Summer 2022 Research Assistant Opportunities

Applications are due by Monday, April 4, at 11:59pm Eastern Daylight Time. Remote program for students working from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, or Maryland.

Berkman Klein Research Assistants (RAs) are deeply and substantively involved in the operation of the Berkman Klein Center's projects, programs, and other efforts. Becoming invaluable contributors to the Center’s operation and success, they work on collaborative and independent initiatives under the guidance of Berkman Klein staff and faculty. Specific roles, tasks, and experiences vary depending on the Center's needs and RAs’ skills; these roles are generally scoped for students. All RAs will participate in regular community-building activities. All of this summer’s research assistantships will be performed remotely in the United States, in one of the eight states listed above, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

For summer 2022, we welcome students to apply to any of the five research assistant opportunities listed below. Applications are due by Monday, April 4, at 11:59pm Eastern Daylight Time.

Information and Eligibility

The hourly wage for these positions is $20/hour.
Expected start date is on or around June 6, 2022, and expected end date is on or around August 19, 2022, though these dates may flex depending on project needs and candidate availability.
Work may be part- or full-time depending on project needs and candidate availability.
Applicants must possess work authorization in the United States. We do not have the ability to provide authorization to work in the U.S. If you are an international student in the US, you must check with your host institution concerning your ability to use CPT/OPT in order to determine your eligibility.
Due to pay structures and systems at Harvard, applicants must reside in and work from the US for the duration of their employment, within one of the following states: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, or Maryland.
Applicants must possess readily available access to a computer and a reliable Internet connection.

Commitment to Diversity

The work and well-being of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society are profoundly strengthened by the diversity of our network and our differences in background, culture, experience, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, ability, and much more. We actively seek and welcome applications from people of color including members of Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latinx, and other communities; women; members of the LGBTQIA+ community; people with disabilities; and people at intersections of these identities, from across the spectrum of disciplines and methods.

To Apply:

Applications will only be accepted through the application tracker at: https://brk.mn/summer2022ra

Required materials for all applicants include:

A current resume or CV. The form will require that you upload a PDF (no other file types will be accepted).
A brief cover letter describing your skills and interests. You may wish to consider the following questions: What has led you to pursue research with the Berkman Klein Center and the issues we study? What would you like to gain from working with us this summer, and what will you contribute? How might the experience influence your future efforts? You may address your cover letter generically, as a number of people may review your application materials.
Applicants will be asked to select the Research Assistant role for which they would like to be considered, and may optionally select a second Research Assistant opportunity for consideration. Click below to expand and learn about the various opportunities. If you choose to apply to two opportunities, you will only submit one cover letter.

If you have questions about the application process or your eligibility, please refer to the FAQ.

For further instructions on how to submit your application, please refer to the Application Tracker Instructions.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

2022 Summer Research Assistant Opportunities

Communications

Are you passionate about communications? The BKC communications team is seeking one or more creative, highly motivated candidates to work on a range of writing, project management, and digital media tasks that help tell the Berkman Klein story to the public and target audiences. You may be asked to help with any aspect of BKC’s communications activities, including writing and editing website and social media content, liaising with project teams, promoting events, brainstorming approaches to storytelling, and developing creative ways to share and amplify research, education, programs, and other activities of the Center. The right candidate will be someone who is an outstanding and efficient writer; is sharp, flexible, and reliable; has great organizational skills to juggle multiple tasks, people, and projects; is a strong collaborator with the EQ to work well with varying personalities and work styles; understands both traditional and social media. Come join us for the summer!

Educational Programs

Over the last few years BKC has launched new educational initiatives including the Research Sprint and the Summer Institute. These formats support early-career scholars from around the world to engage with broader academic and professional networks, apply their existing expertise to new problems, and learn new approaches to research, policy, and academic work.  The RA(s) in this position will be working closely with Program Managers and the Center’s Managing Director to scope and plan a fall research sprint related to digital identity and other educational initiatives at the Berkman Klein Center.

Leadership Team

The Executive Director and Managing Director of BKC are looking to hire entrepreneurial research assistants to support their leadership of the Center and the Center’s engagement on a broad range of initiatives relating to the rapidly evolving relationship between the Internet, technology and society. Ideal candidates will demonstrate intellectual curiosity, versatility, the ability to quickly develop expertise in unfamiliar subjects, wide-ranging interests, excellent verbal and writing skills, and the desire to influence public policy and interdisciplinary dialogue on next-generation issues involving technology. The RAs would assist on a range of projects and programmatic activities in furtherance of the mission of the Center. The specific topics and activities will evolve over time but are likely to include research, analysis and programmatic activities on the intersection of Internet freedom; post-COVID educational innovation at Harvard and beyond; technology & human rights; responsible business practices in the technology sector; societal implications of AI models increasingly capable of imitating human interaction; and other evolving issues at the intersection of law, policy, and technology.

Lumen

Lumen’s Summer Project RAs will primarily be responsible for manually reviewing documents in the Lumen database that require redaction prior to being attached to notices, because they may contain sensitive material such as personally identifying information or allegedly defamatory content.

Beyond these ongoing redaction duties, and depending on interest and skills, Lumen RAs may also be asked to assist with other aspects of Lumen’ activities, including:

- Working within the Lumen database to facilitate research agendas.
- Creating or editing material for the Lumen website.
- Writing blog entries for the website discussing current events as they relate to online expression, and assessing the climate for Internet speech. These provide a good chance to post your work online quickly. These posts can be on topics of your choosing, or on suggestions from Lumen staff.
- Helping (when schedule permits) with Lumen online events.

Additionally, Lumen will hire a Summer Research RA to work directly with Lumen Research Fellow Shreya Tewari in the following ways:

- Assisting with the development of Lumen Research Fellow’s research paper.
- Reviewing existing literature (such as research papers, articles, policy briefs and legislations among other material), and preparing short summary of findings on material thematically related to copyright and content takedown.
- Assisting Research Fellow with conducting research in the Lumen database to build on the existing corpus of ‘false/fraudulent’ copyright takedown notices.
- Participating in conversations with other stakeholders including OSPs, academics and researchers and learning from their experiences with content takedown to continue evolving the research and research methodology.

Please specify whether you’re applying for the Project RA position or the Research RA position in your cover letter.