Seeking Postdoctoral Fellows to Work on U.S. Elections, Representative Democracy, and Child Health Equity

We’re looking for three fantastic postdoctoral fellows to join our program in 2022 to advance public impact scholarship on voter confidence in U.S. elections, representative government in low- and middle-income countries, and child health inequality. Applications are open to scholars who have completed their PhD work at any university. The Stanford Impact Labs Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is run in partnership with research teams and labs across campus to give postdocs the opportunity to engage in collaborative, impact-focused research that strengthens their own scholarship, contributes to their team’s public impact work, and builds new partnerships and policy insights to address pressing social problems.

One postdoctoral fellow will be selected to work with each of the following research teams or labs:

• Voter confidence in U.S. elections. The Golub Capital Social Impact Lab, under the direction of Professor Susan Athey in the Graduate School of Business, is working with government partners to design and evaluate technological innovations that increase voter confidence in U.S. elections.
• Representative government in low- and middle-income countries. The Inclusive Democracy and Development Lab, led by Professors Saad Gulzar and Soledad Artiz Prillaman in the Department of Political Science, is working with policy partners to understand the determinants and impact of representative government in low- and middle-income countries, including how and when marginalized people are represented in political institutions, what policies ensure representation, and how political inclusion affects development. 
• Child health inequalities in low-income and minority communities. Through the Partnerships for Research in Child Health, Dr. Anisha Patel from Stanford’s School of Medicine and her colleagues are using community-based participatory research to develop and evaluate programs and policies aimed at reducing child health inequities for low-income and minority communities. One area of research focuses on collaborating with community-based organizations working with low-income, Latino immigrant families in California’s San Joaquin Valley to promote nutrition security. 

The program is open to scholars who have completed their doctoral requirements at any university within the past three years and no later than September 1, 2022. We are seeking a diverse pool of applicants who wish to join a team-based, collaborative community that values the different skills, expertise, and perspectives necessary to design, conduct, sustain, and disseminate public impact research. Candidates should be committed to advancing solutions to social problems with rigorous research and collaboration with policymakers and practitioners. 

Our current postdoctoral fellows are Malissa Alinor (University of Georgia, Sociology), Marbella Eboni Allen (Rice University, Sociology), Max Hui Bai (University of Minnesota, Psychology) and Carlos Schmidt-Padilla (UC Berkeley, Political Science). They are working with teams across campus on racial and gender bias in the workplace; political polarization in the United States; and poverty and violence in Central America.

As well as working with their respective research teams, postdoctoral fellows interact regularly with other fellows in the program and with Stanford Impact Labs’ professional staff and community. The program elevates scientific insights from the fellows and participating labs and supports a growing number of scholars dedicated to tackling social problems through science.

Applications are due January 21, 2022. Please read the call for applications for more information on how to apply and help us spread the word to great candidates!