Research Assistant

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Position: Research Assistant

Unit: Esade Institute for Social Innovation (under Professor Rita Mota)

About the Esade Institute for Social Innovation

The Esade Institute for Social Innovation aims to develop research and initiatives that help address key social and environmental challenges, including inequality, vulnerability, and sustainability, engaging students, organizations, and society at large.

The Position

We are looking for a Research Assistant (RA) to provide short-term support to ongoing academic research activities within the Institute.

The RA will support research on interculturality, social change, and structural inequality in organisational settings, led by Professor Rita Mota (Esade) in collaboration with Professor Janina Grabs (University of Basel). The research adopts a feminist lens and examines how community-based organisations navigate questions of gender equity, identity, and inclusion within broader structures of economic and social inequality.

The RA is expected to contribute primarily to a project conducted in close collaboration with an indigenous social enterprise in Mexico. The organisation is a complex solidary economy organisation comprising multiple entities (including production, processing, and service activities) united under a shared umbrella and a common mission of improving the wellbeing and quality of life of the indigenous communities they serve. The research investigates how gender equity is pursued within this organisational context, including the opportunities, strategies, and challenges involved in integrating women more fully into leadership, decision-making, and economic life, while attending to the cultural specificity of the communities involved. A central concern of the project is how feminist principles can be articulated in ways that are culturally grounded and organisationally meaningful. The research builds on fieldwork conducted in 2024-2025. The RA will join the team at the stage of developing academic outputs from this empirical base.

In addition, the RA may support broader work in Professor Mota's research portfolio on topics including business ethics, organizational responses to structural inequality, and the politics of inclusion in non-conventional organizational forms.

Main responsibilities

The RA will support Professors Mota and Grabs with general research-related tasks, which may include:

• Literature review in management and organization studies, feminist theory, business ethics, and related fields
• Desk-based data collection
• Basic data organization and cleaning
• Support in qualitative analysis
• Preparation of research materials (tables, summaries, documents)
• General research and administrative support to the research team
• Coordination with team members when needed

Where to apply

E-mail: research@esade.edu

Requirements

Research Field: Anthropology, Philosophy, Sociology, Political sciences

Education Level: Bachelor Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

Qualifications

Required:

• University degree in management and organization studies, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, political science, gender studies, or a related field, with exposure to qualitative research methods
• Familiarity with management and organization studies literature
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in both English and Spanish
• Highly organized and attentive to detail
• Interest in feminist scholarship and/or research on inequality, inclusion, and social change in organizational settings
• Collaborative and proactive working style

Desirable:

• Familiarity with feminist theory and/or gender studies
• Background in business ethics or philosophy
• Experience with qualitative data analysis
• Prior engagement with Latin American contexts or indigenous community organizations

Languages: ENGLISH - Level: Excellent

Additional Information

Benefits

• Flexible collaboration arrangement (employment or freelance, all based in Spain)
• Freelance work. The expected total compensation would be up to approximately 4,800€ gross, with the workload adapted accordingly in 3 months
• The employment contract option will be part-time, 50% FTE, for 3 months (approximately 1,500€ gross per month)
• Flexible working hours, starting in August 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter
• Exposure to academic research activities in an international environment

Eligibility criteria

• Send your application (cover letter and CV) by email to research@esade.edu.
• Deadline to apply: applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
• Selection process: Qualified candidates will be invited to an online interview.

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available: 1

Company/Institute: Esade

Country: Spain

State/Province: Barcelona

City: Sant Cugat del Vallès

Geofield

Contact

City: Barcelona

Website: https://www.esade.edu/faculty-research/en/institute-social-innovation

Street: Avenida de Pedralbes 60

Postal Code: 08034

E-Mail: research@esade.edu