"Post-Doctoral Research Fellow"

Candidates interested in this position as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow should submit a single PDF file including their CV and a cover letter describing their research interests and qualifications.

The Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD) in the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan invites applications for a full-time position of Post-Doctoral Research Fellow to begin September 1, 2025. The Post-Doctoral Research Fellow will be a part of the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) with a goal to examine psychosocial risk and protective factors for cognitive functioning among middle-aged and older adults. The team will leverage partnerships with minority health and aging centers and programs and establish a track record of collaborating with and mentoring under-represented scholars to create a high-impact scientific resource that will be available to researchers around the world.

In collaboration with the project's multiple principal investigators (MPIs), the Post-Doctoral Research Fellow will contribute to the scientific aims of NSAL, including but not limited to:

• Assisting the MPIs and Project Director on all aspects of fieldwork for the 20-year follow-up of the NSAL, including refinement of data collection procedures (e.g. recruitment messaging, survey questionnaire, informed consent documents), re-linking data with the National Death Index (NDI) and geographically-labeled external datasets, meeting with community advisory board members, and reidentifying/recontacting participants;
• Analyzing data from NSAL, including existing data linkages to the NDI and geographically-labeled external datasets.
• Preparing tables and data visualizations and writing manuscripts for peer-reviewed publications from these data;
• Participating in collaborative team meetings, including presenting preliminary results, proposing new analyses, and brainstorming solutions to challenges that may arise regarding fieldwork procedures and processes;
• Mentoring trainees working on the project in study design, research methods, scientific writing, and team science.

Required qualifications:

• PhD in epidemiology, statistics, quantitative psychology or a related field at the time of appointment.
• Experience working with complex survey data.
• Highly proficient in R, SAS, and/or STATA.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a highly-collaborative, interdisciplinary scientific team.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, as indicated by a track record of publications and conference presentations.
• Ideally, have experience working in the field of public mental health as demonstrated by publication record and/or work experience.

This is a one-year position, eligible for renewal up to two additional years. This is a hybrid position with the expectation to work in person approximately one day per month.