• We are looking for a research assistant (with a workload of 20%) to join our ongoing research program on online discourse and how to improve it
• The primary responsibility lies with our data pipeline, which requires the review of any failed tests on our weekly data imports, as well as general maintenance and improvement of the code- and database
• This will take the form of responding to issues on GitHub, debugging issues in our R and Python scripts, creating pull requests, writing documentation, and collaboratively developing new features
• You will also analyse our data on online comments searching for interesting patterns or unexpected changes
• The general research program aims to understand online discourse, with a particular focus on the DACH region, and design and implement interventions to improve discourse and reduce hate speech
• We work together with online newspapers and use social media data
• Our research employs advanced statistical methods for causal inference and we develop state-of-the-art machine learning classifiers for both harmful and high-quality speech
• The position is located in the team of Dominik Hangartner at ETH Zurich, but you will also have the opportunity to work with an array of affiliated faculty as well as with the Public Discourse Foundation

Strong candidates will have most of the following:

• Completed undergraduate degree in a social science program with a preference for Political Science, Economics, Sociology, Data Science, Computational Social Science, or in a closely related discipline
• Knowledge of causal inference methods and/or machine learning
• Strong command of R (required) and/or Python (desirable)
• Familiarity with GitHub and collaborative work on GitHub
• Experience with Docker, SQL, and automated data pipelines desirable
• Ability to collaborate effectively with project team members and external stakeholders alike
• Proficiency and excellent writing skills in English; at least B1 German; basic French is an asset
• Knowledge of or interest in social media platforms and content moderation policies
• Interest in the societal applications of research