Students undertaking a for-credit research assistantship have an opportunity to deepen their research skills, while sustaining a more advanced research project in a specific disciplinary area. Research assistants may earn one unit of academic credit (on a P/NP basis) for the completion of at least 45 hours of work.
Faculty interested in recruiting research assistants for a specific semester must submit their call to the Faculty Support Office by the designated deadline. Once the call is approved, all JCU degree-seeking students are notified and invited to apply via the online Student Research Assistant Application Form, which requires a CV and a statement of interest.
The sponsoring faculty member reviews all applications and selects eligible candidates (multiple students may be chosen). All applicants are informed of the outcome of their application. Only the applications approved by the faculty member are forwarded to the relevant university offices for processing. Once appointments are finalized, both faculty and selected students receive confirmation from the Office of the Dean of Academic Affairs.
Note: Visiting students, students studying abroad, and graduates are not eligible for research assistantships.
If you’re interested in a for-credit research assistantship, check out the current calls posted at the bottom of this page.
To apply, submit the Student Research Assistant Application Form along with your CV and a one-page statement of interest by the specified deadline.
Fall 2026 Application Window for Spring 2027 Research Assistantships: October 7 - October 25.
If selected, you will receive a confirmation email from the Office of the Dean of Academic Affairs within ten days of the application deadline. The Center for Career Services will then assist you with the necessary administrative steps. Upon fulfilling all requirements, your appointment will be finalized by the Registrar’s Office. You and your sponsoring professor will be kept informed throughout the process.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, please contact the Dean of Academic Affairs at [email protected].
Academic field: Art History, Art and Design
Research topic: Italian Art in Rome, 1960s-70s: Collection Archive and Artist Research
Position title: Italian Art in Rome, 1960s-70s: Collection Archive and Artist Research
Sponsoring professor: Ilaria Ortensi
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
This apprenticeship is connected to an ongoing curatorial project at Reception Rome, an artist-run exhibition venue in Rome. The project involves researching and archiving a private collection of over 150 works (paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture) by Italian artists active in Rome during the 1960s and 70s, with the longer-term goal of developing a curated exhibition from the collection. The Research Assistant will work both on-site at the gallery and independently, as much of the work involves desk research that can be carried out remotely or at public libraries and archives.
Responsibilities will include cataloging works across different media, researching artist biographies and critical reception, and investigating the estimated value and market history of the works where possible. As the archive takes shape, there is also the possibility (depending on progress) of contributing to early-stage thinking around an exhibition concept, although the primary focus of the assistantship is the research and archival work itself. The position is open to students in Art and Design and Art History. No prior specialist knowledge of the period is required. Research skills, attention to detail, and genuine curiosity about Italian postwar art are what matter most. The student will gain direct hands-on experience in collection management, archival research, and the curatorial process.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
The Research Assistant will be responsible for cataloging works in the collection across different media (paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture), entering data into a shared archive or database, and conducting biographical research on the artists represented. This will involve consulting online databases, library resources, auction records, and where possible, Italian art historical sources. The assistant will also help investigate the estimated market value and critical reception of the works. Sessions at the venue will be used to examine works directly and cross-reference physical documentation with research findings. The assistant will meet regularly with the faculty supervisor to review progress, discuss findings, and orient the research toward the curatorial goals of the project.
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
By the end of the 45-hour assistantship, the student will have produced a structured archive of a significant portion of the collection, including basic catalog entries for each work (artist, title, medium, dimensions, date where known) and research notes on the artists documented. Where sufficient information is available, entries will also include a brief artist biography and an indication of market value based on available sources. The archive will be organized in a format that can serve as a working tool for ongoing curatorial research and future exhibition development.
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
This project will give the student direct experience of the full research process as it functions in a professional curatorial context: from primary object-based inquiry to archival and biographical research using a range of sources. Working with a collection of Italian art from the 1960s and 70s, a period that remains relatively underrepresented in English-language scholarship, will require the student to navigate Italian-language sources, develop strategies for researching artists with limited bibliographic visibility, and exercise critical judgment in evaluating partial or conflicting information. Regular supervision meetings will help the student structure their findings, contextualize individual works within broader art historical narratives, and understand how archival research feeds into curatorial decision-making. By the end of the assistantship, the student will have developed practical skills in collection documentation and archival methodology, as well as a working familiarity with the Italian postwar art scene.
Academic field: Finance and Distributed Ledger Technologies Applications
Research topic: Central Bank Digital Currencies
Position title: Central Bank Digital Currencies
Sponsoring professor: Andrea Delle Foglie
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
The aim of this research is to investigate whether synthetic agents built on large language models can realistically simulate consumer adoption behavior toward the digital euro, the central bank digital currency under development by the European Central Bank. As the digital euro moves toward a planned pilot phase (second half of 2027) with no real-world adoption data yet available for Italy, understanding likely consumer response has become increasingly relevant for both policymakers and financial institutions.
The empirical analysis relies on a set of synthetic agent profiles calibrated on real behavioral data from the Banca d'Italia household payment survey and ISTAT digital-divide indicators. Using structured LLM-based simulations across a range of policy design scenarios (holding limits, offline functionality, merchant incentives), the study examines whether the resulting adoption patterns are consistent with stated intentions reported in the ECB Consumer Expectations Survey, and how adoption is likely to vary across demographic and behavioral segments of the Italian population.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
The Research Assistant will support the project through several activities related to empirical research in fintech and central bank digital currencies. The main duties include: conducting a comprehensive review of the academic literature on CBDC adoption and LLM-based agent modeling; collecting relevant survey and behavioral data from sources such as the Banca d'Italia household payment survey, the ECB Consumer Expectations Survey, and ISTAT digital-divide indicators; constructing a structured set of synthetic agent profiles calibrated on this data.
The Research Assistant will also design and run structured LLM-based simulations across a range of policy scenarios, and perform the aggregation and statistical analysis of the resulting simulation outputs, including comparison against real survey benchmarks and robustness checks. Finally, the assistant will contribute to the organization and presentation of the empirical results and assist in preparing tables, figures, and preliminary outputs for the draft of an academic research paper.
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
By the end of the 45 hours of work, the Research Assistant is expected to complete a preliminary literature review on CBDC adoption and LLM-based agent-based modeling, collect and organize relevant behavioral and survey data from sources such as the Banca d'Italia payment survey, the ECB Consumer Expectations Survey, and ISTAT, and construct a preliminary set of calibrated synthetic agent profiles and policy scenarios suitable for simulation. The Research Assistant will also run an initial round of LLM-based simulations and produce preliminary aggregated results.
The expected output includes a cleaned agent-profile and scenario dataset, a set of descriptive statistics comparing simulated adoption patterns against real survey benchmarks, and organized empirical results that will contribute to the preparation of a first draft of the research paper.
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
This research project will provide the student assistant with valuable training in empirical and computational research in finance and fintech. Through participation in the literature review process, the student will develop the ability to identify and critically assess relevant academic studies on CBDCs and emerging AI-based research methods. The data collection and agent-calibration phases will strengthen the student's skills in handling behavioral and survey data and preparing structured datasets for empirical analysis.
By designing and running LLM-based simulations and assisting in the interpretation and presentation of results, the student will gain practical experience in an innovative research methodology at the intersection of finance and artificial intelligence. Overall, the project will allow the student to develop key research skills, including data management, empirical analysis, applied use of AI tools in research, and the preparation of academic research outputs.
Academic field: Economics and Finance
Research topic: Environmental Regulation and Financial Spillovers
Position title: Environmental Regulation and Financial Spillovers
Sponsoring professor: Kristjan Markovc
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
The research aims to investigate the spillover effects and the channels of transmission of environmental regulation on financial performance of firms. With the introduction of CBAM regulation in the European Union targeting specific sectors, effects on non-targeted sectors remain unknown. The empirical analysis will rely on the data obtained through Bloomberg and ORBIS as necessary to collect all relevant data. Using panel regression techniques, the study aims to examine levels of spillover effects from regulation-targeted sectors to non-targeted sectors in terms of financial performance and stability.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
The Research Assistant will support the project through several activities related to empirical research. The main duties include conducting a comprehensive review of the academic literature on recent ETS and CBAM regulation, collecting relevant firm-level data from databases such as Bloomberg and ORBIS, and constructing a structured panel dataset. The Research Assistant will also perform econometric analyses using Python, Julia, or Stata, including the estimation of panel regression models and robustness checks. Finally, the assistant will contribute to the organization and presentation of the empirical results and assist in preparing tables, figures, and preliminary outputs for the draft of an academic research paper.
