Sciences Po, Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics, is seeking to appoint a researcher to work with Prof Dominique Boullier in the project “Collaborative Engagement on Societal Issues” of the H2020 program Swafs 2020 funded by the European Commission.
The COESO (Collaborative Engagement on Societal Issues) project facilitates and supports participatory research in SSH, through a service-first approach. COESO supports ten Citizen Science pilots presenting a variety of disciplines, societal challenges and types of engagement with citizens in different European countries. COESO project will specifically support collaborative practices in Citizen Science by developing a Virtual Ecosystem for Research Activation (VERA), a platform envisioned as a “collaboratory” providing a set of tools to discover potential partners, to define and co-design the activities, to co-create new knowledge and solutions, and to deliver them to society.
Tasks
- Prepare and undertake all the necessary tasks relating to the three tasks of the work package (WP5) under the supervision of the WP leader.
- Produce a state-of-the-art report on cooperation analytics, including the older versions from CSCW, conceptual frameworks on cooperation in projects (from social sciences and management traditions), traditions in citizen science research, and extract relevant features and ideas for the development of our system.
- Contribute to the design of the indicators and to the test of their implementation within the platform VERA.
- Conduct field and online observations with the 5 pilots projects in order to learn from their forms of cooperation and from the critical situations, and to start testing paper versions of cooperation analytics (before they are implemented in the platform).
- Conduct field and online observations with the 5 pilots projects that will be selected and will benefit from the fully operational VERA platform, including the analytics.
- Collect, store and code linguistic material from exchanges, meetings and documents between the partners of each pilot. The use of NLP techniques will be required.
- Contribute to publications from the observations of the cooperation and learning processes during the pilots.
- Identify and understand work requirements prioritising tasks and responsibilities within an agreed timeframe agreed with the WP leader.
- Effectively manage his or her time to deliver on the priorities of the project. The post holder will need to plan ahead to ensure the research is delivered in accordance with the overall research objectives and deadlines. This may include defining tasks and schedules, organising meetings, preparing intermediate reports on data and findings, and contributing to the project final report.
- Any other tasks that might be necessary for the proper undertaking of the role and the successful completion of the work packages.
Requirements
1- Qualifications, Knowledge and Experience
Essential:
- A PhD in any Social Science with a strong methodological focus relevant to the project, particularly involving field observations in organizations and the management of linguistic material for quantitative analysis. A PhD in Digital Humanities or Data Science with a strong training in social sciences will be considered too.
- Demonstrable training in NLP techniques and robust statistical training.
- A sociological background related to organizational analysis, communication processes, quantification processes and STS.
- An interest and experience in user-centered design for interfaces.
- Prior research experience in externally funded projects.
- Proficiency in English.
Desirable, but not essential:
- Research experience in topics related to citizen science and cooperative projects
- An ability to communicate in French (active and passive use of the language).
2- Skills, Abilities and Competencies:
Essential:
- Proven ability of social science data input, management and analysis with Excel.
- Proven ability of social science data input, management and analysis with Stata or R.
- Proven ability to write up research findings.
- Ability to take initiative, self-manage and contribute intellectually to the overall project.
- Expertise with relevant Office packages.
- Ability to work as part of a team.
- Good oral and written communication skills.
- Attention to detail.
Desirable but not essential:
- Familiarity with international standards for the production, documentation and archiving of survey data (e.g. DDI, Dublin Core, RDA recommendations).
- Intermediate-level quantitative analysis skills.
- Evidence of coherent research activity (such as involvement in successful grant applications and publications).
Contract details
The appointment is full-time and available from 15th April with a contract duration of 24 months.
Type of contract: fixed-duration contract
Gross salary : between €2,500 and € 3,000 per month depending on qualifications and experience
Other contributions: partial contribution for transportation card within Paris, and restaurant tickets.
How to apply
Please send (1) a cover letter outlining precisely the qualifications and skills that match the requirements for the position, as well as the expected salary, (2) a CV and (3) an example describing previous work managing similar tasks to those involved in this project to linda.amrani@sciencespo.fr by 5 pm on Monday 1st March 2021.
Interviews will be planned for the week of 8th March.
