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EGAP/C-Dem Pre/Post-Doctoral Fellowship

Department: Department of Politics 
Position supervisor: Daniel Rubenson
Contract length: 1 year
Hours of work per week: 
Position type: Postdoctoral fellowship

About Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University)

At the intersection of mind and action, Toronto Metropolitan University is on a transformative path to become Canada’s leading comprehensive innovation university. Integral to this path is the placement of equity, diversity and inclusion as fundamental to our institutional culture. Our current academic plan outlines each as core values and we work to embed them in all that we do.

Toronto Metropolitan University welcomes those who have demonstrated a commitment to upholding the values of equity, diversity, and inclusion and will assist us to expand our capacity for diversity in the broadest sense. In addition, to correct the conditions of disadvantage in employment in Canada, we encourage applications from members of groups that have been historically disadvantaged and marginalized, including First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples, Indigenous peoples of North America, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, and those who identify as women and/or 2SLGBTQ+. Please note that all qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, applications from Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

As an employer, we are working towards a people first culture and are proud to have been selected as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers and a Greater Toronto’s Top Employer for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. To learn more about our work environment, colleagues, leaders, students and innovative educational environment, visit www.torontomu.ca, check out @TorontoMet (external link) , @TorontoMetHR (external link)  and @ECItorontomet (external link)  on Twitter, and visit our LinkedIn company page (external link) .

About the program/department/team

About EGAP

Evidence in Governance and Politics (external link)  (EGAP) is a global and cross-disciplinary research, evaluation and learning network of researchers and practitioners that promotes knowledge accumulation, evaluation and evidence-based policy in governance and accountability domains. EGAP has innovated on methodology and research practice through its Metaketa studies and study pre-registrations.  It works to broaden access to experimental methods through trainings and open-access resources and to strengthen the capacity of Global South researchers to set the agenda for locally-driven research.

About C-Dem

The Consortium on Electoral Democracy (external link)  (C-Dem) is reimagining election research in Canada and elsewhere by developing a pioneering consortium model for researchers, electoral management boards (EMBs), policy makers and civil society organizations (CSOs) to build upon mutual interests and pool resources and knowledge to investigate the health of democracy. C-Dem administered the 2019 and 2021 Canadian Election Studies and will administer the next CES as well as provincial election studies and yearly surveys of Canadian attitudes.

The opportunity

EGAP and C-Dem seek highly-motivated scholars interested in a one-year fellowship program, with the possibility to extend the fellowship to two years. The fellow would primarily work with the EGAP leadership team to improve the accessibility of methods for the design and analysis of randomized trials, including building new software tools and improving the documentation and findability of existing tools. In addition, the fellow will work with the C-Dem team to manage existing and future datasets and provide methodological support. 

This is a full-time staff position for one year, with an expected start date of July 2023. Pending availability of funding, this position may be renewed for an additional year.

Roughly half of the fellow’s work time is expected to be committed to EGAP and C-Dem activities as specified in the Duties and Responsibilities section below, with the other half expected for the fellow to commit to their own research. The fellow will primarily work under the supervision of Professor Daniel Rubenson (external link)  (TMU, incoming EGAP Executive Director and C-Dem Co-Investigator) with Professors Graeme Blair (external link)  (UCLA, EGAP Methods & Training Co-Director) and Nahomi Ichino (external link)  (Emory, EGAP Methods & Training Co-Director) as co-supervisors. The position will be located in Toronto, Canada, with opportunities for paid travel to Atlanta and Los Angeles to work with co-supervisors.

We encourage applications from methods-focused candidates, but also applied researchers who have used R software tools in designing and implementing randomized trials. We will provide training and support for candidates to learn relevant programming tools. 

Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Identify existing software tools for common tasks in designing and analyzing randomized trials and write short software guides to improve findability;
  • Develop new statistical software packages for experimental research in R to fill gaps in existing tools;
  • Collaborate with social scientists who have developed software tools to facilitate publishing the tools and improving their usability and documentation;
  • Provide methodological support for C-Dem projects and data collections, including support for RAs and other C-Dem researchers.

Qualifications

Basic qualifications (by time of application):

  • Ph.D. or ABD in political science, economics, psychology, computer science, statistics, or a related field;
  • Programming experience in R, in the context of applied research projects or R package development;
  • Research methods training, such as Ph.D.-level coursework in quantitative methods, econometrics, statistics and/or experimental research methods.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Ph.D. in political science, economics, psychology, computer science, statistics or a related field;
  • Familiarity with R package development;
  • Familiarity with version control tools (e.g., Github) including the use of pull requests and continuous integration tools (e.g., Github Actions);
  • Programming experience in C/C++;
  • Experience working on or managing surveys or randomized control trials;
  • Personable, detail-oriented, and diplomatic;
  • Ability to travel domestically and internationally 15-25%;
  • Fluency in both English and French is a plus.

How to apply

Interested applicants should submit: 

  • A cover letter; 
  • CV;
  • A research statement;
  • Graduate school transcripts; 
  • Names and contact information for three referees.

Review of applications will begin on May 22, 2023 but will continue until the position is filled. Please submit your application by completing the form here (external link) .

Toronto Metropolitan University’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

We encourage all First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples or Indigenous peoples of North America, to self-identify in their applications and also reach out to Tracey King, Indigenous Human Resources Lead for support during the selection process.