Job Description

POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE, Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC)-Local Innovation Group, to join a project focused on strengthening the capacity of Central American universities to engage in collaborative research, inclusive innovation, and entrepreneurship focused on addressing regionally relevant development challenges.  Working with the group’s director and the project’s co-principal investigator, will lead and supervise mixed methods evaluation research into the project’s learning questions, research questions that the project implementing team and sponsor (USAID’s Innovation, Technology, and Research division/Research hub) seek to answer by June 2026.  These questions investigate key intermediate outcomes of the project’s pilot interventions in the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) and seek to identify causal mechanisms and contextual factors contributing to bringing about these outcomes.  Answering these questions will enable the project to identify what aspects of its approach are working and what factors must be considered as the project seeks to replicate its model beyond Guatemala.  Will join the project’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning team and collaborate with team members based at the Local Innovation Group at MIT and UVG in Guatemala City.  

REQUIRED:  Ph.D. in the social sciences, specifically the evaluation sciences and/or a social science field involving mixed-methods causal research (interdisciplinary training preferred); demonstrated rigor in research design and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data; ability to generate findings from data and communicate findings clearly; proven publication record (e.g., scholarly papers and short-format outputs such as learning briefs, policy briefs, evaluation reports, etc.); and ability to work independently and collaboratively.  PREFERRED:  experience using systems-informed approaches to understanding causality and mixed-methods approaches, subject matter experience in capacity-building interventions, and ability to conduct research in Spanish.  Job #24009

The position will require occasional international travel to the partner university in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Application material should include a cover letter describing your past research work, research skills and current research focus, future career goals, and how they fit with this position; a CV; and the names and contact information for three references. This may be uploaded as a single PDF on the MIT job site in the resume field and should also be emailed directly (with ASPIRE Postdoc Application in the subject line) to Elizabeth Hoffecker at: ehm@mit.edu.

Employment is contingent on work authorization and completion of a satisfactory background check.

5/8/24

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