The University of Notre Dame’s Poverty Initiative is charged with establishing Notre Dame as a premier university in poverty-related research, student formation, and policy and program impact. Funds from this initiative have been used to bolster population-related research in the social sciences through the establishment of Notre Dame Population Analytics (ND Pop). This research center will be hiring a Predoctoral Research Associate (referred to as a “predoc”) who will work closely with faculty in different social science disciplines to assist in their empirical research. This position will work under the direction of two scholars: Mark Berends (Department of Sociology) and Santosh Kumar (Keough School of Global Affairs).

Mark Berends, with Joseph Waddington (Institute for Educational Initiatives), researches a variety of topics in the sociology of education and education policy. Berends collaborates with researchers across multiple institutions and leads a longstanding research and data-sharing partnership with the Indiana Department of Education. The predoc will assist with the development, review, and analysis of school surveys; interviews of school personnel; some data cleaning and statistical coding; and literature reviews.

Santosh Kumar works at the intersection of early child health, human capital, and poverty in developing countries. The predoc will contribute to two projects (a) analyze Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data to study the cross-country relationship between the use of prenatal services and the health of newborns; (b) be involved in a randomized control trial in India to measure the causal effects of nutritional intervention on iron deficiency and cognitive development in preschool children. The predoc will assist in survey design, data cleaning, and statistical analysis.


This is an excellent opportunity for a student considering graduate school and would be a bridge between college and graduate school for students interested in empirical applied research. In addition to responsibilities mentioned above, other tasks include logistical coordination of projects, assisting in the writing of IRB protocols and data sharing agreements (if necessary), and assisting in the dissemination of project results.

This is a two year limited-term position based in South Bend, IN at the University of Notre Dame. Minimum

If interested, please apply at the following link: https://nd.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6fHFJsOZbSBoZ5Y

The job begins July 1, 2025 and the ideal candidate will commit to 2 years in this role, have strong coding, writing, and organization skills, and experience with statistical programming in Stata.

If interested, please apply at the following link: https://nd.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6fHFJsOZbSBoZ5Y