Careers & Fellowships
Join us in working toward more equal, inclusive, multiracial, and multiethnic democracy.
The Ash Center is a global and values-driven community that believes diverse perspectives are paramount to better understanding and addressing real-world problems. In fostering an environment of rigor, curiosity, and integrity, we value and respect different opinions, lived experiences, and diverse research and policy areas and approaches. We actively seek candidates who share our commitment and values.
Fellowship Opportunities
There are no fellowship opportunities available at this time.
Staff Opportunities
Communications Coordinator
Job Summary: The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government is the University’s hub for research, learning, and discourse on democracy. We aim to explore democracy’s greatest challenges and generate bold and innovative solutions. Working as a part of an energetic and passionate team, the Communications Coordinator helps get the Center’s research, timely commentary, and program opportunities into the hands of a diversity of audiences including academics, public leaders, democracy reformers, and advocates. Candidates must demonstrate experience with the basics of public communications, consistent attention to detail, and willingness to approach problems with creativity and collegiality. The Ash Center is a global and values-driven community that believes diverse perspectives are paramount to better understanding and addressing real-world problems. In fostering an environment of rigor, curiosity, and integrity, we value and respect different opinions, lived experiences, and diverse research and policy areas and approaches. We actively seek candidates who share our commitment and values.
Position Description: The Communications Coordinator plays an active role in the day-to-day operations of the Ash Center’s communications, across events and outreach, covering both digital media and print. As the central authority on scheduling and campaign execution, the Communications Coordinator ensures the communications and events team meets deadlines and gets information and research out in a timely, accessible manner to key audiences. This person independently manages communications about events, conferences, and student learning opportunities through social media, email marketing, and on-campus promotion. In managing the Center’s social media and web platforms, the Communications Coordinator is responsible for ensuring that the Center’s digital properties are updated with the latest information and is works to develop new features and content to improve the Center’s web presence. Additionally, the Communications Coordinator is integral to promoting research and ideas from the Center’s experts. This person authors, develops and delivers compelling email campaigns to share new research and ideas as well as authors editorial features (profiles, Q+As, etc.) for publication.
Interested? Click here to learn more about the opportunity and apply.
Student Opportunities
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation seeks returning HKS students for the following summer Research Assistant Position.
Summer Research Assistant on U.S. Protest Activity for Prof. Erica Chenoweth
As part of the Crowd Counting Consortium, the Nonviolent Action Lab at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, in partnership with the University of Connecticut, maintains the most complete and detailed near-real-time dataset on political protest activity in the United States. Research assistants will create structured data on protest events from news stories and social media posts for this open-access dataset and will assist faculty PIs Prof. Erica Chenoweth (HKS) and Prof. Jeremy Pressman (UConn) and Research Project Manager Dr. Soha Hammam with related research tasks as required. Candidates must demonstrate deep knowledge of data collection and analysis, exceptional time management skills, and willingness to approach problems with creativity and collaboration. We value attention to detail and a commitment to producing high-quality work. Students from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences are welcome to apply. The time commitment will be 20 hours per week.
Please send your resume and short statement of interest to soha_hammam@hks.harvard.edu.
Summer Research Assistant on Voter Participation and Election Administration for the Ash Center
Tova Wang, Director of Research Projects in Democratic Practice at the Ash Center at HKS, is looking for a Research Assistant to work on projects related to increasing voter participation and election administration. Responsibilities will include doing research and project assistance on topics relating to youth civic engagement and building trust in elections. Some tasks will be to assist in doing interviews, managing relationships with people working with the center on these projects, and doing literature reviews and desk research. The work begins May 15 and may continue through the academic year. The time commitment will be approximately 10 -15 hours a week.
Please send your resume and short statement of interest to tovawang@hks.harvard.edu.
Summer Research Assistant in Recreating Democracy for Prof Bruce Schneier
Research at the intersection of democracy, information technologies and artificial intelligence, and political and social theory.
It is unclear that the mid-18th-Century democratic systems and institutions — the technologies of democracy — are well-suited for the information age. How do 21st Century technologies like the internet, social media, smart phones, and artificial intelligence affect democracy. And how might we re-imagine democracy for the mid-21st Century, where concepts of community, communication, consensus, and competition are very different? Research includes literature review and brainstorming, analysis and synthesizing. Students from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences are welcome to apply. Generalists preferred. The time commitment will be approximately 10-20 hours per week.
Please send your resume and short statement of interest to schneier@schneier.com.