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
By the end of the 45 hours of work, the Research Assistant is expected to complete a preliminary literature review on the relationship between regulation and financial performance, collect and organize relevant firm-level data from databases such as Bloomberg and ORBIS, and construct a preliminary panel dataset suitable for empirical analysis. The Research Assistant will also perform initial econometric estimations using Python, Julia, or Stata and produce preliminary regression results. The expected output includes a cleaned dataset, a set of descriptive statistics and regression tables, and organized empirical results that will contribute to the preparation of a first draft of the research paper.
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
This research project will provide the Research Assistant with valuable training in empirical research in finance. Through participation in the literature review process, the student will develop the ability to identify and critically assess relevant academic studies. The data collection and dataset construction phases will strengthen the student’s skills in handling financial databases and preparing structured datasets for empirical analysis.
By conducting econometric estimations using Python, Julia, or Stata and assisting in the interpretation and presentation of results, the student will gain practical experience in applied econometric methods commonly used in financial research. Overall, the project will allow the student to develop key research skills, including data management, empirical analysis, and the preparation of academic research outputs.
Academic field: Supply Chain Management
Research topic: Strengthening Supply Chain Resilience: An Analysis of Countermeasures Adopted in Response to Recent Global Disruptions
Position title: Supply Chain Resilience and Adaptation to Global Disruptions
Sponsoring professor: Maria Elena Nenni
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
In recent years, global supply chains have been exposed to a series of severe and consecutive shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Israel-Hamas war, and the resurgence of protectionist trade policies and tariffs. These events have profoundly tested the capacity of organizations to anticipate, absorb, and recover from disruptions, emphasizing the need for greater resilience across supply networks.
The objective of this research internship is to analyze the countermeasures adopted by supply chains from 2018 to the present, assess their relative effectiveness, and identify the key drivers of successful adaptation. The study aims to contribute to the development of a conceptual framework and educational material to support companies in strengthening supply chain resilience against future disruptions.
Specific thematic focuses — such as technological innovation (digitalization, AI, data analytics) or sustainability-oriented strategies (circularity, low-carbon sourcing, social responsibility) — may be explored according to the candidate’s interests and background.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
The Research Assistant will support the project by engaging in selected research activities as needed, including: conducting systematic literature reviews on supply chain resilience; disruption management, and adaptive capabilities; reviewing professional and institutional reports from research centers, consultancy firms, and international organizations (e.g., OECD, WEF, McKinsey, Accenture); extracting and synthesizing key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate resilience strategies; performing comparative analyses of measures implemented across different industries and disruption types. The assistant will focus on specific tasks relevant to their skills and interests, contributing to the broader faculty-led research effort.
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
Contribution in developing:
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
Through this research internship, the student will develop advanced research skills under faculty guidance by conducting literature reviews, analyzing professional and institutional reports, and synthesizing key performance indicators. The work will strengthen analytical, comparative, and critical thinking abilities, while contributing to the creation of a conceptual framework for evaluating supply chain resilience. Exposure to emerging themes such as digitalization, AI, and sustainability will further enhance the student’s capacity to integrate theory and practice, providing a solid foundation for independent research or professional work in supply chain management.
Academic field: English Literature and Creative Writing
Research topic: Creative Writing Institute Assistant
Position title: Assistant to the Institute of Creative Writing and Literary Translation
Sponsoring professor: Shannon Russell
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
The assistant to the Institute of Creative Writing and Literary Translation will be involved in activities in preparation for the 5-week summer Institute in Summer semester I. While residency during the summer is a plus, preparations should be done in the Spring semester. The assistant will be responsible for a range of activities for the Institute, including assistance with the grab bag production and poster design, preparation, and distribution on campus and off. The assistant may be asked to correspond with writers in terms of requests for talk descriptions, authorization for photo use for posters, etc.
The assistant will help with the research for and production of a comprehensive Rome mailing list for the Institute, which will involve contact with institutions and cultural entities in Rome. They may also be asked to research potential writers for this and coming years, providing contact information with the necessary agents or institutes to the Director. The student may also be responsible for liaising with the Almost Corner Bookshop in terms of ensuring book orders are placed for our visiting writers. The assistant will be part of a team working to ensure the successful running of an Institute.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
The Research Assistant will meet with the Director weekly to address the duties outlined in the description.
