Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Economics is the leading academic center for Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) of poverty related issues with over 140 affiliated professors, 700+ ongoing and completed RCTs, and 300+ permanent staff at MIT and its 6 regional offices at leading universities around the world.

We are recruiting a Director of Research and Education to a new position which will oversee J-PAL's work in 4 areas:

1. Provide intellectual leadership on research practice to the regional offices. J-PAL's regional offices run most of the RCTs conducted by affiliated Professors. The J-PAL Global research team plays a crucial role supporting regional teams by helping set common quality standards, keeping up with methodological innovations and developments, and providing technical support to these offices.

2. Creating research public goods. J-PAL provides a variety of research resources to the scientific community, and has played an important role creating research public goods across the social sciences, including helping establish and run the American Economic Association Social Science Registry of RCTs. J-PAL has recently won a major grant to for an innovative new service where academics can have their RCT analysis code independently verified prior to publication.

3. Training on randomized trials. Each year, hundreds of people attend J-PAL trainings on RCTs around the world. Much of this training is carried out by regional training teams but J-PAL Global has an important role in designing and providing leadership on these trainings.

4. Executive education. MIT Economics in cooperation J-PAL has developed a series of edX courses. The aim is to turn these into an online micromasters and eventually a hybrid online/in person masters.

To stay current with emerging innovations in RCTs, the Director of Research and Education will be expected to run their own RCTs taking roughly 25% of their time.

The Director of Research and Education will work closely with J-PAL'ss faculty directors (Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Ben Olken), its Executive Director Rachel Glennerster and Deputy Director Iqbal Dhaliwal, and the two members of the J-PAL Board with special responsibility for the research function (Shawn Cole and William Pariente).

PhD in economics or related disciplines is required and experience in running RCTs as well as some managerial/supervisory experience is strongly preferred.

Salary will depend on experience.

The review process of submitted applications has begun starting on November 27, 2016. (CV and research materials required, references preferred)

http://economics.mit.edu/centers
https://www.povertyactionlab.org/