days. TRIALS faculty was selected from among the world's leading law and society scholars and offered mentoring and training in research methodologies, scholarly writing, preparation of manuscripts for publication, and career planning. For each workshop, TRIALS selected 8-10 participants who were aiming for careers in higher education or public or private research centres, a total of 50-60 advanced graduate students or junior academics over the three-year period. These participants came from various Asian countries as well as the United States, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere in the world. The workshops created lasting relationships within each of the cohorts and also between mentors and younger scholars that continued beyond the programme.

The content of each TRIALS workshop was tailored to the interests and research methods of the specific participants involved, but all workshops included the following elements:

• Overview of the law and society field and its literature, both contemporary and historical. Required readings will be circulated prior to the workshop.
• Training in socio-legal research methods (quantitative, qualitative, archival, experimental, and others as appropriate).
• Presentations and critique sessions of work in progress submitted by each participant.
• Lectures and advisement on writing and publication of law and society scholarship.
• Career planning and professional strategies for law and society scholars of Asia.

Individual follow-up activities involving faculty and workshop participants continued after the workshop, aimed at assisting with the publication of manuscripts.

Past Workshops

Workshop 1 was held at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore (NUS Law) on 9-12 December 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Workshop 2 was postponed to 10-17 December 2021 and was held in a virtual format. Workshops 3, 4, 5 and 6 were held in person at NUS Law on 22-25 August 2022, 9-12 January 2023, 31 July - 3 August 2023, and 11-13 December 2023, respectively.

INAUGURAL WORKRSHOP | WORKSHOP 2 | WORKSHOP 3 | WORKSHOP 4 | WORKSHOP 5 | WORKSHOP 6

Click here to watch a YouTube video about TRIALS by one of TRIALS Alumni, Irene (Hyangseon) Ahn.

For enquiries, please contact CALS at: cals@nus.edu.sg.