Location: Remote or hybrid, depending on your location.
Commitment: Part-time or full-time (please indicate your availability in your cover letter).
Duration: October 2025 – March 2026, with potential for extension.
Compensation: Negotiable.
About the Role
The Portulans Institute invites applications for a Research Fellowship in support of the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2026 and its flagship research initiative on Societal Resilience. This is a high-impact, co-authored project led by a distinguished team of academics and policy advisors, exploring how resilience is shaped by a country’s cultural, institutional, and socio-economic attributes—with a particular focus on the role of soft factors such as inclusion, collaboration, and social cohesion.
The Fellow will contribute to both the conceptual development and the empirical modeling of resilience dynamics, engaging with one of the most advanced talent and development datasets available globally.
Key Responsibilities
- Engage with the GTCI’s 12-year longitudinal dataset covering 130 countries and 69 indicators
- Contribute to regression-based modeling of how cultural and economic variables explain cross-country variance in societal resilience
- Conduct structured literature reviews on resilience from sociological, organizational, and institutional perspectives
- Assist in developing conceptual frameworks that distinguish between resilience, adaptability, and transformability
- Draft or co-author academic papers, policy briefs, and content for the GTCI 2026 report.
Desired Qualifications and Experience
- Master’s degree or advanced graduate studies in Sociology, Organizational Studies, Political Science, Economics, Public Policy, or a related discipline
- Proven research experience on topics such as resilience, institutional cohesion, inclusion, adaptability, or related themes (academic or applied)
- Strong skills in both quantitative analysis (regression, longitudinal analysis) and qualitative synthesis (frameworks, typologies, literature reviews)
- Proficiency in STATA, R, or Python
- Ability to integrate insights from cultural theory, institutional analysis, and public policy.
Preferred Qualifications
- Prior work with resilience frameworks (e.g., Fragile States Index, FM Global Resilience Index, Resilience Thinking, etc.)
- Familiarity with co-variance structures, non-linear relationships, or index-based modeling
- Knowledge of Nordic or other national case studies related to resilience governance is a plus.
Why Join Us?
- Co-authorship in GTCI 2026 and potential peer-reviewed publications
- Mentorship from internationally recognized scholars
- Exposure to policy-focused research that bridges academia and global leadership
- Opportunity to shape an influential global narrative on resilience, governance, and talent development.
How to Apply
Please send your resume and a brief cover letter to info@portulansinstitute.org, including:
- CV or resume
- Brief cover letter outlining your availability (part-time or full-time), compensation expectations, and relevant experience
- (Optional but encouraged) A writing sample or brief portfolio of past research on resilience or related topics
Compensation
This position falls under the Portulans Institute Fellowship Program, which supports emerging researchers through competitive short-term appointments. For this role, compensation will follow the Institute’s standard fellowship framework, with an enhanced level of support in recognition of the project’s analytical complexity and the Fellow’s expected contributions.
