Professor Sara Ann Knutson is seeking to hire a paid undergraduate research assistant for the History project, “Investigating Islamic Cultural Heritage through Historical and Data Analysis” for the 2024W academic year.
The hired undergraduate student will work approximately 100 hours on the project during Fall 2024 and Spring 2024 (terms 1 and 2) and gain experience with data collection, data analysis, and historical primary source analysis on an interdisciplinary project that bridges research approaches in History, museum anthropology, and cultural heritage studies.
Main duties:
- Producing data visualizations in Microsoft Excel
- Conducting quantitative data analysis and qualitative analysis
- Engaging in historical research (through primary sources, in English translation and in Arabic, if available)
- Maintaining of a working bibliography of sources used in the project
- Meeting regularly with faculty supervisor
Essential Qualifications:
- Undergraduate student status at UBC Vancouver
- Self-motivated and proactive
- At least some experience with Microsoft Excel
- Strong organizational skills
- Communicative
Additional Qualifications (an asset but not necessary):
- Experience with quantitative data analysis
- At least some reading knowledge of Arabic
- Experience with History courses and/ or historical research
The undergraduate student researcher will engage in two main project tasks on this project under the supervision of Prof. Knutson:
(1) analyze the quantitative and qualitative results of an international cultural heritage survey; as part of the data analysis, the student will identify and interpret data patterns and produce relevant data visualizations to help general audiences (non-specialists in History) to understand this data
(2) analyze historical and contemporary primary source texts (in English translation) in order to shed light on the inter-related meanings of Islamic coins as pieces of global premodern history as well as of contemporary cultural heritage.
In direct consultation with the faculty supervisor, the undergraduate student researcher on this project will acquire critical training in database management, data analysis, and historical research methods and will learn how to make interdisciplinary connections in historical research on the Islamic World that incorporates perspectives from History, Archaeology, Numismatics, Anthropology, and Data Science. The undergraduate student will therefore gain research experience that is transferable across a variety of disciplines and future work opportunities. This project does not assume nor require that the undergraduate researcher has any previous experience in data analysis or any knowledge of Arabic or Islamic History, but any prior experience in these areas is highly welcomed. The student research assistant must be self-motivated, proactive, organized, and communicative.
The review of submitted applications will begin on 20 September 2024 and will continue until the position has been filled.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Prof. Sara Ann Knutson at sa.knutson[at]ubc.ca
Interested candidates may apply by filling out the following Qualtrics form by 20 September 2024. Short-listed candidates will be invited for a short interview in late September.