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
The student involved in the Institute will develop skills in writing and research, including researching institutions and entities in Rome to seek out addresses and mailing lists for contact. They will also devise a letter with the Director to make contact with those institutions, and will be working alongside the Director to edit write-ups about the contributors for use online and on our posters and pamphlets.
They will be required to produce attractive materials to entice interest in the Institute and will learn how to find and address agents and writers in terms of invitations and the promotion of events. Working as part of a team, the students will have an appreciation of the many elements involved in bringing a range of writers to Rome and will have a greater understanding of the management of an Institute with considerable public outreach. Students should develop highly transferable research, writing, and production skills in the course of their work.
Academic field: English Literature
Research topic: Poetry and Translation
Position title: Poetry and Translation
Sponsoring professor: Thomas Leonard-Roy
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
The Research Assistant will undertake preliminary research for Professor Leonard-Roy’s chapter in the academic volume Alexander Pope in Context (Cambridge University Press). Duties will involve working with 18th- and 19th-century Italian translations of Alexander Pope’s poetry, focusing on their prefatory materials. The Research Assistant may also visit archives in Rome to consult editions of Pope’s poetry.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
Duties will involve: working with online catalogues and databases to compile a list of 18th- and 19th-century editions of Pope’s poetry to trace the popularity of Pope’s individual works in translation across time; checking whether each edition is available online or, if not, in an archive in Rome; reading the prefatory materials of each edition and producing reports on their contents; some comparative work, comparing different translations with Pope’s original.
The Research Assistant may also visit archives in Rome to consult editions unavailable online and produce scans for research purposes and, depending on their interest, survey the secondary literature to get a sense of the critical conversation on the topic.
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
By the end of their 45 hours of work, the Research Assistant will have located and collated dozens of editions of Pope’s poetry in Italian and have supplied full bibliographical information for each. They will also have produced reports for each separate translation of Pope’s poetry, focusing on the prefatory materials, according to a rubric that I will supply. By the end of the semester, they will have a solid grasp of the reception of eighteenth-century English poetry in Italy, and of bibliography and book history as practical skills.
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
This research requires some background knowledge of book history, which I will provide to the student early on in the position. The student will learn how to read the title pages of 18th-century books, how to identify and compare different editions of the same text, and how to trace the publication history of translations. These sorts of meticulous bibliographical skills will serve the student well in their studies and their professional lives.
The student will also learn how to conduct precise research in large databases and library catalogues, and how to consult and handle rare books during visits to archives. This position is also a good opportunity to learn the ins and outs of scholarly work and academic publishing.
Academic field: English Literature, History
Research topic: Literary history of travel in Rome
Position title: Writers in Rome (WROME)
Sponsoring professor: Thomas Leonard-Roy
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
Writers in Rome (WROME) is a digital project of the Department of English that records and maps the history of Anglophone writers in Rome. The Research Assistant will work with online databases and archives to assemble a biographical catalogue of literary travelers and residents of the city. Students with an interest in digital design may also begin work on a future website.
Full description of research assistant’s regular duties:
This project requires extensive trial-and-error research in large online databases and libraries such as HathiTrust, Google Books, Internet Archive, and 18th-Century Collections Online. The Research Assistant will develop optimal search terms to locate Anglophone literary travelers in Italy from the seventeenth to the end of the twentieth century. We will create an identity card for each traveler, supplying information (when available) such as name, dates, itineraries, literary record, and likenesses.
The goal is to develop a collection of literary travelers that will serve as the content for a future website. If the student has skills with digital design, or is interested in developing those skills, they may also begin work on the website.
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
By the end of the 45 hours of work, the student will have created dozens of profiles of Anglophone literary travelers in Italy, and tracked down the locations of their surviving writings. This work will eventually be proudly displayed on a future website when the WROME project is made available to the public.
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
I will offer training on how best to search large databases and sift through the results to find relevant information. By the end of the position, the Research Assistant will be skilled in both large-scale information collection and the sort of precise scholarly detective work that is required for any research project. Depending on the student’s interest, they may also develop skills in website design and digital mapping software.
