Research Fellow (Communications and New Media)
Job Title
Research Fellow (Communications and New Media)
University-Level Unit
NUS Centre for Trusted Internet & Community
Faculty/Department-Level Unit
NUS Centre for Trusted Internet & Community
Employee Category
Research Staff
Location
Kent Ridge Campus
Posting Start Date
08/05/2026
Introduction
The Department of Communications and New Media (CNM) at the National University of Singapore is seeking a Research Fellow to join a project funded by the Online Trust and Safety (OTS) Research Programme. The project, "A Taxonomic Approach to Online Harm in Multilingual and Cross-cultural Spaces," develops Singapore-specific frameworks for characterising, classifying, and assessing online harm across cyberbullying, extremism, propaganda, and racist speech, with a particular focus on multilingual and multicultural digital environments.
Job Description
The Research Fellow will play a central role in the design and execution of the project's research programme, working closely with the Principal Investigator across all three work streams: taxonomy and topology development, benchmark corpus curation and annotation, and severity modelling and risk assessment. Phase 1 will involve structured literature review, meta-analysis, and taxonomy development. Phase 2 will involve corpus design, IRB applications, and annotator training and management. Phase 3 will involve data collection, annotation oversight, and inter-annotator reliability evaluation. Phase 4 will involve integration of findings into harm topologies and risk frameworks. Phase 5 will involve research communication including co-authorship of papers and project reports.
Job Responsibilities
- Lead and coordinate structured literature reviews and meta-analyses across online harm categories relevant to the Singaporean context
- Develop and refine annotation codebooks and harm topology frameworks for cyberbullying, extremism, propaganda, and racist speech
- Manage and train bilingual and multilingual annotators; oversee pilot and confirmatory annotation phases with inter-annotator reliability monitoring
- Design and administer keyword elicitation surveys and user studies in compliance with IRB protocols
- Collaborate with technical team members on corpus design, data collection pipelines, and annotation quality assurance
- Lead the preparation of conference and journal submissions based on project findings
- Liaise with external collaborators at A*STAR (IHPC/CATOS, I2R) and coordinate data access agreements
- Prepare financial and progress reports, presentations, and other grant-related documentation
- Track expenditure and ensure spending remains aligned with project milestones
Qualifications
- Minimum PhD in Communication Studies, Linguistics, or a closely related field, with a promising publication record
- Experience in computational social science, NLP, or corpus linguistics is highly advantageous
- Familiarity with annotation methodologies, inter-annotator reliability metrics, and qualitative coding
- Knowledge of statistical analysis tools (R, SPSS, or equivalent)
- Experience with multilingual research contexts; proficiency in Mandarin or Malay is an advantage
- Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to work across disciplinary and institutional boundaries
We regret to inform that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.
How to Apply
A full application should consist of the following:
- cover letter, highlighting the applicant’s interest in the projects’ topics and commitment to diversity
- full curriculum vitae, including the candidate’s academic history, relevant research experience (if any), and list of publications (if any)
- one academic writing sample (up to 25 pages)
- at least three (3) names for letters of recommendation, excl
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