Research Assistant

Research Assistant (12 months, full-time) in the project “Digitalisation and political behaviour in Africa” at Aarhus University

The Department of Political Science at Aarhus University invites applications for a 1-year Research Assistant position to work with Assistant Professor Alex Yeandle (the PI) on a series of research projects about digitalisation and political behaviour in Africa. This work is supported by a recruitment grant from the Aarhus University Research Foundation.

The start date is preferably 1st February 2027, with flexibility by mutual agreement.

The research project

The project examines how digitalisation, broadly defined, shapes political dynamics in Africa. There is particular focus on how citizens and states use digital technologies - such as mobile phones or biometric identification schemes - to access new sources of information and the political consequences that follow from this. There are two broad streams of work:

Urban-rural communication: This stream focuses on Ghana as a country case, using a field experiment to examine how policymakers and family members can use digital technologies to share information with hard-to-reach rural populations.

The social contract: This stream focuses on Malawi as a country case, using surveys and embedded experiments to examine attitudes toward the government’s use of digital technology in collecting tax and administering welfare programmes.

You will work with the PI on the planning and implementation of both work streams, alongside preparing project outputs once data collection is complete.

For interested candidates, the position includes opportunities to travel to Ghana and/or Malawi to oversee implementation and data collection, and the possibility of co-authorship on some of the project outputs. More information will be provided at the interview stage.

The working language for this role is English, and there is no requirement to speak Danish. There is the possibility of remote working arrangements for candidates unable to relocate to Denmark.

The main responsibilities of the position include:

Survey administration: liaising with survey providers and local partner organisations in Ghana and Malawi to facilitate data collection and implementation. This includes arranging meetings, preparing documentation for approvals, and testing survey instruments.

Data validation: cleaning and validating data collected as part of the project, including technical checks, pre-testing, wrangling, and creating codebooks.

Analysis and dissemination: working with the PI to prepare results for conference presentations, policy briefs, and research papers.

Desk research: conducting preparatory background research, including thematic literature reviews on project focus areas and examining publicly available data.

Candidates who are interested in the role but not sure if they meet all the qualifications are encouraged to apply.

Master’s degree (completed by start date) in political science, economics, sociology, development studies, or related field.

Documented knowledge of research design in the quantitative social sciences (e.g. through coursework).

Advanced skills in R, including data wrangling, visualisation, and analysis, as evidenced in prior work (e.g. Master’s thesis, coursework).

Strong written and verbal communication skills in English.

An interest in politics and/or development in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Experience collecting and/or analysing survey, administrative, experimental, and/or geospatial data.

Experience programming and testing surveys.

Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work as part of a team across cultural environments.

What we offer

In addition to a competitive salary (determined according to collective bargaining arrangements), this role will provide hands‑on experience working in several aspects of an academic research project. This includes opportunities to conduct fieldwork in Malawi and/or Ghana, collect original data, contribute to publications for submission to peer‑reviewed journals, and expand the candidate’s substantive knowledge of and analytical skills in comparative politics and research methods. This role would be a good fit for recent Master’s graduates considering applying for PhD programmes in the future, or late‑stage PhD students looking for a position while writing up.

The Department of Political Science at Aarhus University

With around 120 academic staff members and 50 PhD students, the Department of Political Science is among Europe’s largest political science departments. The research at the department covers most political science disciplines, including public administration, and represents a variety of methodological appr