Vacancies

All current vacancies are listed below

Research Assistant in Development Economics

Location: Blavatnik School of Government, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford
Grade 6: Salary in the range £28,098 - £29,515 p.a.
Interviews: Rolling basis
Closing date: 23 August 2019

We are advertising a 2-year, full time research position with Kate Orkin and CSAE’s Mind and Behaviour Research Group at BSG.

About Research Position at CSAE’s Mind & Behaviour Group

This is a two-year full time position. This job holder would report directly to Kate Orkin, but work also work with Stefan Dercon and the teams of different collaborators on a number of projects. The postholder will be expected to make contributions to the development and running of new or continuing research projects for large randomised controlled trials, as well as other tasks to support fieldwork or the general lab. Potential projects you could be involved with include: 

• extensions to a long-term collaboration with GiveDirectly on a multi-arm randomised controlled trial testing the effect of relaxing financial constraints, psychological constraints (through a goal-setting intervention), and external and internal constraints simultaneously, (joint with Stefan, Rob Garlick, Mahreen Mahmud and Johannes Haushofer), including a project looking at women's economic empowerment and IPV (with Mahreen Mahmud and Emma Riley);
• a new project testing the effects of cash transfers on children’s cognitive and socioemotional skills (with Stefan, Rob, Mahreen and Giulio Schinaia)
• a project testing the effects of therapies for depression on girls’ socioemotional skills, human capital investment and risky behaviour in South Africa and Uganda (in collaboration with Alan Stein at the Oxford psychiatry department, Julia Ruiz Pozuelo, Mahreen, and BRAC);
• an ongoing collaboration with an active labour markets service provider to alleviate information frictions arising from poor information about workers’ skills  (joint with Rob and Lukas Hensel);
• or leading the roll out of fieldwork and analysing data on an evaluation of the effect of cash transfers on civic participationand contributions to public goods in Kenya (joint with Michael Walker)

This research assistant position is best suited for someone who wants to go on to a PhD and will mainly be working on academic projects although there are field and policy aspects.  Previous research assistants from the group have gone on to PhDs at Oxford (including those who have deferred for a year), as well as PhDs at Brown, Warwick, UCL, Duke and UCSB, and admitted at Michigan. Because of the exposure to various research topics, this position is an excellent opportunity for anyone considering a doctorate, but would like time to think through what research direction to pursue. He or she would also gain access to the broader CSAE research centre, including the ability to attend CSAE lunch-time seminar series, as well as attend its annual conference.

How to Apply

If you’re interested in our two-year position as part of the Mind & Behaviour Group, please apply online. We ask that you also follow up your online application by sending an email to Kate Orkin (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Steph Palla (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). We will be interviewing on a rolling basis, so please prepare your submission as soon as possible.