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The Blavatnik School of Government is seeking to engage two casual Research Associates to work on/support Dr Kate Orkin’s research work at the Centre for the Study of African Economies on cash transfers and civic engagement in Kenya and Malawi.

The role

The casual Research Associates will provide assistance with/will have responsibility for:

  • Reporting to Dr Orkin and assisting with substantive research tasks, including data collection, analysis and literature reviews.
  • Conducting desk research using data from two randomized controlled trials of cash transfer programs (one in Kenya, the other in Malawi).
  • Liaising with partners and stakeholders as part of project convenings.

This casual engagement will be for 12 weeks. We are looking for the successful candidate to start on 15 April 2026, or as soon as possible thereafter.

We estimate between 10 and 20 hours work per week. Hours may vary from week to week depending on project requirements.

Payment will be at the rate of Grade 6.1 (£18.80 per hour), plus hourly holiday pay (12.07% of hours worked).

The role can be carried out remotely with optional visits to the Blavatnik School of Government. You must be based and have the right to work in the UK. Please contact recruit@bsg.ox.ac.uk should you have any queries.

Selection criteria

You will be judged against your ability to demonstrate the following:

Essential criteria:

  • Hold a first degree in a relevant field.
  • Ability to conduct postgraduate-level research in Economics, Political Science, Statistics, or a related field.
  • Experience conducting data analysis with statistical software packages (e.g. Stata, R, Python) and reproducible workflows.
  • Ability to distil technical concepts into academic and/or policy writing.
  • Familiarity with research topics in development economics.

Desirable criteria:

  • Experience with survey-based data collection tools (e.g. SurveyCTO, ODK) and survey development.
  • Experience collaborating on large-scale data collection projects
  • Interest in political and civics-related outcomes and/or cash transfer programs in development economics.
  • Familairity with Stata and R.
  • Strong communication skills.

How to apply

In you are interested in this opportunity, please email your application to recruit@bsg.ox.ac.uk with the subject “Application for Casual RA for Dr Kate Orkin”.

Please include:

  1. your CV (no more than 2 pages);
  2. a brief cover letter/email addressing the selection criteria. Also include any constraints around availability (e.g. term dates, thesis deadlines, future commitments, etc.);
  3. an example of your written work in development economics or a related topic.

The closing date for applications is 12 noon (UK time) on Tuesday 7 April 2026. Interviews are likely to be held remotely (via Ms Teams) later that week or in week commencing 13 April.