Academic field: Classics, Archaeology, Computer Science, Digital Humanities
Research topic: Early Greek Temples
Position title: Exploring Early Greek Temples, their location and orientation
Sponsoring professor: John Daniel Muccigrosso
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
This work is part of a larger project, Temples of the Classical World, a database of temples from the ancient Greek and Roman world. The basic duties include researching and entering data for the earliest Greek temples (from the archaic period). Depending on the student's interests and skills, broader work on the database or data visualization will be included.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
The student will start with the existing foundation and already identified data sources to help curate the database of temples. In particular, the Research Assistant will focus on the earliest known Greek temples, dating to the archaic period (7th-early-5th c. BCE). This research includes identifying the location of the temples and particularly their spatial orientation, where known, with the identification of specific bibliography related to the individual temples to be maintained in an existing Zotero library.
The goal of this assistantship is to create a list, as complete as possible, of qualifying temples and their orientation in order to analyze whether this characteristic was taken into consideration in the construction and use of these buildings. Research Assistants with an interest in data visualization may also work on the presentation of these results via appropriate data-visualization software (currently R). Students with a more technical knowledge of databases may be able to work on improving the existing database structure (mySQL). As part of the student's preparation, a reading of some general works on Greek temples will be required. At the end of the term, the Research Assistant will write up their findings in preparation for publication.
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
Complete the listing of relevant temples and compile relevant data, where available. Update the database with that information. Provide the bibliographic data for the data attributions. Appropriately interested and knowledgeable students will create data visualizations and updates to the database structure. Assisting with writing up the results of analysis of the added data.
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
Students will meet with the professor biweekly (perhaps more frequently at the start) in order to foster accountability and support the development of strong research habits. With faculty guidance, the Research Assistant will become familiar with relevant scholarly material, concerning in particular ancient Greek religious practice and architecture, especially of temples. The Research Assistant will learn about the design of management of databases, as well as the maintenance of supporting bibliography. The Research Assistant will in this way develop skills in organizing complex information and adapting existing digital tools to new research needs. Participation in the drafting and revision of the article will offer practice in academic writing and collaborative editing.
Academic field: Roman Archaeology, Classical Studies
Research topic: Movement and navigation through the streets and public spaces in Pompeii and other Roman cities around the Bay of Naples
Position title: The street experience in ancient Pompeii and the Bay of Naples
Sponsoring professor: Massimo Betello
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
Professor Massimo Betello is preparing a chapter for the forthcoming Routledge volume The World of Pompeii and the Bay of Naples. The project compares how people moved through and navigated streets and public spaces in Pompeii and other Roman cities around the Bay of Naples, examining architectural, visual, written, and spatial cues.
The Research Assistant will locate and evaluate scholarly sources; conduct bibliographic and archival research; verify facts and citations; find maps, plans, photographs, and rights information; organize research materials; draft professional correspondence about information and image permissions; edit and proofread the chapter; and track unresolved questions, requests, permissions, and revisions.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
The Research Assistant will gain hands-on experience in finding, evaluating, and collecting research data about the streetscape experience in Pompeii and the Roman cities around the Bay of Naples from accessible archives and scholarly sources.
The Research Assistant will learn how to use Zotero to manage citations and maintain clear, consistent annotated bibliographic records.
The Research Assistant will learn how to write professional emails to Italian institutions asking for official authorization to access sites that are open only to scholars, plus write to archives and scholars asking for permission to access and use images, maps, and other visual materials.
Regular meetings with the professor will help foster accountability and support the development of strong research habits.
Academic field: Mathematics and pedagogy
Research topic: Teaching mathematics for the liberal arts
Position title: Inquiry-based learning: mathematics for the liberal arts
Sponsoring professor: Sara Munday
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
The Research Assistant will help me research and prepare group activities and projects that are suitable for humanities students with limited background in mathematics. Particular focus will be on finding activities that change the perspective of the students towards mathematics and quantitative material more generally, giving them more confidence to continue their studies.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
We will meet every week to compare notes on the various activities that we would like to propose. There will also be reading tasks to carry out, looking into the existing pedagogical literature for best practices with various levels of mathematics teaching. The assistant will sometimes observe as I present an activity to my MATH 100 class, and then they will do the activity with the various groups of students. Later in the semester, when they are ready, they will lead the activity themselves (and I will act as the assistant in the classroom).
