Postdoctoral Scholar - Evans School Policy Analysis and Research Group; EPAR

Postdoctoral Scholar - Evans School Policy Analysis and Research Group (EPAR) Position Overview

Organization: Evans School of Public Policy & Governance

Title: Postdoctoral Scholar - Evans School Policy Analysis and Research Group (EPAR)

The Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy & Governance is a nationally top ranked public policy school, serving nearly 500 students across multiple degree programs:
Master of Public Administration (MPA), Global MPA, Executive MPA, and Ph.D. in Public Policy & Management. The Evans School is dedicated to enhancing the capacity of leaders and managers in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. Guided by our mission statement and driven by values in the spirit of public service, the Evans School’s approach to policy and management education is rigorous, hands‑on, and professionally relevant.

The Evans School believes that our community should reflect the diverse backgrounds, opinions, experiences, and perspectives evident in the world in which we live. We strive for substantive inclusion and equity and continually work to increase our awareness and understanding of ourselves and the communities we serve.

The Evans School invites applications for a full‑time Postdoctoral Scholar. This is a twelve‑month position based at the University of Washington in Seattle, with a possible extension depending upon available funding and satisfactory performance in the role. The Postdoctoral Scholar will work for the Evans School Policy Analysis and Research Group (EPAR). EPAR conducts rigorous interdisciplinary research on a range of topics related to agricultural development in sub‑Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia (SA), including small‑scale producers, gender, nutrition, climate, food system risks and digital financial services.

For more information about EPAR, please see: (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)./

The Postdoctoral Scholar will provide support on current contracts that involve constructing agricultural indicators and doing analyses associated with agricultural transformation and small‑scale producers. Priority skills are proficiency with Stata, R and spatial mapping, and familiarity with the LSMS‑ISA and other agricultural and spatial data in SSA and SA.

This position is a combination of service and applied research and may include preparing confidential reports for the Gates Foundation, public research briefs and literature reviews, public coding syntax files, and peer‑reviewed journal articles. Some support for presenting at conferences is available and supporting EPAR’s efforts to move technical reports to publication is a part of the position, though the range of expected activities is broader and importantly includes support and mentoring across a team of graduate students on other EPAR projects.

There are 2 full‑time positions available.

Building out data and coding public repositories and conducting applied research: (60%)

• Curating and analyzing panel and other socio‑economic survey data
• Drafting and collaborating on manuscripts for peer‑reviewed journals and reports
• Preparing presentations for academic conferences and stakeholder workshops

Responding to service requests: (40%)

• Developing conceptual frameworks and assisting with evidence reviews
• Retrieving and conducting text analysis and topic modelling on large sets of regulatory filings, grant documents, and government regulatory and policy documents
• Collaborating with and mentoring graduate student researchers on research and analysis
• Potentially supporting training analysts from SSA and SA

University of Washington Postdoctoral Scholar appointments are for a temporary, defined period not to exceed five years/60 months, including any previous postdoctoral experience. At the time of their appointment, candidates must have:

• Ph.D. (or foreign equivalent) in development or agricultural economics or equivalent. Candidates should be no more than five years removed from completing doctoral level training. Doctoral level training must be completed by June 2025.
• Experience with the LSMS‑ISA or other similar household level surveys.
• Excellent writing, research, and analysis…