Summer 2022 King Center research project, "The Political Economy of Nepal"

The King Center on Global Development's Summer Undergraduate Full-time Research Assistant Program offers opportunities for fieldwork and research experience to Stanford undergraduates interested in global poverty and development across disciplines.

When Stanford University travel policies allow, selected students spend up to 12 weeks in a low- or middle-income country conducting full-time research for a King Center faculty affiliate. Each research assistant receives a stipend of $7,500 that covers most associated costs including travel, lodging, and incidental expenses. Should travel not be permitted and the research conducted remotely, the base stipend will be $5,500. Financial aid of up to $1,500 is also awarded to students who qualify.

Students are welcome to apply to multiple opportunities but must apply to each faculty research project separately. This program is only open to matriculated Stanford undergraduates. 

***Update: All previous SOLO technical issues should now be resolved so please submit through this platform: The deadline has been extended to Tuesday, February 8, 2022 at 11:59pm.

If you are still having problems submitting your application, please report a bug through the SOLO platform with a screenshot that includes the URL and the full page. And please email CorinneThomas@stanford.edu to also let her know. 

Project Description:

Professor Avidit Acharya's team has assembled a rich source of electoral and political representation data for Nepal and have a series of running projects using this data to study the political economy of Nepal. The projects cover a range of topics from Nepal's democratization movements, the state's investments in nationalization, the Maoist insurgency in the 1990's, and ethnic diversity in political representation today. 

They are looking for a research assistant to work with this data. An ideal research assistant will have basic data handling skills (in software such as Python, R, Excel, etc.) and an interest in learning about geographic data and econometrics.

An ideal candidate will also have some interest and/or familiarity with the politics, history and political economy of South Asia broadly, and Nepal in particular, demonstrated through coursework at Stanford and extracurricular activities.

The faculty mentor is Avidit Acharya, Department of Political Science.

Location: Nepal or remote should travel not be permitted.

Dates: A minimum of ten consecutive weeks during summer quarter 2022.