Associate Director, Technology and Democracy Research Hub, Rutgers Democracy Lab

Associate Director, Technology and Democracy Research Hub, Rutgers Democracy Lab

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Recruitment/Posting

Title:

Associate Director, Technology and Democracy Research Hub, Rutgers Democracy Lab

Job Category:
Staff & Executive - Research (Laboratory/Non-Laboratory)

Department:
Eagleton Institute of Politics

The Rutgers Democracy Lab (RDL) was established through a transformative gift received in November 2024. Its mission is to serve as a vibrant hub for civic engagement and a collaborative workshop for studying, analyzing, and addressing the challenges and opportunities of contemporary democracy. Housed within the RDL, the Technology and Democracy Research Hub (the Hub) examines how social media use relates to civic engagement and democratic participation, including the pervasive influence of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Through rigorous research and collaboration with community members and practitioners, the Hub generates insights with national impact, contributing to the broader understanding of democracy’s evolution in the digital age. The Hub’s findings are positioned to inform policymakers, technology leaders, law enforcement, and the public discourse, ensuring that research drives actionable change.

• Informing Democratic Practice: promote a civic‑minded community informed by research on how digital media and emerging technologies shape political behavior. By better understanding online discourse, the Hub seeks to rebuild trust and strengthen democratic participation at every level.
• Student Engagement and Training:
  Put students at the heart of research. Students from all disciplines will not only study democracy’s challenges and the impact of social media on society but also apply their training in practical settings. The Hub offers hands‑on learning, enabling students to work alongside faculty, policy experts, and tech industry leaders on real‑world democratic issues.
• Evidence‑Based Solutions:
  The Hub explores and tests ideas—such as interventions to counter false information or strategies to increase youth civic engagement—and develops recommendations grounded in data. Findings are disseminated to inform policymakers, educators, and social media platforms about effective ways to bolster democracy in the digital age.

• Measuring Social Media Trends and Civic Participation: examining how online discourse influences voter behavior, political engagement, and trust in democratic institutions.
• The Role of Generative AI, Polarization, and Misinformation in Democracy: analyzing how emerging technologies contribute to the spread of false information, political division, and public trust in media.
• Platform Design, Policies, and Civic Engagement: investigating how social media platforms’ algorithms, moderation policies, and content recommendation systems shape civic participation and democratic discourse.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is seeking an Associate Director for the Technology and Democracy Research Hub. Reporting to the Director of the Hub and up to the Administrative and Academic Directors of RDL, this position combines expertise in social science research methods with the ability to manage projects, foster partnerships, and represent the Hub at state and national levels.

The position works directly with the Program Coordinator, a Graduate Assistant, and student interns. The role also participates in cross‑team and Institute‑wide projects at the RDL and Eagleton Institute of Politics.

• Contribute substantively to research projects with expertise in one or more areas: computational social science methods; qualitative and field‑based approaches; or policy analysis related to social media and…