The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) is a non-profit research organisation dedicated to shifting the world’s focus to peace as a positive, achievable, and tangible measure of human well-being and progress.
Rated in 2014 and 2015 as one of the world’s most impactful think tanks with a budget under $5 million and a think tank to watch by the University of Pennsylvania’s Global Go To Think Tank Index, the Institute is looking to expand its research team.
IEP achieves its goals by developing new conceptual frameworks to define peacefulness; providing metrics for measurement; uncovering the relationship between peace, business and prosperity, and by promoting a better understanding of the cultural, economic and political factors that drive peacefulness. The research outputs of the Institute have been featured in leading media internationally, from the New York Times, the Guardian, FoxNews, the Economist, Huffington Post, Washington Post, CNN, and BBC and are widely cited by intergovernmental organisations and in academia.
Current and previous partners and consulting clients include numerous leading organisations internationally including the United Nations Development Programme, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Economist Intelligence Unit, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Club de Madrid, and the Commonwealth Secretariat. The Institute is a non-partisan and not-for-profit organisation with offices in Sydney, Mexico City and New York. The research fellow would join a research team composed of eight other dedicated research staff.
Research Fellow Role
The Research Fellow will have a track record of conducting quantitative research in the social sciences, development studies, statistics, economics, and peace and conflict studies. S/he will be able to conduct new and ground-breaking thinking on conceptualising frameworks and measurements for creating more peaceful societies. S/he will have experience engaging with high level stakeholders in international organisations and understand current debates in development, peace and conflict studies, and in relevant international forums.
The Research Fellow will conduct research on topics related to the Global Peace Index, peace economics, development studies and peace and conflict studies. This includes writing, advanced statistical analysis, participation and leadership in the dissemination, communication, and presentation of IEP research findings. Ideal candidates will have a deep interest in peace and development issues, be open-minded to multidisciplinary approaches in the social sciences and be well-travelled.
Selection criteria and previous experience required
- Master’s degree (PhD an advantage) in a combination of economics and/or statistics, international relations or other social sciences discipline.
- Minimum of five years professional experience conducting empirical research and quantitative data analysis specifically related to a combination of social sciences, development studies, economics, statistics and peace and conflict studies.
- Experience working with governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on peace economics, peace and conflict studies, and international development issues.
- Experience handling large datasets and knowledge of R, SPSS, STATA, and other related econometric packages is required. Ability to write code for R, SPSS or STATA and advanced Microsoft Excel skills.
- Track record of demonstrable analytical and data visualisation skills.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Competence to undertake research assignments and project manage teams with minimal supervision.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Contribute to conceptual research on how to measure and quantify the factors that create more peaceful societies and the economic benefits of peace.
- Analyse data to develop new conceptual frameworks to generate evidence that can influence policy.
- Collect, assemble, and maintain datasets for quantitative peace and conflict research within software packages such as R and Microsoft Excel. Update and maintain data for the Global Peace Index, and other IEP indices measuring peace. Collect and analyse information from a wide variety of sources; monitor relevant material from conferences and seminars, government and intergovernmental documents, academic journals, institutional databases, relevant civil society organisations and NGOs.
- Project manages research projects with a variety of external intergovernmental organisations.
- Write a diversity of IEP research reports, briefing memos, summaries of journal articles, books, blogs and news articles. Visualise data in interesting and efficient ways.
- Attend international conferences and seminars as required.
- Specific research projects may be on a diverse range of topics, for example including; Understanding the macroeconomic consequences of conflict and peace; developing models of fragility and resilience, identifying causal factors of peace; case study generation on positive business practices to facilitate peace; investigating principles of index design; generating new methods of measuring direct violence; using systems approach to understanding peace, investigating measures of social cohesion and how they relate to violence.
Desired personal qualities
- Excellent attention to detail and fast learner.
- Ability to meet multiple deadlines in a fast-paced work environment.
- Ability to work well under pressure with discretion and judgment.
- Deeply committed and interested in peace research.
Location: The IEP headquarters is based in St. Leonards, Sydney.
Hours: This is a full time position.
Remuneration: Salary will be upwards of 75K per annum with the total remuneration package commensurate with experience.
Applications to: CV and cover letter addressing the selection criteria and desired personal qualities to Sheeva Ghassemian on info@economicsandpeace.org
Deadline for applications: 15 October, 2015
