Research Fellow in Communication and Computational Social Science for Sustainable Societies

Overview

The Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, in partnership with the Earth Observatory of Singapore, seeks a Research Fellow to support the Climate Transformation Program (CTP): Cross Cutting Theme 1 – Sustainable Societies. Funded by the MOE Tier 3C Grant, this initiative aims to develop and accelerate knowledge-driven solutions and cultivate future leaders to support a resilient, equitable, and sustainable environment in Southeast Asia. The program spans multiple disciplines including climate science, artificial intelligence, social sciences, and engineering, with a focus on applying scientific results to practical solutions in Singapore and beyond.

Role and Responsibilities

• Perform comprehensive literature reviews and assist in preparing manuscripts for publication.
• Gather and analyze public online discourse data using sentiment and content analytic methods.
• Employ statistical and computational techniques to process and interpret large textual datasets.
• Contribute to the writing of journal articles and presentations for academic conferences.
• Prepare research progress reports and final project deliverables.
• Disseminate research findings to both scholarly and general audiences.
• Assist in coordinating project activities and manage routine administrative duties as needed.

Qualifications and Skills

• PhD in Communication, Media Studies, Computational Social Science, Information Science, Computer Science, Data Science, or a closely related field.
• Proven expertise in sentiment analysis, opinion mining, or computational evaluation of media/public discourse, with the ability to link these analyses to communication theories.
• Strong quantitative analysis skills plus proficiency in programming languages such as Python or R.
• Experience handling large-scale text data, natural language processing, machine learning, and advanced models including transformers or large language models.

Additional Valuable Experience

• Skills in fine-tuning or prompting large language models for emotion, stance, or framing assessment.
• Experience analyzing social media, news, or online community text corpora on a large scale.
• Familiarity with data acquisition through APIs or web scraping.
• Track record in grant applications and participation in funded projects.
• Knowledge of open science principles such as reproducibility, preregistration, and proper research data management.
• Proven ability to lead collaborative projects, manage coordination among diverse stakeholders, and ensure timely delivery of quality work, preferably with experience in project management or academia-industry partnerships.
• Strong publication history or demonstrated capacity to publish in top communication and computational social science venues, with the ability to independently formulate research questions and produce scholarly outputs.
• Excellent academic writing and presentation abilities, capability to work effectively in interdisciplinary teams, and experience supervising research staff or contributing to grant proposals.

Opportunities and Benefits

• Engage in multidisciplinary research addressing climate change and sustainable societal development in Southeast Asia.
• Work collaboratively with experts across NTU and partner organizations.
• Contribute research that can significantly impact public understanding and responses to climate change.
• Build a strong research portfolio through publications, conferences, and partnerships.

Application Process

Candidates are invited to submit a comprehensive document including a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and contact information for three referees. Queries can be directed to the principal investigator via email. Please note that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.