Director de Investigación - Identidad y Migración

 

Research Manager

Location: Remote

Team: Research and Advisory

Job Type: Part-time Contractor

Application Deadline: 15th March 2024

Who we are

About Caribou Digital

Caribou Digital delivers fund management, learning partnerships, and research, advisory, and measurement services to organizations worldwide. Private foundations, commercial partners, and agencies rely on Caribou Digital to help them make data-driven decisions, accelerate their learning from investments, and become more catalytic in their initiatives. Our mission is to create a more inclusive and ethical digital world, and we know that this work is challenging. When you join Caribou Digital, you’ll have a significant opportunity to shape digital ecosystems, drive meaningful impact, and further develop your expertise in the digital economy.

The project: Identity and Migration: Making digital wallets work for people on the move and wider society

Our new project – supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation and administered through the non-profit arm of Caribou Digital – seeks a part time (≈3 days a week) Research Manager for (≈12) months to coordinate an international study on migrants’ identification needs with the aim of shaping migration governance and digital identity policy.

Project background:

Beyond analyses of mobile phone use by migrants and refugees, little attention is paid to technologies that ostensibly benefit ‘people on the move’. Our project is interested in what new digital identity technologies mean for these groups, and vulnerable people more generally. The digital wallet model in particular proposes to reformulate institutional arrangements, governance models, privacy protections, patterns of authority, and the very landscape of trust surrounding digital identity and payment. However, as previous research has demonstrated, these technological innovations may serve to disempower people in unexpected ways.

The project aims to assess the inclusionary and exclusionary dimensions of digital wallets for migrants, and produce a set of policy and design recommendations to ensure that the development of wallets supports migrants’ needs. The project is particularly oriented around the current EU efforts to develop a digital identity wallet, as well as emerging open source standard-setting initiatives, and aims to provide inputs to ensure that these developments incorporate migrant needs.

Key tasks: The Research Manager will support the project across different activities:

Research support

• Review and analyze research data
• Conduct literature reviews and draft summaries
  
• Support synthesis and narration of findings
• Participate in writing academic papers and policy reports, including taking the lead on certain publications
• Track key developments related to migration governance and digital identity

Partner management

• Support working and liaison with research partners and collaborators to ensure timely and high-quality deliverables
• Review partners’ research methodologies, plans, and instruments
• Respond to partners’ questions and help troubleshoot emergent problems

Meeting and event support

• Organize research team meetings, including international project gatherings
• Take notes at meetings/events and ensure proper documentation/reporting
• Represent the project at specified public events

Project communications

• Draft a regular (monthly) project newsletter on digital identity and migration governance
• Support the project team with public communications at project events, publications, and achievements
• Collaborate to write blogs to showcase project findings
• Work closely with the project funder to ensure coordinated communications

Desired skills/characteristics

• Strong interpersonal, verbal, written communication, and presentation skills
• Propensity to solve problems proactively and thoughtfully
• Ability to work in an interdisciplinary setting
• Ability to manage up
• Strong organizational and planning skills
• Attention to detail
• Sensitivity to cross-cultural differences

Experience

• Strong knowledge of relevant policy and academic literature on migration governance and/or digital identity (PhD or MA desired)
• Knowledge of social research methods and their application in practice
• Previous research/management experience on related topics
• Experience working on large, multi-institutional research projects (desired but not essential)
• Experience in refugee/migration sector (desired but not essential)

We particularly encourage applicants from the Global South and from under-represented groups, including migrants, to apply.

Note: some international travel may be required for this role.

Remote work at Caribou Digital

We are a global organization that primarily operates remotely, enabling us to tap into the best talent from various regions. Our remote team members spend about 90% of their work time in home offices or local co-working spaces. Periodically, teams come together in person for workshops, client presentations, and during our annual staff retreats. We continuously improve our remote-first approach as we learn more about what contributes to better results for our staff and our clients.

Pay and benefits

The daily rate for this position is between €200 and €260. This compensation range covers various career levels within Caribou Digital, and it will be refined as we progress through the interview process, taking into account factors such as the candidate’s experience and qualifications.

We’re excited to meet you

We are looking for people who have high standards, act with integrity, and care about making the digital world more fair and inclusive. You’re encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn’t match the job description exactly. Cariboux come from all sorts of backgrounds, but we’re united by our mission to create a better and more ethical digital world. We value different perspectives and people who think critically and aren’t afraid to question things.