Research Fellow, ILH&PR

Job Description

The mission of the Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights (the Initiative) is to address real property issues that impact poor and disadvantaged communities. Many of the activities the Initiative undertakes assist disadvantaged communities that have been harmed as a result of lacking adequate land, housing, and other property rights. The Initiative's core activities include training law students and other students to develop legal and other technical expertise that can be used by these students when they are in school and after they graduate to help disadvantaged people and communities address their land and housing issues; catalyzing both theoretical and applied, policy-relevant research on various land and housing issues that have been understudied and undertheorized; proactively working to develop impactful legal reform and policy solutions to address property problems disadvantaged communities experience; and sponsoring both continuing legal education programs for lawyers and community legal education and other outreach programs for disadvantaged communities.

The Initiative's research team combines social science, legal, interdisciplinary, and mixed method empirical approaches, to produce journal quality research with actionable insights. The team seeks to inform laws and policies aimed at increasing access, efficiency, and equity in property and housing. The research team's primary intervention is the research itself, grounded in the lived experiences of communities and intentionally designed to produce actionable policy insights that extend beyond the academy and drive real-world change. The ultimate goal of the research is to raise awareness about a number of housing, land, and community development issues in order to help disadvantaged people secure enhanced and stable property rights and to improve their ability to build and sustain wealth across generations. Heirs' property issues constitute one major component of the Initiative's research portfolio though the research team also conducts research on a number of other pressing property matters whether the issues implicate urban or rural places.

Position Summary

The Initiative seeks a part-time PhD or Post-Graduate Fellow to conduct research and analysis for the Research Program under the direction of the Research Director. The Initiative's Research Program produces timely, high quality, and policy-relevant research to inform a variety of stakeholders, including local, state, and federal policymakers, community organizations, researchers, funders philanthropy, and industry participants. Overall, the research team is responsible for at least four different research projects with some of these projects being collaborative projects with researchers outside of the Initiative. Throughout 2026 and 2027, the team will produce two peer-reviewed journal articles each year advancing the scholarship on land, housing, and property rights.

The Research Fellow should have a strong topical background in land use or property rights, particularly in rural settings, demonstrated either through prior work experience or scholarly interest. Demonstrable qualitative research skills are preferred. Applicants with quantitative training and documented experience conducting mixed-methods research are also encouraged to apply. Furthermore, applicants should have strong organizational and communication skills, experience working in a collaborative environment, and a commitment to improving outcomes related to real property, land use, or community development issues that impact poor and disadvantaged communities.

Much of the research the Initiative produces will be policy-relevant, designed to help advance reform and policy solutions to housing and property issues as well as community development challenges disadvantaged communities may face. The Initiative is committed to playing leading and supporting roles in producing research on understudied issues to address a range of land and housing issues disadvantaged communities face.

The Research Fellow will work under the supervision of the Research Director and with other members of the Research Team and other Initiative staff to advance the Initiative's research work plan.

Duties include:

Research Work Responsibilities (90%)

• Analyze trends and topics related to rural land use or housing issues.
• Conduct qualitative research and exploratory analysis on land, housing, and other property issues.
• Draft long- and short-form research reports such as journal submissions, blogs, and factsheets for public consumption.
• Provide technical assistance, as needed, to internal and external stakeholders.
• Under the direction of the Research Director and occasionally in collaboration with other staff and external partners, collect, clean, and review data, and conduct data analysis that may result in report production.
• Attend and participate in conferences spanning academia, industry, and public policy.

Administrative Responsibilities (10%)

• Assist in planning and coordinating Initiative events and Research program meetings in collaboration with the Operations team.
• Contribute to programmatic tracking for funders, preparing communications documents, and other shared Initiative tasks as assigned.

This is a hybrid position in the Initiative's office. The position lasts for one year on a part-time basis (17.5 hours/week) with an option to renew for a second year.

Salary: $30,000

Requirements

Education:

• PhD students or candidates.
• A master's degree or another relevant graduate or advanced professional degree or currently pursuing such a degree.

Basic qualifications and skills:

• Knowledge of key housing and land use issues in rural settings, either achieved through academic or work experience in the areas of rural policy, heirs' property, land use, land conservation and stewardship, or another related area.
• Demonstrated competency with qualitative research.
• Strong interpersonal, communications, writing, and data analysis skills.
• Critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage multiple simultaneous projects and deadlines.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience with qualitative research methods such as interviews, focus groups, surveys, qualitative coding, and ethnography.
• Experience with information collection, analysis, and dissemination, including written and oral presentation of research findings to diverse audiences.
• Interest in or experience working with or on behalf of disadvantaged communities or individuals or relevant lived experience.
• Familiarity with geospatial analysis in R or ArcGIS.

To Apply:

Applicants should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and research report documenting experience in the areas described above, a complete graduate or professional school transcript, and the names and contact information of two references.