Published: 05/12/2025

Project: Building Climate and Food Security Resilience: The Role of Agricultural Diversification in Mitigating the Impacts of Precipitation Shocks on Child and Adolescent Undernutrition Climate Change is one of the biggest threats to human health. In sub-Saharan Africa, climate change threatens to put millions at risk of food insecurity. Agroecology is a social movement and approach to food that optimizes the interactions between plants, animals, humans, and the environment. Crop-livestock diversification and integration are agroecological practices that have the potential to benefit human nutrition and increase climate resilience, providing a win-win solution for planetary health. This project uses secondary data to examine whether crop-livestock agroecology mitigates the impacts of climate shocks on child and adolescent undernutrition in East Africa. The research assistant will contribute to data cleaning of household panel datasets and a literature review to identify existing evidence on agricultural practices that support climate and nutrition resilience.

RA (Hourly) Responsibilities:

  • Organize and link publicly available household panel datasets.
  • Perform data cleaning and quality control tasks.
  • Standardize variables across country-specific datasets.
  • Maintain comprehensive documentation of data cleaning, preparation, and quality checks.
  • Prepare well-organized and annotated code.
  • Conduct a literature review of relevant literature and methods.
  • Assist in data analysis and prepare tables and figures.
  • Participate in weekly meetings and maintain regular communication on project tasks.

Eligibility:

  • Stanford upper-level undergraduate or master’s student in good academic standing.

RA Qualifications:

  • Experience with statistical software (Stata or R) is required.
  • Experience with data cleaning is preferred.
  • Excellent attention to detail and capacity to deliver high-quality work.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills.
  • Excellent organizational skills and ability to work independently and collaboratively.
  • Willingness to learn new skills and adapt to project needs.
  • A strong interest in food systems, sustainability, nutrition, and/or global health is encouraged.

Commitment and Remuneration:

  • 10 hours per week (one quarter; extension possible depending on funding availability)
  • Hourly pay in accordance with Stanford rates.

To apply: Interested applicants should email Dr. Nathalie Lambrecht (nlambrec@stanford.edu) as soon as possible with a cover letter (max 1 page) and resume or CV. Include the subject line: “Ag-Nutr RA Application”. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.