Postdoctoral Researcher

University of Texas at Austin • UT MAIN CAMPUS, UT

2d • $70,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Strong Communities Lab in the Department of Sociology and the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin seeks a postdoctoral researcher to collaborate on projects concerning nonprofits, civil society, and strong communities. The Lab studies how nonprofit organizations and government programs strengthen civic infrastructure in the United States, using multi-method research, novel administrative data, and computational social science methods. The researcher will work under the supervision of Lab Director Pamela Paxton and support high-quality research, lab management, and mentoring of graduate research assistants. The position offers professional development through the Population Research Center's postdoctoral training program, opportunities to co-author publications with the principal investigator and team, and the opportunity to use Lab data for future research. The position is currently funded for one year from the start date and is expected to continue until November 30, 2027. The start date is expected between January and June 2027.

Requirements

• PhD in sociology, nonprofit administration, political science, or a related discipline, received no more than three years before the start date; the PhD must be completed before the position begins.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work in a team environment, participate actively, and motivate others.
• Excellent time-management skills and ability to work independently.
• Experience managing and analyzing quantitative data using sophisticated statistical or computer programming techniques.
• Proficiency in R or Stata.
• Ability to apply rigorous data analysis techniques to real-world problems.

Nice To Haves

• Proficiency with natural language processing and computational social science.
• Previous experience managing large datasets.
• Background in nonprofit scholarship.

Responsibilities

• Conduct project research involving quantitative data collection, extraction, coding, and analysis.
• Acquire and clean data and link databases.
• Produce visualizations and statistical or computational analyses.
• Write up and present results to academic and policy audiences.
• Publish manuscripts and articles based on analyses.
• Coordinate Lab research, monitor research progression and publication, and contribute to Lab meetings.
• Oversee Lab management and graduate research assistants.
• Mentor graduate research assistants and graduate students interested in the research field.

Benefits

• Professional development opportunities, including the Population Research Center postdoctoral training program.
• Opportunity to co-author publications with the principal investigator and team.
• Opportunity to use Lab data for future research.
• University benefits package.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree