Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University

Placement deadline: Open

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This placement opportunity is located within the ESRC-funded secondary data analysis project “The Unarmed Civilian Protection in South Sudan (UCP-SS) Dataset”, hosted by the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. The project aims to make a major contribution to the study of unarmed civilian protection (UCP) – a nonviolent mechanism used by civilians to protect other civilians and/or themselves in contexts of armed or social violence – by creating the world’s first comprehensive quantitative dataset on UCP initiatives: the Unarmed Civilian Protection in South Sudan (ICP-SS) Dataset.

 

The placement will provide the unique opportunity to contribute to UCP research and the organisational learning of project partners Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP), by supporting the creation of a bespoke codebook, coding (and potentially geocoding) data using textual information from incident reports, and running first analyses, based on an allocated subset of the data available. Placement holders will be able to make an important contribution to the UCP-SS Dataset project due to the large number of incident reports to be processed by the team within a limited timeframe.

 

The placement will offer insights into:

  • types of UCP, and how different types of UCP are likely to be protective against various types of violence and harms;
  • best practice in dataset construction and validation, including processes to verify the quality and consistency of primary data generated in real-world operational settings, by stakeholders rather than by researchers;
  • the decisions required to create and refine the codebook to maximise its usability by both researchers and practitioners;
  • the experimental use of AI tools for data coding;
  • the analytical possibilities and limits of the emerging dataset, which may incude both descriptive statistics and early quantitative analyses; and
  • the ethical implications of dataset construction in violent and sensitive conflict-affected settings.

If applicable, placement holders will be invited to contribute to co-authored project publications.

 

The full opportunity document can be found here.

Deadlines to Apply:

Cohort 1: 15th December 2026 / Cohort 2: 15 March 2027 / Cohort 3: 15 August 2027

Number of placements available:

There are 12 placements available across three cohorts which will each run for three months commencing in June 2027, September 2027 and January 2028.

How to Apply:

Please submit the following application documents by email to Prof Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (beb14@aber.ac.uk):

  • Your CV
  • A short cover letter outlining your experience relevant to the role (max 2 pages), in particular:
    • Any experience with data coding, quantitative data analysis, or geolocation of data (essential)
    • OR evidence of qualitative skills in classification, categorisation, thematic analysis or qualitative coding (essential)
    • Any interest in, or experience or knowledge of, researching problems in the area of peace and conflict studies, peacekeeping, nonviolent resistance, or similar (desirable)
  • Any supporting information (e.g. publications, datasets, references) (optional)

Required Skills and Experience:

  • Evidence of some experience with data management, data coding, quantitative data analysis, and/or geolocation of data; OR
  • Evidence of qualitative skills in operationalisation of concepts, classification, categorisation, thematic analysis, and/or qualitative coding
  • Evidence of interest in, knowledge and/or an understanding of problems in the areas of conflict, peacekeeping, nonviolent resistance, or similar (desirable)
  • Familiarity with the use of Microsoft Excel (desirable)
  • Evidence of some experience of data analysis using R Studio (desirable)
  • Knowledge of South Sudan (conflict, politics, geography) (desirable)

Skills and areas of knowledge to be developed through the placement:

  • Research skills: researchers will develop skills in the conceptualisation, operationalisation and coding of variables in the dataset, and how quantitative codebooks are constructed and amended during data colleciton projects.
  • Communication skills: at weekly online meetings, researchers will develop skills in presenting the outcome of that weelk’s coding tasks, highlighting issues that have arisen for discussion and resolution amongst the team.
  • Project management: researchers will take responsibility for managing the timely completion of a bespoke subset of tasks assigned to them during their placement.
  • Policy understanding or engagement: throughout the placement, researchers will contribute to team discussions on the policy and practice implications of the research findings, in particular the possible implications for decisions on the prioritisation of certain types of UCP to respond to/prevent different types of violence and harms.
  • Collaboration / teamwork: working within an international team of researchers and practitioners in the field of unarmed civilian protection, the researcher will develop their skills in multi-level colaboration at the interface of research and practice.
  • Specific methodologies: dataset construction methodologies, including decision making around coding, inclusion/exclusion criteria, what counts as a case, and identifying potential sources of bias. Researchers will develop skills in descriptive and potentially quantitative analyses.
  • Software skills: experience using R Studio for analyses, if applicable (depending on the project phase in which the placement takes place).
  • Professional and transferable skills: working on real-world data with an NGO partner/user in mind.