2026-27 AY PT Research Fellowship: Women and Cattle Ranching in Latin America
The Stanford King Center on Global Development’s Academic Year Part-Time Research Fellowship Program connects King Center faculty affiliates and affiliated researchers with undergraduate students committed to providing research support during autumn, winter, and spring quarters.
Students have the opportunity to engage in world-class research that has real-world impact. Undergraduate student research fellows are paid $19/hour*. Students must be enrolled full-time to participate and must be able to commit to research 8-10 hours per week.
*Students must attend orientation and submit an I-9 form to verify employment and receive payment. Students who cannot accept pay may be allowed to receive academic credit for this research.
Research Project Description:
Women play an essential role in the management of livestock in Latin America. Yet there is a dearth of research on this group of land managers, including their perspectives and experiences regarding land use and land change and decision-making. As a result, our understanding of the socio-cultural and gendered dimensions of these landscapes remains limited.
This research project aims to examine this important gap through a scoping review that includes peer-reviewed and gray literature in English and Spanish. We ask: In what ways–and to what extent–have women been the focus of social science research on cattle ranching landscapes in Latin America? This project seeks to examine and synthesize the current literature on gender and cattle ranching in Latin America, including to inform the development of pathways and programs that can better support these key land managers.
Primary Research Mentor: Gretchen Daily
Co-Research Mentor: Lily Colburn, PhD Candidate, Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER)
Stanford undergraduate students in good academic standing and enrolled full-time are eligible to apply. Co-term students must have undergraduate student status; if co-terms are in graduate billing status (after 12 quarters) they are ineligible to participate.
All majors are welcome!
Students Responsibilities:
- Support the development of annotated bibliographies on gender and ranching
- Screen and code peer-reviewed and gray literature on the role and lived experiences of women in the cattle ranching sector in Latin America.
- Contribute to the writing of a peer-reviewed article (i.e., the scoping review).
- Qualitative interview transcription and analysis of research materials/data from fieldwork with women ranchers.
Students qualifications:
- Advanced Spanish language skills required (reading, writing, speaking).
- Experience conducting literature reviews.
- Experience writing annotated bibliographies.
- Experience with quantitative and qualitative coding desire, but not required.
- Experience with qualitative research methods desired, but not required.
- Attention to detail and topical interest.
Time Commitment:
The time commitment is 8-10 hours per week (equivalent to a 3-unit course) each academic quarter. The expectation is that students will work the full academic year with their mentor (Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters). Students planning on studying abroad may not be eligible.
To Apply:
Along with the application, applicants are asked to submit:
- a cover letter
- resume or CV
- unofficial Stanford transcript (first quarter frosh do not need to submit transcripts for autumn quarter applications)
Research Mentor Questions for Applicants:
