Position Title:
Academic Assistant (Part-Time, 10 hours/week)
Duration:
September – December 2024
Reports to:
Ginette Azcona, UBC Visiting Policy Practioner Fellow at the School for Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA).
Project:
Inclusive Data and the SDGs: A Global Data Initiative for Elevating Indigenous Women and Girls in SDG Monitoring
Position Overview:
The selected Academic Assistant will provide quantitative research support for an interdisciplinary research project. The role will involve assisting in data mining and data analysis and contributing to the development of a new global data series for monitoring the SDGs from a gender and intersectional perspective. The RA will support research activities focusing on global poverty, Indigenous rights, and climate justice from a gender perspective and other thematic areas relevant to SDG monitoring.
The ideal candidate will have a strong background in quantitative methods and machine learning (ML) methodologies and experience/interest in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, gender data analysis, and promoting Indigenous rights and well-being globally.
Key Responsibilities:
- Conduct advanced quantitative data analysis, employing statistical methods and machine learning models, as applicable.
- Clean, organize, and manage large datasets from multiple sources, ensuring data accuracy and integrity.
- Contribute to the design and implementation of research methodologies, including data harmonization.
- Assist in creating and refining a minimum set of indicators for SDG monitoring from a gender and indigenous rights perspective.
- Work with global datasets, including Demographic Health Surveys (DHS), and apply relevant statistical methods for analysis.
- Produce high-quality visualizations and reports of critical findings for academic and policy audiences.
- Collaborate with the lead researcher to interpret findings and contribute to research papers and presentations.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own.
- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Educational background: Enrollment in or completion of a graduate program in a relevant field (e.g., Data Science, Economics, Gender Studies, Public Policy).
- Quantitative Expertise: Demonstrated experience in statistical analysis, quantitative research, and machine learning methodologies.
- Software Proficiency: Advanced skills in R, Python, and/or STATA for data analysis and visualization.
- Knowledge Areas: Experience in gender data analysis, global poverty, Indigenous rights, and/or climate justice from a gender perspective.
- Data Experience: Familiarity with Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) or similar large-scale demographic datasets is highly desirable.
- Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical information to diverse audiences.
Preferred Experience:
- Experience working with international datasets or research projects with a global scope.
Work Hours and Compensation:
- Part-time, 10 hours per week.
- Compensation $27-32/hour
Application Process:
Interested candidates should submit their CV and a sample of previous quantitative work (if available) to gazcona@mail.ubc.ca.
Equal Opportunity:
At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.
