Research Assistant

You can find more information about the department on our website: https://www.essex.ac.uk/departments/government

The PI of Peacekeeping Dividends and Post-conflict Development (Dividends) is seeking to appoint a quantitative social scientist to the post of Research Assistant to undertake research and development activities on Dividends to support the data collection.

It offers an excellent opportunity to learn research skills and it will provide valuable experience in empirical research.

The Project

Peacekeeping Dividends and Post-conflict Development (Dividends), Selected by ERC, funded by UKRI

This project breaks new ground in examining peacekeeping dividends across a broad set of outcomes, evaluating policies that best leverage positive externalities of peacekeeping, bridging research on short-term peacekeeping and long-term peacebuilding objectives and large-N comparative and case studies. It examines if peacekeeping efforts scale and if we can discern broader dividends on post-conflict reconstruction, including successful state-building. Dividends conceptualises peacekeeping dividends as outcomes exceeding expected or projected baselines - contrasting with conflict traps, where the cost of conflict leads to outcomes that remain below expected trajectories.

Further information regarding the project can be found within the job pack.

Duties of the Role

The main duties of the post will include: 

• Play a key role in enhancing and developing Peacekeeping Dividends and Post-conflict Development data, in particular identifying peacekeeping events.
• Use machine learning to code data from text sources such as UN Security Council reports.
• Conduct reviews of existing peacekeeping data and research.
• Triangulate national and sub-national data.
• Prepare quantitative data sets and conduct data analysis using standard statistical software such as STATA or R.
• Create graphics and data visualization.
• Contribute to writing reports and research papers. 

Other duties as may be assigned from time to time by the PI of Dividends.

Skills and qualifications required

Candidates should possess a Masters degree and/or work on their PhD in empirical social sciences, conflict studies or data science.

To be successful, you must have a good knowledge of datasets in conflict, development, and peacekeeping. You should also have knowledge of mixed methods for the analysis of events data, rare events, and text analysis. The work will involve statistical software packages such as Stata or R and/or Python, and you will need to demonstrate relevant skills (ideally in R).

In addition, you should also demonstrate familiarity with international relations theories and international organizations or a willingness to engage with these research areas.

This is a fixed-term, part-time appointment. Please refer to the job pack for more information.

At the University of Essex, internationalism and diversity is central to who we are and what we do. We are committed to being a cosmopolitan, internationally oriented university that is welcoming to staff and students from all countries, faiths and backgrounds, where you can find the world in one place.

Please use the 'Apply' button to read further information about this role including the full job description and person specification which outlines the full duties, skills, qualifications and experience needed for this role. You will also find details of how to make your application here. Our website http://www.essex.ac.uk contains more information about the University of Essex. If you have a disability and would like information in a different format, please email resourcing@essex.ac.uk. 

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