Job Description

Location

Abu Dhabi

Open Date

Jun 26, 2025

Description

New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) seeks to recruit a Research Assistant to join the Social Science Experimental Laboratory (SSEL). SSEL is an interdisciplinary center that conducts experimental research in social sciences. The lab currently has a large participant pool from the NYUAD community, students from other local universities, and participants from the general public. The basic research tool used at SSEL is laboratory experimentation, in which participants engage in decision-making tasks in order to test different aspects of human behavior as well as interactions between humans and machines. Experiments are conducted at SSEL’s state-of-the-art facilities on campus, online, via surveys, and third-party contractors. The ideal candidate is someone who is deeply committed to research, values interdisciplinary research, and is able to work smoothly in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

Responsibilities

• Help in designing and programming experimental research tools and materials on a project-specific basis
• Assist in testing and running experimental studies at the Social Science Experimental Laboratory (SSEL) and online
• Handle subject pool recruitment payments, and other experiment logistics
• Assist in data collection and analysis
• Assist in management duties of the laboratory, such as writing memos, briefs, minutes, and organizing activities
• Assist in developing content for SSEL’s media presence and handle social media engagement as well as other sources of public outreach
• Review, summarize, interpret, and present results from existing research in the social sciences

Required skills and experience

• Written and oral command of English
• Programming skills and knowledge of software such as Z-tree, O-tree, Java, Stata, R, Qualtrics, Python
• Minimum one year experience living in the UAE
• Previous experience in experimental and survey research
• Strong communication skills with the ability to liaise effectively with people from diverse cultural backgrounds
• Ability to work independently and take initiative and a desire for learning in a quick-paced environment

Required education

Bachelor’s degree

Preferred education

Degree related to Social Science or Computer Science, or a related field

Preferred experience

• Previous experience with study participant recruitment and/or outreach activities
• Previous experience in student development
• Previous experience with internal communications
• Demonstrated ability to engage with large language models (artificial intelligence) in prompting, tokenization, and model evaluation tasks

The terms of employment are very competitive and include housing and educational subsidies for children. Applications will be accepted immediately and candidates will be considered until the position is filled. To be considered, applicants must submit a 1 page cover letter that responds to the required skills and experiences described above, current CV, transcript of degree and 2 recommendation letters, all in PDF format, submitted via Interfolio.

Questions about the specifics of this position should be sent to: a.baranski@nyu.edu.