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
We will have a selection of materials and project topics that have been prepared and then tested with a class of students. The student will also prepare a final report, discussing the methodology and outcomes of our various experimental activities.
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
We will do guided readings of academic papers, learn to use search engines and keywords effectively, learn how to take best advantage of library services, and then learn practical skills in the classroom together. This will allow the student to practice observation, reflection, and subsequently modify the model of inquiry-based learning. We will also work together on scientific writing to prepare a final report.
Academic field: Comparative politics
Research topic: Government Efficiency
Position title: Hierarchy and Government Performance in Europe: Literature Review, Measurement Design, Data Collection
Sponsoring professor: Davide Orsitto
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
Hierarchy is the extent to which a society accepts, reproduces, and institutionalizes vertical relations based on legitimate authority, status, and decision-making power, and correspondingly limits the autonomous discretion of subordinate actors.
I have been commissioned to write a book for Edward Elgar Publishing on hierarchical relations and administration efficiency, where I want to test whether hierarchical relations affect the performance of governments in a sample of European countries in meeting objectives (effectiveness) with minimum costs (efficiency). In this regard, I am advertizing a research project that initially compares central economic and finance ministries across selected European countries.
The Research Assistant will support the conceptual and empirical development of the project according to her proclivities, ability, specialization, and interest, choosing between four different tracks:
As a Research Assistant, you will learn how to organize political science and comparative political research on a concept that is inherently tied to power relations such as hierarchy from a multidisciplinary perspective: philosophy, political science, economics. We will discuss how an idea can be translated into observable indicators, how to conduct and organize an interdisciplinary academic literature review, how to evaluate the comparability and validity of secondary datasets, and how to collect structured information from official administrative sources.
We will organize regular meetings to discuss research design, measurement validity, and the challenges involved in comparing public institutions across countries.
Depending on the student’s interests, the project may also provide introductory experience in survey design, database construction and quantitative analysis.
Students who have completed at least one year at John Cabot University and are interested in developing their thesis are particularly encouraged to apply for this position.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
The Research Assistant will contribute to the development of a comparative politics research project on hierarchy and administrative performance in European governments. Specific duties will be adapted to the student’s background, experience, and interests, in three main tracks:
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
Depending on the selected research package, the final output includes a structured literature review, a comparative matrix of existing measures of hierarchy; a pilot survey or decision instruments; or a small comparative dataset containing hierarchy and administrative-performance indicators.
In all cases, the assistant will produce a short final research memo summarizing the work completed in light of the overarching research, the main sources used, methodological limitations encountered, and recommendations for the next stage of the project.
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
Through the assistantship, you will understand what conducting a comparative political science research project means. We'll deal mainly with classical challenges such as concept formation, literature review, operationalization, comparative measurement, and interpretation of results. This is a preliminary stage to deeply understand how a thesis is done, and could set the basis for a strong master's research program, should you like to embark on one.
My aim is to allow the student to see how a research question develops from theoretical argument to measurement and empirical testing. For students considering a thesis in comparative politics, the assistantship provides useful structure and information to start writing a thesis.
Academic field: International law
Research topic: Contemporary forms of slavery
Position title: Contemporary forms of slavery
Sponsoring professor: Silvia Scarpa
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
The Research Assistant will provide support in the editorial work connected with the publication of an edited collection and with the organization of a conference.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
The Research Assistant will help with various tasks related to the editorial process for an edited collection in the field of contemporary slavery, human trafficking, and forced labor and with the organization of an event connected with it. Main tasks will include: research aimed at identifying relevant strands of research in this field; help in the selection of conference abstracts; support in the review of conference papers; work on a specific topic for consideration and eventual inclusion in the conference program.
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
By the end of the research assistantship, the student assistant will have worked on a specific topic of their choice for the purpose of writing a paper that could eventually be presented at the academic conference on contemporary slavery, human trafficking, and forced labor that will be held in the Spring 2026 or Summer I semester, will have helped with the organization of the conference, and will have supported the editorial process for the collection of chapters of the edited collection of papers that will be presented at the above-mentioned event.
