Job Opportunity for Assistant – Urban Informatics Lab at IIHS in Bengaluru

About the Urban Informatics Lab

The Urban Informatics Laboratory (UIL) at IIHS carries out research and analysis on India’s urbanization using primary and secondary data. The Lab specialises in developing new methods to study and understand urban patterns, particularly in the context of data-scarce environments. It innovates in data creation, collection and organisation, as well as in bringing in diverse methods for urban problem-solving.

Further, it applies its learnings through research, policy, and practice projects across multiple thematic areas such as employment, economic development, social protection, food systems, land markets, housing, environmental sustainability, health, and inequality. The Lab also offers capacity building, teaching and training on urban data analysis for a range of learners across levels.

Job Description

The position of Assistant – Urban Informatics Lab is a full-time position located in the Urban Informatics Lab. The selected candidate will be expected to be involved with various projects of the UIL. The ideal candidate would be comfortable using data in different forms for solving urban problems. The candidate should be comfortable working in a dynamic, interdisciplinary environment. The position will involve collecting and organising various kinds of data in the context of multiple projects, analysing and visualising quantitative data, as well as supporting the creation of outward-facing communication and publications.

Activities and Tasks

Responsibilities would include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Supporting the team with collecting, organising, collating, cleaning, and visualising data needed by various IIHS research and practice projects;
• Preparing reports and dashboards for internal and external audiences, to share insights obtained from data;
• Application of known quantitative methodologies as well as development of new and innovative methodologies to build a deeper understanding of urban India;
• Contributing to the writing of academic papers, practice reports and popular media articles describing the quantitative work done in the UIL;
• Providing assistance on teaching particular aspects of quantitative research methods or data visualization for IIHS’ teaching and training programs;
• Providing support to other IIHS activities including academics, research, training, practice, operations and others;
• Participating in all activities of Institution-Building at IIHS; carrying out tasks as assigned by IIHS; and travelling on IIHS work within or outside the country as and when needed. 

Structure and Reporting

The Assistant – Urban Informatics Lab will report to the Consultant/Lead – Urban Informatics Lab at IIHS and will be required to collaborate effectively with a diverse group of internal teams and external individuals/ organisations, and students.

Person Specification

• Graduate / Post-Graduate degree in Engineering / Mathematics / Statistics / Data Analytics or other quantitative disciplines with strong skills in data analysis and 0-2 years’ work experience;
• Experience in doing data analysis / modelling in Excel/ STATA/ R/ SPSS/SAS;
• Good level of familiarity with a programming language like R or Python;
• Should be comfortable creating scripts for data scraping / extraction, preparation and cleaning;
• Experience with matplotlib, ggplot or similar visualisation libraries is expected;
• Prior experience working with one or more of these datasets is desirable: Census, NSS / PLFS, NFHS, IHDS, CMIE;
• GIS and remote sensing skills would be an added advantage;
• Should be comfortable working with inter-disciplinary teams;
• The ideal candidate would be interested in urban centric research;
• Interest and experience in teaching would be an added advantage. 

This offer is on an exclusive basis, which implies that other professional assignments (whether compensated or not) that bear a potential conflict of interest with IIHS cannot be undertaken.

The search will remain open until the position is filled.

Location

This position is based in Bengaluru and may entail travel to other locations in India.

Review and Assessment

The role and performance of the incumbent shall be subject to normal review and assessment systems at IIHS.

Diversity Policy

IIHS is an equal opportunity employer that encourages women, people with disabilities and those from economically and socially excluded communities with the requisite skills and qualifications to apply for positions.