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

Jan 21, 2023 | 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 a living memorial to the May 4th shootings and remains dedicated to peaceful change and 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 perspective to peace and conflict studies with their research in protected areas, Indigenous Peoples and community-led environmental governance, inclusive rights-based conservation and development and more- than-human concepts of peace. Much of their 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 research includes:

  • Environmental Peacebuilding from Below: decolonial, local, and Indigenous approaches
  • Planet on the Move: the role of 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 Dr. Hsiao in performing a variety of research and administrative 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 an incoming first-year PhD student, who is interested in critical, anti-/decolonial, feminist, Indigenous and/or action research in relation to conservation, environment, development or humanitarian policy and practice. Applications from underrepresented backgrounds and/or from international students are strongly encouraged.

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 vary and need to be considered when applying (see How to Apply below).

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

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 and application status.

You can apply to a PhD program of your choice, but please note that different department’s application and degree requirements vary and it is the applicant’s responsibility to confirm information for their program. Information for a few relevant programs are provided below:

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.

Anticipated Start Date

Fall 2023 (Aug) - renewable up to 3 years (2023-2026)