USA: PhD-Level 3-Year Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) Call for Applications

Jan 8, 2022 | Kent State University, School of Peace and Conflict Studies
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Kent State University’s (KSU) School of Peace and Conflict Studies (SPCS) began as the Center for Peaceful Change as a living memorial to the May 4th shootings and remains dedicated to peaceful change and to empowering people to prevent, resolve and transform conflicts and to build more just and sustainable peaceful communities and societies.

At SPCS, Dr. Elaine (Lan Yin) Hsiao brings an environmental focus to security, peace, and conflict studies with her research in transboundary protected areas, Indigenous and community-led environmental governance, inclusive rights-based conservation and development, and more-than-human concepts of peace. Much of her work seeks to address conflicts in conservation (e.g., human-protected area conflicts, human-wildlife conflicts), conservation in places of conflict (i.e., conflict-sensitive and conflict-resilient conservation), and conflict resolution through conservation (environmental peacebuilding). Current projects include:

  • Revitalizing Community Conservation in Transboundary Landscapes of the Albertine Rift
  • Co-developing Data Technology for Inclusive Conservation in the Eastern Serengeti
  • Planet on the Move: Conservation at the Intersection of Migration, Environmental Change, and Conflict
  • Ecological Peace: Peace Theory and Conflict Analysis for a More-than-Human World

This is a Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) renewable up to 3 years to work with the direction of Dr. Hsiao in performing a variety of research and administration duties associated with these or other ongoing projects. Research duties may include research writing (literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, analytic write ups), data collection (e.g. interviews, focus group facilitation, participant observation, survey), data management (transcription with translation, dataset management), and data analysis, with opportunities to co-author research and/or policy publications. Administrative duties may include support for research dissemination and public engagement (e.g., webinars, social media, or other media production).

The assistantship provides compensation in the form of a full tuition waiver in addition to health insurance and a monthly stipend for up to 20 hours of work per week for the academic year (approx. August-May) and may be renewable for up to 3 years.

Qualifications

In order to be considered for this GRA position, you must be accepted into a qualifying PhD program at Kent State University, such as in Political Science with a concentration in Conflict Analysis and Management (CAM track), Geography and Sociology (Inequalities track). Preference will be given to a first-year PhD student, who is interested in critical, decolonial, feminist, Indigenous and/or action research in relation to conservation and environmental, development or humanitarian policy and practice.

By the time of appointment, applicants should hold a Masters degree in the fields or broader disciplines of Peace and Conflict Studies, Political Science, International Relations, Political Ecology, Geography, Conservation Biology, Environmental Studies, or Law. Additional qualifications specific to the applicant’s PhD program will apply and need to be considered when applying (see below).

Experience in integrating qualitative and quantitative research methods and data analysis, as well as field work in the Global Majority, especially East Africa, is highly preferred. Language proficiency in English is required while Kiswahli, Kinyarwanda, and/or French is highly desired.

Applications from underrepresented backgrounds and/or from international students are strongly encouraged.

How to Apply

Interested students should contact Dr. Elaine (Lan Yin) Hsiao, Assistant Professor, School of Peace and Conflict Studies, Kent State University (ehsiao1@kent.edu). Please include a CV, statement of research interests and language self-assessment (e.g., CEFR) in your email. Please be sure to include your PhD program of interest.

When applying for a PhD program at Kent State, prospective candidates will need to indicate their interest in working with Dr. Elaine (Lan Yin) Hsiao as a GRA in their Cover Letter and/or Statement of Purpose.

Applications for the Department of Political Science (concentration in Conflict Analysis and Management) are due 15 February 2022 - more information is available HERE. For applicants interested in the Department of Geography, more information is available HERE. For applicants interested in the Department of Sociology, the deadline is December 1, 2021 - more information is available HERE. Please note that the degree requirements vary in terms of both application and graduation.

Anticipated Start Date

Fall 2022 (Aug) - renewable up to 3 years (2022-2025)