Northwestern University - Evanston, IL

posted about 2 months ago

Full-time - Entry Level
Evanston, IL
Educational Services

About the position

The Global Poverty Research Lab (GPRL) at Northwestern University is seeking a full-time Research Project Coordinator to support the Principal Investigators (PIs), Professor Dean Karlan and Professor Christopher Udry, in various research projects focused on social protection, cognitive behavioral therapy, rainfall insurance, agricultural extension services, the role of social networks in the labor market, and women's mobility. This position offers a unique opportunity to engage in empirical research that examines the effectiveness of policies and programs aimed at alleviating poverty across multiple countries, including those in the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, China, and Southeast Asia. The Research Project Coordinator will play a crucial role in project development, data management, and analysis, as well as project management and communication. Responsibilities will include planning and executing project scoping activities, developing analysis plans, submitting applications to the Institutional Review Board, and cultivating relationships with implementing partners. The coordinator will also assist in writing grant proposals, preparing presentations, and ensuring compliance with regulatory guidelines. This position requires strong quantitative skills, familiarity with randomized controlled trials, and excellent organizational and communication abilities. In addition to administrative tasks, the coordinator will be involved in technical aspects such as data processing and analysis, conducting experimental tests, and developing new research methodologies. The role also includes supervising undergraduate Research Analysts, participating in the recruitment process, and mentoring new staff. The ideal candidate will be flexible, self-motivated, and capable of managing multiple tasks efficiently while contributing to the lab's mission of generating empirical evidence to inform policy decisions.

Responsibilities

  • Assist PIs and Research Managers with project development and dissemination of tasks.
  • Plan and execute project scoping activities, including procuring publicly available data and communicating with potential research collaborators.
  • Develop analysis plans that detail the statistical and analytical techniques to be used to answer the study's research questions.
  • Submit applications and modifications to the Institutional Review Board.
  • Cultivate relationships with implementing partners, including extensive non-technical communication about study design.
  • Support research design tasks like power calculations, sampling, and randomization.
  • Assist in writing grant proposals and reports.
  • Support the development of presentations to communicate study results to academic and lay audiences.
  • Present analysis to PIs, including communicating and setting meeting agendas and incorporating feedback from these discussions into subsequent analysis.
  • Ensure that information is entered correctly into databases.
  • Assist PIs in reviewing, analyzing, interpreting, summarizing, formatting, editing, and preparing tables, charts, graphs, progress and final reports, etc.
  • Draft reports and prepare tables and figures with empirical results for publications and presentations and assist with paper revisions.
  • Coordinate between sponsoring agencies, collaborating organizations, and/or other research and/or educational institutions.
  • Ensure that all study documents associated with current local, state, and federal regulatory guidelines, requirements, laws, and research protocols are completed in a timely manner.
  • Conduct literature reviews for analysis plans, working papers, and grant proposals.

Requirements

  • Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree in economics or another quantitative major.
  • Strong quantitative skills (coursework in econometrics and statistics).
  • Familiarity with randomized controlled trials.
  • Excellent organizational skills.
  • Fluency and excellent communication skills in English.
  • Ability to seek resources and self-teach new statistical, analytical, and programming techniques.
  • Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently.

Nice-to-haves

  • Experience living and/or working in a developing country.
  • Enthusiasm for empirical research.
  • Familiarity with other statistical, visualization or digital data collection software like R/ArcGIS/Python/SurveyCTO is a strong plus.

Benefits

  • Meaningful, competitive, high-quality health care plans.
  • Retirement benefits.
  • Tuition discounts.
  • Flexible work arrangements.
  • Programs to help locate and pay for quality, affordable childcare and senior/adult care.
  • Support for employee career development and continuing education.
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