MacroPolo is the in-house Think Tank of the Paulson Institute in Chicago. We decode China’s economic arrival with incisive market-relevant analysis and creative research products. We are building a truly 21st century think tank—instead of white papers, we specialize in thoughtfully designed digital interactives as well as dynamic content and databases. Our work currently spans three core areas: economics, technology, and politics.

We are seeking highly qualified undergraduate and graduate students to constitute our inaugural cohort of Summer Associates. We are not looking for anonymous research assistants or fact checkers. Instead, we want to cultivate emerging talent and promote your work. We are unique in offering you the opportunity to shape, produce, and possibly even lead substantive work. We will ensure you meet with our experts as well as external specialists and other interesting voices. For 10 weeks, you will get to enjoy summer in gorgeous and incredible Chicago—second city to none—with a competitive stipend to boot.

We invite applications from two types of candidates: researchers and creatives.

If you want to do research, you should have a strong background in the analysis of economics, technology, or politics with a focus on China and/or broader Asia. Advanced proficiency in Mandarin Chinese is highly preferable, but not essential depending on your other qualifications and research ideas.

If you are a creative, you should be skilled in design, marketing, web development, or multimedia specialties that could help MacroPolo build new products or improve content delivery. Chinese language capabilities are desirable but not necessary for this kind of applicant.

Your cover letter should focus on what kind of research project or creative project you could complete in 10 weeks, as well as how you could contribute to the improvement of existing MacroPolo products such as FDI Gateway, The Committee, or The Cleanup.

We encourage students of all backgrounds to apply, but you must be able to work legally in the US. You will be based out of our downtown Chicago office from June 10 – August 16, 2019 and will be welcome to participate in all think tank team events and activities.

The application deadline is 11:59pm CT, Friday, December 14, 2018. To apply, please send, as separate attachments, a one-page cover letter that specifies your area of interest and project idea, a one-page résumé, a short analytical writing sample (or other relevant sample of your previous work), and contact details for two references (one academic, one professional) to both Neil Thomas at nthomas@paulsoninstitute.org and Joy Dantong Ma at jma@paulsoninstitute.org