Recruitment - IT Support Specialist for OPENMIN Project

Centre d’études européennes et de politique comparée, CEE (UMR 8239) Sciences Po

Background

We are seeking to appoint an IT Research Support Specialist (“Informatique études”) to work with Prof Laura Morales (the Principal Investigator, PI), Dr Raphael Tservenis (Post-doctoral researcher) and Yuma Ando (CNRS Statistician) in the project “Consolidating Open Science and Data Initiatives on Ethnic and Migrant Minorities in Europe (OPENMIN)”, funded by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche within the CHIST-ERA ORD Call.

OPENMIN is a multinational project jointly undertaken with five other partners across Europe.

The team led by Prof Morales at CEE coordinates this multinational project, and coordinates the collaboration with the network ETHMIGSURVEYDATA and several European research infrastructures, in order to: 

(1) Expand and consolidate the Ethnic and Migrant Minority (EMM) survey metadata registry developed by ETHMIGSURVEYDATA and SSHOC, 

(2) Expand the EMM Question Bank (EQB), 

(3) Create the Ethnic and Migrant Minorities Post-Harmonized Survey Data Bank, 

(4) prototype a new Ethnic and Migrant Minorities Qualitative Study Registry

(5) prototype a new self-depositing Ethnic and Migrant Minorities Open Data Repository, 

(6) generate a metadata collection on surveys conducted with Ukrainian migrants and refugees

(7) prototype for an Ethnic and Migrant Minorities Survey Data Playground, and

(8) think strategically about the long-term sustainability of research and data infrastructures in the EMM and Migrant Studies field.

The appointed IT Research Support Specialist will join a large international team of experts from all across Europe on making data on the integration of EMMs and on survey and qualitative research open, and will have the chance to work on a research project that will break new ground in these fields. This is, thus, a unique opportunity to build a career in open and FAIR research and data focusing on this specific sub-population. 

Contract details

The appointment is part-time (70%) and available from 1st February 2025 with a contract duration of 12 months. This position is not available for fully remote working, the person appointed needs to reside (or take up their residence) in the Ile-de-France region (or within commuting distance). Working times/days will be agreed upon with the appointed candidate.

Type of contract: Fixed-duration contract (CDD).

How to apply

Please send: 

(1) A cover letter outlining precisely the essential and desirable qualifications and skills outlined below (listed under "Requirements") that you meet for this position, as well as any previous experience in IT support for projects on Open Science or in the Social Sciences; and

(2) A CV which includes a detailed list of the IT training and diplomas, to recruitment.cee@sciencespo.fr by 5 pm (Paris, CET) on 12th December 2024 with the subject “OPENMIN IT specialist position application” in the email. 

Incomplete applications will not be considered. 

Interviews will be planned between 16 and 20 December 2024 (interviews through video-connection possible for those not residing currently in Paris). 

Tasks

The IT specialist will be expected to: 

- Undertake the migration of the ETHMIGSURVEYDATA hub and all its associated databases from the current (private) hosting to a new (public/institutional) hosting; 

- Support all IT and programming processes relating to the generation of questionnaire metadata and its contribution to a Colectica Portal;

- Create a new Data Playground showcasing EMM survey data and allowing users with low statistical analysis skills to obtain elementary results of selected cross-national surveys and post-harmonized survey datasets;

- Advise and support the CEE and international teams on any required automatised processes that involve IT systems, programming and services; 

- Contribute to the documentation of all workflows and programming on GitHub following best-practice standards on coding quality and documentation;  

- Contribute to the reporting on IT-related processes to the funders or stakeholder audiences;

- The post holder will be required to effectively manage their time to deliver on the priorities of the project. The post holder will need to plan ahead to ensure the research is delivered in accordance with the overall research objectives and deadlines. This may include defining tasks and schedules, organising meetings, preparing intermediate reports on data and findings, and contributing to the project’s final report; 

- Any other tasks relating to IT support and programming that might be necessary for the proper undertaking of the role and the successful completion of the project.
 

Requirements (please, do not apply if you do not meet those outlined as Essential)

Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Experience 

Essential: 

• BAC+2 / BAC+3 or equivalent in the EU
• Skills, qualifications or experience in modern computing languages and frameworks (e.g., Python, Django, and/or Vue.js)
• Programming and management of relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL)
• Experience documenting code and workflows in GitHub
• Proficiency in English (active and passive use of the language) at intermediate level (i.e. B2 or C1 level).*
• Ability to take initiative, self-manage and contribute intellectually to the overall project.
• Ability to work as part of a team.
• Attention to detail.*

Desirable, but not essential:

• Some ability to communicate in French would be useful for administrative processes
• Skills in R and some knowledge/expertise in developing Shiny web apps
• Experience in Open Source or Open Science projects
• Familiarity with international standards for the production, documentation and archiving of social science data (e.g. DDI, Dublin Core, RDA recommendations, etc.)
• Some training or experience in systems management
   

(*Criteria to be used to shortlist candidates for interview)