Job Announcement: PhD-level research assistant

This position has re-opened due to withdrawal of the previously selected RA.  Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until October 20.

The School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh is hiring a PhD-level research assistant (RA) to work on a research project. The position is funded for 56 hours of work at grade 6.1 and work will take place between September and December 2021. The project will use rankings data from Spotify to examine patterns of diffusion of cultural products (songs) around the world. The RA will use a statistical programming language (R or Python, with R strongly preferred) to construct and analyze a dataset of daily rankings data from all available countries. The goal of research is to construct multiple measures capturing the speed of transmission of songs between countries (e.g. when a song becomes a hit in one country, how long does it take to become a hit in other countries?). The RA will also participate in preparing outputs for wider dissemination (e.g. data visualization and/or contributing to writing general interest/non-technical descriptions of the work). The RA is encouraged to develop their own research projects with the data. This position is funded by the AHRC Creative Informatics programme and supports the goal of using Data Driven Innovation to unlock hidden value in archives and data sets, and analyze access to new markets.

For more information about the goals of the project, click here.

Required skills:

· Enrolment in a PhD program at the University of Edinburgh

• Programming ability in R/python
• Ability to work independently and solve computational/data challenges
• Knowledge of social data science methods and practice, including data visualization tools

Desired skills:

• Familiarity with social science research and theory
• Prior experience with data science/social data science projects
• Knowledge of sociology of culture research
• Written and verbal ability to explain social data science analysis for a general audience

Hiring is contingent on completion of right-to-work checks.

To apply, please send CV/resume and a covering letter describing interest and qualifications to Dr. Tod Van Gunten (tvangun@ed.ac.uk) by 20 October 2021. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so please indicate an interest as soon as possible.