Undergraduate Research Assistant, LBJ School

Job Posting Title: Undergraduate Research Assistant, LBJ School---- Hiring Department: Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs---- Position Open To: All Applicants---- Weekly Scheduled Hours: 10---- FLSA Status: Non-Exempt from FLSA---- Earliest Start Date: Jun 08, 2026---- Position Duration: Expected to Continue Until Aug 15, 2026---- Location: UT MAIN CAMPUS---- Job Details: General Notes This opportunity is open to current undergraduate students at the LBJ School. About The University of Texas at Austin What starts here changes the world. The University of Texas at Austin, founded in 1883, ranks among the 40 best universities in the world with top national programs across 19 colleges and schools. By creating educational opportunities for all and leading cutting-edge research at scale, the University fosters positive social change, technological advancement, and economic progress showing the world that change really does start here. An organizational priority is to successfully make UT the world’s highest-impact public research university, unleashing knowledge, opportunity and innovation from the heart of Texas. Learn more about UT’s mission and values, and leadership. About The LBJ School of Public Affairs The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin is one of the nation’s premier public policy schools. As Texas’ top-ranked policy school for over five decades, the LBJ School provides unmatched opportunities for students to engage with policymakers, industry leaders and innovators in Austin and beyond. The school is committed to improving the quality of public service in the United States and abroad at all levels of governance and civic engagement. Our goals are to prepare students and professionals for leadership positions in public service, produce interdisciplinary research to advance our understanding of complex societal problems and create solutions, promote effective public policy and management practice and foster civic engagement on issues of public concern. Committed to advancing the quality of public service, the LBJ School continues to drive education, research and civic engagement at all levels of governance. Purpose Professor Michael Wahman at the LBJ School is seeking an undergraduate research assistant (URA) to assist with content coding of English-language parliamentary speeches from Malawi, Zambia, Ghana, and Zimbabwe. This opportunity is open to current undergraduate students at the LBJ School. The hired URA will work for 10h/week throughout the summer, with some flexibility. The position is suitable for students interested in machine learning/African politics and/or women in politics.

Responsibilities

The URA will be part of a collaborative project between Dr. Michael Wahman (LBJ School), Dr. Nikolaos Frantzeskakis (University of Birmingham, the United Kingdom), and Dr. Valeriya Mechkova (University of Gothenburg, Sweden). The project uses a unique dataset of parliamentary transcripts to establish how members of parliament have changed their engagement on issues related to women’s rights over time. Has the increase in female political representation translated to more effective representation of women’s issues? If so, have male and female MPs responded equally to the increased presence of female legislators? The RA will work collaboratively (remotely) with a group of RAs from the University of Birmingham in the UK. The URA will mainly work to code the content of a large number of speeches. The URA will receive training in content coding by Nikolaos Frantzeskakis, an expert in machine learning. The hand-coded speeches will be used to train a neural network transformer model. No prerequisites are necessary. A previous paper from the project, using similar data, is available here.

Required Qualifications

There are no prerequisites for the position, but it is suitable for students interested in machine learning/African politics and/or women in politics. Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

None. Salary Range $17.00 per hour Working Conditions Typical office environment. Required Materials Resume/CV Letter of interest Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes. Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left-hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled into your application. The application is one-page, and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above. ---- Employment Eligibility: Please make sure you meet all the required qualifications and you can perform all of the essential functions with or without a reasonable accommodation.---- Retirement Plan Eligibility: Students in this position may choose to enroll in the UTSaver voluntary retirement programs.---- Background Checks: A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position. ---- Equal Opportunity Employer: The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. ---- Pay Transparency: The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. ---- Employment Eligibility Verification: If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university. ---- E-Verify: The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following: E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF] Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF] Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF] ---- Compliance: Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031. The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701. Apply To This Job