The National Institute of Education invites suitable applications for the position of Research Assistant on a 35-month contract at the Science of Learning in Education Centre.

Project Title: Language, Learning, and Living Well in Middle Adulthood and Beyond (L3MA)

Project Introduction: The L3MA (Language, Learning, and Living Well in Middle Adulthood and Beyond) project aims to leverage research in the Science of Learning to investigate lifestyle factors that can enhance learning and vocational success during middle adulthood in light of cognitive decline associated with healthy aging. This project will investigate the relationship between patterns of bilingualism, cognitive control, and learning among middle-aged, English-Mandarin bilingual Singaporeans. It combines a comprehensive synthesis of research on bilingual effects on cognitive control with an empirical investigation of how bilingual language experience, cognitive control, and learning behaviors interact among English–Mandarin bilinguals in Singapore. Findings from this project will inform global research on bilingualism and cognitive control, and guide Singaporean interventions promoting bilingualism to enhance brain plasticity, learning, and vocational success in midlife.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in linguistics, cognitive science, psychology, or related field. Candidates with a Master’s degree may be considered for a Research Associate appointment.
• Demonstrated knowledge of theoretical foundations and empirical methods in psycholinguistics, cognitive science, or related quantitative disciplines.
• Familiarity with evidence synthesis methods for scoping and systematic reviews, with the capacity to quickly develop advanced proficiency.
• Working knowledge of widely used statistical tests.
• Functional proficiency in statistical coding using R, Python, or similar programming languages.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English and Mandarin, to prepare a range of different assessments, tasks, and research outputs (e.g. journal articles and evidence briefs) in both languages.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office programs.
• Good project management and organizational skills.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Strong social and teamwork skills.
• Commitment to open and transparent science.

Responsibilities:

• Design or adapt behavioral tasks and survey instruments for online experiments
• Perform data cleaning and basic statistical analyses
• Locate relevant articles through literature search
• Evaluate research articles using premade rubrics
• Identify and extract necessary data from research articles
• Enter and manage data in spreadsheets and online data management portals (e.g., Covidence)
• Support participant recruitment
• Contribute to research outputs (e.g., conference presentations, papers etc.)

• Supervise undergraduate student helpers working on this project

• Assist in related administrative duties
• Other duties as assigned by the Principal Investigator

Application

Applicants (external and internal) will apply via Workday. We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

Closing Date

Closing date for advertisements will be set to 14 calendar days from date of posting.

Hiring Institution: NIE