Research Analyst - Research Lab, Northwestern University

Research Analyst - Global Poverty Research Lab, Northwestern University

Organization: Northwestern University

Location: United States of America

Start Date (Earliest): 2 March 2026

Start Date (Latest): 30 September 2026

Length of Commitment: More than two years

The Global Poverty Research Lab (GPRL) is a research center based at Northwestern University that accelerates poverty reduction by generating frontier research and creating public goods in the form of data, methods, and syntheses, to enable others to design, test, and turn evidence into action.

Projects at GPRL cut across the following pillars:

• 1. Frontier Research: Generate cutting edge research in development economics including themes of mental health, agriculture, social protection, and renewable energy; co-create and maintain long-run panels with local universities, governments, and civil society that enable longer-term insights and support layered RCTs.
• 2. Advance Research Methods: Build and test better ways to measure and learn, from questionnaire design and enumerator recruitment to rapid-cycle experiments (A/B, factorial, micro-randomized) that implementers can run using their own administrative data to tune delivery models, incentives, and other protocols.
• 3. Aggregate Global Evidence: Building semi-automated pipelines and AI-assisted workflows to compile and structure scattered evidence from RCTs into living knowledge bases and run rigorous meta-analyses; deliver insights via evidence syntheses, interactive dashboards, and publicly accessible data for donors, investors, and practitioners.
• 4. Making Aid More Effective: Turn evidence into ready-to-use decision tools, “smart buys” menus, and ROI/cost-effectiveness frameworks for donors, ministries, multilaterals, impact investors, and social enterprises.

GPRL is co-directed by Dean Karlan, Christopher Udry, and Nancy Qian, professors at the Kellogg School of Management and the Weinberg School of Arts and Sciences’ Economics department at Northwestern University. Other actively affiliated professors include Andrew Dillon and Lori Beaman. GPRL’s research managers, research analysts, and administrative staff support our investigators’ projects, in the process working closely with colleagues at universities, NGOs, and research institutions around the world.

GPRL also works in close collaboration with research teams at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) to coordinate field data collection, disseminate evidence, and create shared training and research resources.

GPRL is hiring several full-time Research Analysts to work with panel survey data, research methods studies, RCTs on topics like mental health and social protection, and meta-analyses.

This position offers an opportunity to gain first-hand experience in managing and analyzing data from a range of sources, participating in research design discussions, and supporting project management.

• Cleaning datasets and preparing them for analysis
• Conducting analysis using advanced statistical and econometric tools
• Assisting research managers with project development and dissemination tasks including creating analysis plans, submitting Institutional Review Board (IRB) applications, cultivating relationships with implementing partners, and supporting the development of dissemination presentations
• Presenting analysis to investigators and incorporating feedback into subsequent analysis
• Conducting literature reviews for analysis plans, working papers, and grant proposals
• Supporting data collection and process monitoring by designing and programming questionnaires and conducting data quality checks for ongoing surveys
• Preparing tables and figures for publications and presentations and assisting with paper revisions for peer-reviewed journal submissions

• Supervising undergraduate RAs as required
• Supporting research staff with Lab-wide management tasks including mentoring new RAs and creating research and training resources.

• Strong programming skills in Stata and/or R, combined with a willingness to learn other statistical software. Analysis at GPRL is…