School: Harvard Radcliffe Institute

Position Description:

• Contribute to research design and implementation, including helping to refine research questions and methods, and assisting with survey and interview design.
• Coordinate and support data collection in collaboration with an external research firm (e.g., survey administration, monitoring data quality, pilot and longitudinal waves).
• Analyze quantitative data and develop independent lines of analysis within the project's overarching framework.
• Co-author scholarly outputs, including working papers, journal articles, and contributions to collaborative publications.
• Participate in project meetings and events, including seminars with invited experts, and contribute to the creation of a de-identified, publicly available dataset.
• Help translate research findings for broader audiences, including policymakers, journalists, and the public, in collaboration with the Faculty Leads and Radcliffe staff.

Basic Qualifications:

• PhD in sociology, political science or higher education. Candidates must have the Ph.D. in hand at the time of application expect to successfully defend their dissertation by September 1, 2026.
• Strong background in social survey analysis and quantitative methods (e.g., survey design, measurement, statistical analysis). Computational skills are highly desirable.
• Demonstrated interest in at least one of the project's core themes, such as:
  • Intellectual pluralism and academic freedom
  • Sociology of knowledge, expertise, and professions
  • Higher education, student experience, or campus politics
  • Political polarization, democratic discourse, or related topics

Additional Qualifications:

• A record of research and publication (or strong promise thereof) relevant to the project's themes.
• Experience with large-scale survey data and/or mixed-methods research.
• Familiarity with debates on academic freedom, campus politics, or the public role of universities in the US context.
• Strong writing and communication skills, including interest in writing for both scholarly and public audiences.

Contact Information:

Contact Email: asma_shariff@radcliffe.harvard.edu

Equal Opportunity Employer:

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions or any other characteristic protected by law.

Salary Range:

About Harvard University

Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders in many disciplines who make a difference globally. The University, which is based in Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts, has an enrollment of over 20,000 degree candidates, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Harvard has more than 360,000 alumni around the world. The University has twelve degree-granting Schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, offering a truly global education. Established in 1636, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States.

Connections working at Harvard University