The appointment is to serve as a research assistant to Professor Randi Hjalmarsson (University of Gothenburg) and Professor Matthew Lindquist (Stockholm University), and to support their European Research Council-funded agenda on how to break the inequality-crime cycle. The research assistant will primarily support projects related to the labor market for workers with criminal records in Sweden.

This is an excellent opportunity for individuals considering obtaining a PhD in economics to gain data skills and an overview of the research process from idea conception to data collection and cleaning to analysis and write-up.

Specific work tasks will include:

• Researching institutional details of the criminal justice system and the labor market in both Sweden and other countries.
• Cleaning and managing Swedish administrative data sets, including the Swedish Labor Force survey.
• Basic analyses of data.
• Helping to prepare a survey experiment.
• Conducting literature searches and writing reviews.

Qualifications

Applicants should have a master’s level education (or be studying towards one) in an area of relevance for the position, such as data science, economics, or statistics etc.

The ideal RA candidate will be fluent in Swedish to enable high-quality research on Swedish institutions and data, but candidates with strong Swedish will also be considered if they have particularly strong other qualifications. Fluent or near-fluent English, experience working with data, knowledge of Stata, knowledge of other statistical languages such as R or Python, previous experience as a research assistant, and a genuine interest in the criminal justice system or related issues, such as economic inequality and labor economics, are considered as meritorious.

Employment

The position is a fixed term employment for 11 months with the extent of 100% of a full-time position. Starting date is 2026-09-01, or according to agreement.

The employment contract will be via the University of Gothenburg but the position can be located at the Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, or at the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI) at Stockholm University. The applicant must be able to work on-site at least part of the time.

For further information regarding the position

Please contact via email:Randi Hjalmarsson, Professor, e-mail: randi.hjalmarsson@economics.gu.se

Unions

Union representatives at the University of Gothenburg: http://www.gu.se/english/about_the_university/job-opportunities/union-representatives

Application

To apply for a position at the University of Gothenburg, you have to register an account in our online recruitment system. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the instructions in the job advertisement and that it is submitted before the deadline. The selection of candidates is made on the basis of the qualifications registered in the application at the last date of application.

Please attach the following in the application:

• Personal letter stating why you fit the role
• CV
• Diploma/ degree certificate and grades
• Master’s thesis, if available
• Two references with name and contact details

 

Applications must be received by: 2026-06-11

The University works actively to achieve a working environment with equal conditions, and values the qualities that diversity brings to its operations.

Salaries are set individually at the University.

In accordance with the National Archives of Sweden’s regulations, the University must archive application documents for two years after the appointment is filled. If you request that your documents are returned, they will be returned to you once the two years have passed. Otherwise, they will be destroyed.

In connection to this recruitment, we have already decided which recruitment channels we should use. We therefore decline further contact with vendors, recruitment and staffing companies.