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
The research process will allow the Research Assistant to refine their critical thinking skills and to acquire solid and in-depth knowledge in the field of international law and contemporary forms of slavery, with specific support being provided in conducting research work and in the drafting of a research paper.
Academic field: Criminology
Research topic: Literature review in Italian criminology
Position title: Italian criminology: Building a literature review
Sponsoring professor: Isabella Clough Marinaro
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
The professor is hoping to build a team of Research Assistants who will help her develop literature reviews on three key themes in Italian criminology:
Each Research Assistant will choose which theme they are most interested in working on for the semester and will select 2-3 journal articles per week (in consultation with the professor) to read and summarize/annotate. The team will meet with the professor every two weeks to discuss each member's progress. They will also add to an existing database to store the key information.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
Read 2-3 journal articles per week, write summaries of theoretical and methodological approaches, findings, and recommendations, and then update the database. Meet the professor for an hour once every two weeks to discuss developments.
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
The student will have done at least 3 hours of work per week, which includes reading and report-writing, updating the database, as well as meeting with the professor every two weeks to discuss the emerging patterns in the literature.
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
The student will refine their research, synthesis, citation and organization skills as, well as learn to think critically about scholarly debates in sociology/criminology.
Academic field: Sociology, Psychology, Digital Media Production, Marketing and Communications, Film Studies, Social Work, Health Sciences
Research topic: Visual storytelling, public communication, and social impact: creating and promoting audience-facing materials for documentary film projects
Position title: Building and Promoting Social Impact Materials for Documentary Film Projects
Sponsoring professor: Jenn Lindsay
Professor’s e-mail address: [email protected]
Semester of assistantship: Spring 2027
Brief description of project and Research Assistant duties:
This research assistantship supports the social impact, audience engagement, and educational distribution activities of Professor Jenn Lindsay (Department of Psychological and Social Sciences), the founder of So Fare Films, an independent documentary production company and interdisciplinary training program.
During Spring 2027, several completed So Fare Films documentaries will be entering or expanding educational and community distribution, while the feature documentary "Minding Shadows" approaches completion and begins audience testing, workshop screenings, and release preparation.
Research Assistants will contribute primarily to the creation of public-facing visual and digital content that helps communicate the themes, stories, and social relevance of these documentary projects. Depending on their disciplinary background and technical skills, students may work in areas including short-form video editing, graphic design, social media content, visual storytelling, public-facing writing, and research-based communication.
Students in sociology, psychology, social work, health sciences, and related fields may help translate research on topics such as resilience, mindfulness, identity, migration, creativity, community reconciliation, religion, and embodied practices into accessible and engaging public communication.
Students in communications, film, marketing, and digital media may develop promotional videos, social media campaigns, graphic materials, explainers, trailers, clips, and other creative assets supporting documentary distribution and audience engagement.
Research Assistants may also participate in workshop screenings and structured discussions of evolving versions of "Minding Shadows," contributing observations about audience comprehension, engagement, narrative clarity, and the social-impact possibilities of the film.
Applicants should ideally demonstrate strength in at least one relevant area, such as video editing, graphic design or Canva, social media content creation, visual storytelling, photography, public-facing writing, or science/social-science communication.
Full description of Research Assistant’s regular duties:
Research Assistants will be assigned focused projects based on their skills and interests and will work both independently and collaboratively. Responsibilities may include:
Work will be task-based, with flexible scheduling and a limited number of regular collaborative meetings. Students will typically participate in one work meeting per week, with additional film workshop sessions scheduled when useful for the development of "Minding Shadows" or other projects.
Description of the work to be completed by the end of the Research Assistant’s 45 hours of work:
By the end of the term, depending on their task assignments, students may have:
Statement addressing how the faculty research will help the Research Assistant develop their research skills:
This project bridges academic research, documentary storytelling, and public communication by asking students to translate complex ideas into accessible and engaging media for audiences outside the classroom.
Students will gain:
Students will work closely with Dr. Lindsay and gain direct exposure to the later stages of independent documentary filmmaking, including audience testing, release preparation, educational distribution, digital promotion, and social-impact communication.
The assistantship is particularly suited to students interested in learning how research and creative media can work together: not only producing knowledge, but communicating it effectively through visual storytelling, public-facing writing, design, and digital content.
